Topological central extensions of \(\text{SL}_1(D)\). (Q913949)

Let \(D\) be a finite dimensional central division algebra of degree \(d\) over a nonarchimedean local field \(k\) with residue characteristic \(p\) and let \(G:=\text{SL}_1(D)\) denote the topological group of elements of reduced norm 1. One of the main results of the paper under review shows that the second continuous cohomology group \(H^2(G,\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z})\) is a finite group of order a power of \(p\); it vanishes if \(k\) does not contain any nontrivial \(p\)-th roots of unity and \(D\) is not the quaternion central division algebra over \(\mathbb{Q}_3\); it is cyclic if \(D\) is not the quaternion central division algebra over \(\mathbb{Q}_2\). The proof makes use of the filtration \(G_0=G\), \(G_i=\{x\in G:x\equiv 1\bmod P^i\}\) where \(P\) is the maximal ideal in the maximal compact subring of \(D\) and applies the Hochschild-Serre spectral sequence.