Sums of \(d\)th powers in non-commutative rings (Q880243)

In the paper algebra over an unital commutative ring \(R\) generally means a unital nonassociative strictly power-associative \(R\)-algebra, though some results require more special assumptions. For an algebra \(A\) one may define \(d\)-th Pythagorean number \(p_d(A)\) to be the smallest number \(q\) (if exists) such that every sum of \(d\)th powers of elements in \(A\) can be written as a sum of \(q\) \(d\)th powers of elements in \(A\), or \(\infty\) otherwise. The smallest positive integer \(m\) (if it exists) such that \(-1\) is a sum of \(m\) \(d\)th powers in \(A\) is called the \(d\)th level or \(\infty\) otherwise. The \(d\)th level is denoted \(s_d(A)\). Both notions are well known in the case of fields. In the first part of the paper the author discusses relationship between \(p_d\) and \(s_d.\) For example for when \(d\) is invertible in \(R\), \(R\subset\) Center\((A)\) and \(R\) contains a primitive \(d\)th root of unity, she obtains \[ p_d(A)\leq d^{d-2}(1+(d-1)p_d(R)). \] In the second part for a central algebra \(A\) over a field \(k\) the reader is shown a connection between presenting \(0\) as a sum of \(d\)th powers in \(A\) and weak isotropy of the trace form \(\text{tr}_{A/k}(x^d).\)