Division algebras of Gelfand-Kirillov transcendence degree 2. (Q836102)

In this interesting paper, the author studies domains of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension smaller than three. \textit{M. Artin} and \textit{J. T. Stafford} [Invent. Math. 122, No. 2, 231-276 (1995; Zbl 0849.16022)] described graded domains of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension two. However the ungraded case is much more complicated and not well understood. The main result of the paper is the following beautiful theorem. Theorem 1.2. Let \(K\) be a field and let \(A\) be a finitely generated \(K\)-algebra of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension strictly less than three that is a domain and let \(Q(A)\) denote the quotient division algebra of \(A\). Suppose \[ K= D_0\subseteq D_1\subseteq D_2\subseteq\cdots\subseteq D_m\subseteq Q(A) \] is a chain of division subalgebras of \(Q(A)\) such that 1. \(D_i\) is infinite-dimensional as a left \(D_{i-1}\)-vector space for \(i=1,2,\dots,m\). 2. \(D_i\) is finitely generated as a division algebra for \(i=1,2,\dots,m\). -- Then \(m\leq 2\). As an application the author proves the following useful theorem. Theorem 1.3. Let \(K\) be a field and let \(A\) be a finitely generated \(K\)-algebra of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension strictly less than three that is a domain and let \(Q(A)\) denote the quotient division algebra of \(A\). If \(D\) is a division subalgebra of \(Q(A)\) and \(D\) has Gelfand-Kirillov dimension at least two, then \(Q(A)\) is finite-dimensional as a left \(D\)-vector space. Another interesting consequence of Theorem 1.2 is the following. Theorem 1.4. Let \(K\) be an algebraically closed field and let \(A\) be a finitely generated \(K\) algebra that is a domain of Gelfand-Kirillov dimension smaller than three. If \(D\) is a division subalgebra of \(Q(A)\), then either \(D\) is commutative or \(Q(A)\) is finite-dimensional as a left \(D\)-vector space; moreover, if \(D\) is commutative and has transcendence degree at least two over \(K\), then \(Q(A)\) is finite-dimensional over its centre.