Third homology of general linear groups (Q950207)

The third homology is studied of general linear groups over a `ring with many units' \(R\). Examples of such rings are commutative semilocal rings all whose residue fields are infinite, and Azumaya algebras over such semilocal rings. Let \(Z(R)\) be the center of \(R\). The simplest form of the main result says that if \(K_1(Z(R))\otimes \mathbb Q \cong K_1(R)\otimes \mathbb Q\), then \(H_3(\text{GL}_2(R),\mathbb Q)\to H_3(\text{GL}_3(R),\mathbb Q)\) is injective. This is related to a conjecture of Suslin, relevant for his maps between algebraic \(K\)-theory and Milnor \(K\)-theory. There are variations with other coefficients. The proofs are based on a detailed analysis of conveniently chosen spectral sequences.