Hurwitz-Radon matrices and periodicity modulo 8 (Q909797)

Let \(A_ 1,...,A_ s\) be elements of the group U(n) of \(n\times n\) complex unitary matrices. They are called Hurwitz-Radon (HR) matrices if \(A^ 2_ i=-E\) (the unit matrix) and \(A_ iA_ j=-A_ jA_ i\) for all i and j. If we put \(A_ 0=E\), then the condition that \(A_ 1,...,A_ s\) are HR-matrices is equivalent to the condition that \(f_ s(x_ 1,...,x_ s)=x_ 0A_ 0+...+x_ sA_ s\) is unitary for all real \(x_ i\) with \(\sum x_ i^ 2=1\). In this case \(f_ s\) is a map of the s-sphere \(S^ s\) into the infinite unitary group \(U=\lim U(k)\). The Bott periodicity theorem shows that the homotopy group \(\pi_ s(U)\) is cyclic, and the main theorem of the present paper is: if \(A_ 1,...,A_ s\) are HR-matrices of minimal size (namely, \(n=2^{[s/2]})\), then the homotopy class of \(f_ s\) generates \(\pi_ s(U)\). An important step in the proof is to show that a certain ``reduced'' Grothendieck group \(E^ U_ s\) is isomorphic to \(\pi_ s(U)\). The author also proves analogous theorems for orthogonal HR-matrices and for unitary symplectic HR-matrices.