Classification theorems for central simple algebras with involution (with an appendix by R. Parimala)

The involutions in this paper are algebra anti-automorphisms of period two. Involutions on endomorphism algebras of finite-dimensional vector spaces are adjoint to symmetric or skew-symmetric bilinear forms, or to hermitian forms. Analogues of the classical invariants of quadratic forms (discriminant, Clifford algebra, signature) have been defined for arbitrary central simple algebras with involution. In this paper it is shown that over certain fields these invariants are sufficient to classify involutions up to conjugation. For algebras of low degree a classification is obtained over an arbitrary field. Received: 29 April 1999     

Quadratic descent of hermitian forms

Quadratic descent of hermitian and skew hermitian forms over division algebras with involution of the first kind in arbitrary characteristic is investigated and a criterion, in terms of systems of quadratic forms, is obtained. A refined result is also obtained for hermitian (resp. skew hermitian) forms over a quaternion algebra with symplectic (resp. orthogonal) involution.     

On the u-invariant of hermitian forms

Let K be a field of characteristic not 2 and A a central simple algebra with an involution σ. A result of Mahmoudi provides an upper bound for the u-invariants of hermitian forms and skew-hermitian forms over (A, σ) in terms of the u-invariant of K. In this paper we give a different upper bound when A is a tensor product of quaternion algebras and σ is a the tensor product of canonical involutions. We also show that our bounds are sharper than those of Mahmoudi.     

Cohomological invariants of quaternionic skew-hermitian forms

We define a complete system of invariants e _n,Q ,n ≥ 0 for quaternionic skew-hermitian forms, which are twisted versions of the invariants e _n for quadratic forms. We also show that quaternionic skew-hermitian forms defined over a field of 2-cohomological dimension at most 3 are classified by rank, discriminant, Clifford invariant and Rost invariant. Received: 30 April 2006     

Representation fields for quaternionic skew-hermitian forms

Classes of indefinite quadratic forms in a genus are in correspondence with the Galois group of an abelian extension called the spinor class field (Estes and Hsia, Japanese J. Math. 16, 341–350 (1990)). Hsia has proved (Hsia et al., J. Reine Angew. Math. 494, 129–140 (1998)) the existence of a representation field F with the property that a lattice in the genus represents a fixed given lattice if and only if the corresponding element of the Galois group is trivial on F. This far, the corresponding result for skew-hermitian forms was known only in some special cases, e.g., when the ideal (2) is square free over the base field. In this work we prove the existence of representation fields for quaternionic skew-hermitian forms in complete generality.     

On hermitian trace forms over hilbertian fields

Let k be a field of characteristic different from 2. Let be a finite separable extension with a {\it k}-linear involution . For every -symmetric element , we define a hermitian scaled trace form by . If , it is called a hermitian trace form. In the following, we show that every even-dimensional quadratic form over a hilbertian field, which is not isomorphic to the hyperbolic plane, is isomorphic to a hermitian scaled trace form. Then we give a characterization of Witt classes of hermitian trace forms over some hilbertian fields. Received August 3, 1999; in final form January 10, 2000 / Published online March 12, 2001     

An elementary proof that rationally isometric quadratic forms are isometric

Let R be a valuation ring with fraction field K and 2 ∈ R ^×. We give an elementary proof of the following known result: two unimodular quadratic forms over R are isometric over K if and only if they are isometric over R. Our proof does not use cancelation of quadratic forms and yields an explicit algorithm to construct an isometry over R from a given isometry over K. The statement actually holds for hermitian forms over valuated involutary division rings, provided mild assumptions.     

Signatures of hermitian forms and the Knebusch trace formula

Signatures of quadratic forms have been generalized to hermitian forms over algebras with involution. In the literature this is done via Morita theory, which causes sign ambiguities in certain cases. In this paper, a hermitian version of the Knebusch trace formula is established and used as a main tool to resolve these ambiguities.     

环上的Clifford代数

§1. 引言与记号 如众周知,域上的Clifford代数乃是概括域上的Grassmann代数(外代数)以及广义四元数代数的一个代数。它不但在数学的一些分支(如群表示论、二次型理论等)中有着重要的应用,而且也是近代理论物理中的有用工具之一(比如参看[1])。1954年,C.Chevalley在[2]中完美地给出了域上Clifford代数的基本理论。本文的主要目的是建立可换环上的Clifford代数,即给出它的定义、存在性与唯一性等。容易看出,这是域上的Clifford代     

The hermitian level of composition algebras

 The hermitian level of composition algebras with involution over a ring is studied. In particular, it is shown that the hermitian level of a composition algebra with standard involution over a semilocal ring, where two is invertible, is always a power of two when finite. Furthermore, any power of two can occur as the hermitian level of a composition algebra with non-standard involution. Some bounds are obtained for the hermitian level of a composition algebra with involution of the second kind. Received: 22 March 2002 / Revised version: 10 July 2002 Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 17A75, 16W10, 11E25     

A local–global principle for algebras with involution and hermitian forms

 Weakly hyperbolic involutions are introduced and a proof is given of the following local–global principle: a central simple algebra with involution of any kind is weakly hyperbolic if and only if its signature is zero for all orderings of the ground field. Also, the order of a weakly hyperbolic algebra with involution is a power of two, this being a direct consequence of a result of Scharlau. As a corollary an analogue of Pfister's local–global principle is obtained for the Witt group of hermitian forms over an algebra with involution. Received: 29 October 2001; in final form: 9 August 2002 / Published online: 16 May 2003 Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 16K20, 11E39     

