Semiorderings and stability index under field extensions

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Let \(K\) be a field of characteristic not \(2\). Recall that a subset \(T\) of \(K\) is called an ordering of \(K\) if it satisfies the properties \(K^2\subseteq T\), \(T+T\subseteq T\), \(TT\subseteq T\), \(T\cap -T=0\) and \(T\cup -T=K\). If \(T\) satisfies all these properties except possibly the last one, it is called a preordering. If \(T\) satisfies all these properties except with \(TT\subseteq T\) replaced by \(K^2T\subseteq T\), it is called a semiordering. A fan is a preordering that can be characterized, for example, by the property that for any \(a\in K\setminus (T\cup -T)\) one has \(T+aT=T\cup aT\). For a preordering \(T\), we put \(\pm T^{\times}=(T\cup -T)\setminus\{ 0\}\). The stability index \(st(K)\) is then defined to be the supremum of the \(\mathbb{F}_2\)-dimensions of the exponent \(2\) groups \(K^{\times}/\pm T^{\times}\) for all fans \(T\) of \(K\). In the present paper, the authors study the question of when a (semi)ordering of \(K\) can be extended to a (semi)ordering of a field extension \(L\) of \(K\), and how the stability index behaves when passing from \(K\) to \(L\). They say that \(L/K\) preserves orderings (resp. that it is totally positive), if every (semi)ordering of \(K\) extends to a (semi)ordering of \(L\). They construct finite extensions that preserve orderings but that are not totally positive. However, they also prove that the two notions are equivalent for Galois extensions. It is also shown that the stability index will not drop over totally positive extensions or over finite extensions that preserve orderings, but that it may drop over infinite extensions that preserve orderings. They finally show that the list of all pairs \((st(K),st(L))\) where \(L/K\) ranges over all quadratic real field extensions consists exactly of all pairs \((n+r,n+1)\) with \(n,r\in\mathbb{N}\cup\{\infty\}\).

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