Preservers of pairs of bivectors with bounded distance (Q958047)

Let \(\bigwedge^2 U:=\{x\wedge y;\;x,y\in U\}\) be the second exterior power of a vector space \(U\) over a commutative field. The length, \(l(A)\), of a nonzero element \(A\in\bigwedge^2U\) is the smallest integer \(k\) such that \(A=\sum_{i=1}^k x_i\wedge y_i\); the length of \(0\in\bigwedge^2 U\) is zero. One then defines a metric on \(\bigwedge^2U\) by \(d(A,B):=l(A-B)\), and calls the elements \(A,B\in \bigwedge^2 U\) adjacent if \(l(A-B)=1\). On finite-dimensional spaces, \(\bigwedge^2 U\) coincides with alternate matrices and \(l(A)=(\)rank\(\,A)/2\). Bijections which preserve adjacency on alternate matrices are already well-known. The authors consider infinite-dimensional \(U\) and classify surjective maps from \(\bigwedge^2 U\) onto \(\bigwedge^2 W\) which preserve adjacency in both directions. If the underlying field has at least three elements and \(\dim U\geq 2(k+1)\geq 6\) they proceed to classify surjections \(\Phi:\bigwedge^2U\to \bigwedge^2W\) with the property \(l(A-B)\leq k\Leftrightarrow l(\Phi(A)-\Phi(B))\leq k\). It is shown that both problems have the same solution: \[ \Phi(A)=\lambda (f\wedge f)(A)+R \] for some bijective semilinear map \(f:U\to W\), some scalar \(\lambda\), and some \(R\in\bigwedge^2W\). The last result is then applied to study preservers of determinant on alternate matrices and, when the underlying field \(F\) is perfect, of char\,\(F=2\), and \(|F|\geq 4\), to classify surjective maps on sufficiently large symmetric matrices such that rank\((A-B)\leq 2k\Leftrightarrow\) rank\((\Phi(A)-\Phi(B))\leq 2k\).