Geometry of 2×2 hermitian matrices

Let D be a division ring which possesses an involution a→ā. Assume that F = {a∈D|a=ā} is a proper subfield of D and is contained in the center of D. It is pointed out that if D is of characteristic not two, D is either a separable quadratic extension of F or a division ring of generalized quaternions over F and that if D is of characteristic two, D is a separable quadratic extension of F. Thus the trace map Tr: D→F,hermitian matrices over D when n≥3 and now can be deleted. When D is a field, the fundamental theorem of 2×2 hermitian matrices over D has already been proved. This paper proves the fundamental theorem of 2×2 hermitian matrices over any division ring of generalized quaternions of characteristic not two.     

The planetary <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-body problem: symplectic foliation,reductions and invariant tori

This is the third of a series of papers relating intersections of special cycles on the integral model of a Shimura surface to Fourier coefficients of Hilbert modular forms. More precisely, we embed the Shimura curve over ℚ associated to a rational quaternion algebra into the Shimura surface associated to the base change of the quaternion algebra to a real quadratic field. After extending the associated moduli problems over ℤ we obtain an arithmetic threefold with a embedded arithmetic surface, which we view as a cycle of codimension one. We then construct a family, indexed by totally positive algebraic integers in the real quadratic field, of codimension two cycles (complex multiplication points) on the arithmetic threefold. The intersection multiplicities of the codimension two cycles with the fixed codimension one cycle are shown to agree with the Fourier coefficients of a (very particular) Hilbert modular form of weight 3/2. The results are higher dimensional variants of results of Kudla-Rapoport-Yang, which relate intersection multiplicities of special cycles on the integral model of a Shimura curve to Fourier coefficients of a modular form in two variables.     

A note on a lemma of Shimura

The subject of this paper is a quaternion algebra over a quadratic extension of a totally real algebraic number field. We generalize an important technical lemma of Shimura, on which a certain period of automorphic forms depends.

     

Hermitian forms over division algebras over real function fields

We develop here the theory of (skew-) hermitian forms over division algebras over the real function field and its completions. In particular, a local and local-global classification for forms of all types are given and some Hasse principles are proved.     

On integral representations of linear forms

Starting from a given *-algebra, we consider integral representations of positive linear forms on the hermitian spectrum of the algebra, providing necessary and sufficient conditions theorem. This specializes to previous results of R. S. Bucy—G. Maltese and G. Maltese for Banach *-algebras, and M. Fragoulopoulou for Imc *-algebras.     

Zur Struktur der vierdimensionalen quadratischen Algebren

Assuming properties, which are essential for division algebras, but mostly invariant to extensions of the ground field, we investigate the structure of quadratic division algebras of dimension four over an arbitrary field of characteristic not two. We relate the size of the group of automorphisms of such an algebra A to algebraic laws valid in A, characterize Lie-admissibility by means of the skew-commutative vector algebra of A and outline the possibilities of describing A by irreducible identities of degree 3. Some results of the last chapter apply to arbitrary dimensions. We show, that a simple quadratic algebra with the right (left) inverse property for invertible elements is a composition algebra. Finally we conclude, that a quadratic division algebra of dimension four with a right (left) nucleus different from the center is associative.     

Zero divisors in quaternion algebras

Let F be a finite field or an algebraic number field. In previous papers we have shown how to find the basic building blocks (the radical and the simple components) of a finite dimensional algebra over F in polynomial time (deterministically in characteristic zero and Las Vegas in the finite case). A finite-dimensional simple algebra A is a full matrix algebra over some not necessarily commutative extension field G of F. The problem remains to find G and an isomorphism between A and a matrix algebra over G. This, too, can be done in polynomial time for finite F. We indicate in the present paper that the problem for F = Q might be substantially more difficult. We link the problem to hard number theoretic problems such as quadratic residuosity modulo a composite number. We show that assuming the generalized Riemann hypothesis, there exists a randomized polynomial time reduction from quadratic residuosity to determining whether or not a given 4-dimensional algebra over Q has zero divisors. It will follow that finding a pair of zero divisors is at least as hard as factoring squarefree integers.     

Über Matrizen mit Semidefinitem Realteil, Imaginärteil oder Polarem Defekt und Ihre Eigenwerte

We give a new short proof using properties of the field of values to show that

a) a complex matrix with only real eigenvalues is either hermitian or has indefinite imaginary part, and

b) one with only purely imaginary eigenvalues is either skew-hermitian or has indefinite real part, while

c) one whose eigenvalues all have absolute value 1 is either unitary or has indefinite polar defect I—TT^*.

Conversely, every skewsymmetric matrix is the skewsymmetric part of some real matrix that is similar to a real diagonal matrix. The corresponding result for complex matrices is found to be false.     

A new proof of the i' 4 - terms in the middle '- theorem

In this note we give a short proof of a theorem of Bautista and Brenner [1,2] which once again demonstrates the usefulness of quadratic forms in representation theory. Let λ denote a finite dimensional algebra over an algebraically closed field k , and mod λ the category of finite dimensional λ-module.