Width bounds and Steinhaus property for unit groups of continuous rings

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Bernard, Josefin, Schneider, Friedrich Martin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Bernard, Josefin
Schneider, Friedrich Martin
author_facet Bernard, Josefin
Schneider, Friedrich Martin
contents We prove an algebraic decomposition theorem for the unit group $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ of an arbitrary non-discrete irreducible, continuous ring $R$ (in von Neumann's sense), which entails that every element of $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ is both a product of $7$ commutators and a product of $16$ involutions. Combining this with further insights into the geometry of involutions, we deduce that $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ has the so-called Steinhaus property with respect to the natural rank topology, thus every homomorphism from $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ to a separable topological group is necessarily continuous. Due to earlier work, this has further dynamical ramifications: for instance, for every action of $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ by homeomorphisms on a non-void metrizable compact space, every element of $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ admits a fixed point in the latter. In particular, our results answer two questions by Carderi and Thom, even in generalized form.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_17480
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Width bounds and Steinhaus property for unit groups of continuous rings
Bernard, Josefin
Schneider, Friedrich Martin
Group Theory
Rings and Algebras
22A05, 37B02, 06C20, 16E50
We prove an algebraic decomposition theorem for the unit group $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ of an arbitrary non-discrete irreducible, continuous ring $R$ (in von Neumann's sense), which entails that every element of $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ is both a product of $7$ commutators and a product of $16$ involutions. Combining this with further insights into the geometry of involutions, we deduce that $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ has the so-called Steinhaus property with respect to the natural rank topology, thus every homomorphism from $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ to a separable topological group is necessarily continuous. Due to earlier work, this has further dynamical ramifications: for instance, for every action of $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ by homeomorphisms on a non-void metrizable compact space, every element of $\mathrm{GL}(R)$ admits a fixed point in the latter. In particular, our results answer two questions by Carderi and Thom, even in generalized form.
title Width bounds and Steinhaus property for unit groups of continuous rings
topic Group Theory
Rings and Algebras
22A05, 37B02, 06C20, 16E50
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.17480