Scale functions on $p$-adic Lie groups

Let G be a p-adic Lie group. Then G is a locally compact, totally disconnected group, to which Willis 14] associates its scale function G : G→ℕ. We show that s can be computed on the Lie algebra level. The image of s consists of powers of p. If G is a linear algebraic group over ℚ _p , s(x)=s(h) is determined by the semisimple part h of x∈G. For every finite extension K of ℚ _p , the scale functions of G and H:=G(K) are related by s _H ∣ _G =s _G ^{K :ℚ} _p ^]. More generally, we clarify the relations between the scale function of a p-adic Lie group and the scale functions of its closed subgroups and Hausdorff quotients. Received: 20 February 1997; Revised version: 18 May 1998