Transfer maps and nonexistence of joint determinant (Q840663)

For any field \(k\), the author defines an explicit natural homomorphism \(\rho_l\) from the \(l\)th Milnor \(K\)-group, \(K^M_l(k)\) of \(k\) to the \(l\)th Goodwillie group \(GW_l(k)\), and, in the main result of the paper, proves that \(\rho_l\) is an isomorphism for all \(l\geq 1\). It was already known that both of these groups are naturally isomorphic to the motivic cohomology groups \(H^l_{{\mathcal M}}(\text{Spec\,}k, \mathbb{Z}(l))\) [\textit{M. Walker}, ``Motivic complexes and the \(K\)-theory of automorphisms'', Thesis, University of Illinois (1996), and \textit{Yu. P. Nesterenko} and \textit{A. A. Suslin}, ``Homology of the general linear group over a local ring and Milnor's \(K\)-theory'', Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 53, No. 1, 121--146 (1989; Zbl 0668.18011)]. The Goodwillie groups of a field \(k\) are defined as follows: \(GW_l(K)\) is the (additive) abelian group generated by \(l\)-tuples \((A_1,\dots, A_l)\) of commuting matrices all belonging to \(\text{GL}_n(k)\) for some \(n\geq 1\), subject to four families of relations: {\parindent=4,5mm \begin{itemize}\item[1.] \((A_1,\dots, A_l)= 0\) if some \(A_i\) is an identity matrix. \item[2.] \((A_1,\dots, A_l)= (SA_1 S^{-1},\dots, SA_l S^{-1})\) for any \(S\in\text{GL}_n(k)\). \item[3.] \((A_1,\dots, A_l)+ (B_1,\dots, B_l)= \left(\!\left(\begin{smallmatrix} A_1 & 0\\ 0 & B_1\end{smallmatrix}\right)\!\right),\dots, \left(\!\left(\begin{smallmatrix} A_l & 0\\ 0 & B_l\end{smallmatrix}\right)\!\right)\) for commuting \(A_1,\dots, A_l\) \(\in\text{GL}_n(k)\) and commuting \(B_1,\dots, B_l\in\text{GL}_m(k)\). \item[4.] If \(A_1(t),\dots, A_l(t)\) are commuting elements of \(\text{GL}_n(k[t])\), then \((A_1(0),\dots, A_l(0))= (A_1(1),\) \(\dots, A_l(1))\). \end{itemize}} The isomorphism \(\rho_l\) sends the symbol \(\{a_1,\dots, a_l\}\in K^M_l(k)\) to the class of \(((a_1),\dots,(a_l))\) in \(GW_l(k)\). One consequence of the author's main result is that it allows for a natural description of the transfer map in Milnor \(K\)-theory, since the Goodwillie groups admit an obvious natural transfer: if \(L/k\) is an extension of fields of degree \(d\), then choosing a \(k\)-basis of \(L\) gives an embedding \(\text{GL}_n(L)\to\text{GL}_{dn}(k)\) which then induces a transfer map \(N_{L/k}: GW_l(L)\to GW_l(k)\). The joint determinants of the title are just maps from sets of \(l\) commuting invertible matrices to an abelian group \(G\) which induce a homomorphism \(GW_l(k)\to G\). The author's main result, together with known computations of Milnor \(K\)-theory, allow him to classify joint determinants for certain fields and certain values of \(l\).