The Auslander conjecture for groups leaving a form of signature \((n-2,2)\) invariant. (Q814147)

Let \(\text{Aff\,}\mathbb{R}^n\) be the group of affine transformations of the real affine space \(\mathbb{R}^n\). A subgroup \(\Gamma\) of \(\text{Aff\,}\mathbb{R}^n\) is called properly discontinuous if \(\{\gamma\in\Gamma\mid\gamma K\cap K\neq\emptyset\}\) is finite for every compact subset \(K\) of \(\mathbb{R}^n\); and \(\Gamma\) is called crystallographic if \(\Gamma\) is properly discontinuous and the orbit space \(\mathbb{R}^n/\Gamma\) is compact. A subgroup \(\Gamma\) of \(\text{Aff\,}\mathbb{R}^n\) will also be called an affine group. A longstanding conjecture of Auslander states that every affine crystallographic group \(\Gamma\) is virtually solvable. So far, only special cases of this conjecture have been proved. For the state of the results, see \textit{H. Abels}' article [Geom. Dedicata 87, No. 1-3, 308-333 (2001; Zbl 0999.20042)]. Since \(\text{Aff\,}\mathbb{R}^n=\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})\ltimes\mathbb{R}^n\) there is a natural homomorphism \(l\colon\text{Aff\,}\mathbb{R}^n\to\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{R})\), called the linear part. Let \(B\) be a nondegenerate quadratic form on \(\mathbb{R}^n\) of signature \((n-2,n)\) and let \(O(B)\) be the orthogonal group of the form \(B\). The main result of the article under review is following Theorem: Let \(\Gamma\) be an affine crystallographic group with \(l(\Gamma)\subset O(B)\). Then \(\Gamma\) is virtually solvable. -- In the proof in some case is used the work of \textit{G. Prasad} and \textit{A. S. Rapinchuk} [Math. Res. Lett. 10, No. 1, 21-32 (2003; Zbl 1029.22020)].