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     

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     

Sesquilinear forms over rings with involution

Many classical results concerning quadratic forms have been extended to Hermitian forms over algebras with involution. However, not much is known in the case of sesquilinear forms without any symmetry property. The present paper will establish a Witt cancellation result, an analogue of Springer’s theorem, as well as some local–global and finiteness results in this context.     

On the first cohomology of arithmetic groups

We study the restriction to smaller subgroups, of cohomology classes on arithmetic groups (possibly after moving the class by Hecke correspondences), especially in the context of first cohomology of arithmetic groups. We obtain vanishing results for the first cohomology of cocompact arithmetic lattices in SU(n,1) which arise from hermitian forms over division algebras D of degree p ², p an odd prime, equipped with an involution of the second kind. We show that it is not possible for a ‘naive’ restriction of cohomology to be injective in general. We also establish that the restriction map is injective at the level of first cohomology for non co-compact lattices, extending a result of Raghunathan and Venkataramana for co-compact lattices. Received: 14 September 2000 / Accepted: 6 June 2001     

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.     

Lattice chain models for affine buildings of classical type

A concrete lattice chain model for the buildings of the classical groups over non archimedean complete skew fields is given. The building axioms are proved in a uniform way using hereditary orders with involution instead of lattice chains. Received: 16 December 1999 / Revised version: 12 July 2001 / Published online: 18 January 2002     

The isometry classification of hermitian forms over division algebras

The isometry classification problem occupies a central role in the theory of quadratic and hermitian forms. This article is a survey of results on the problem for quadratic and hermitian forms over a field and also for hermitian and skew-hermitian forms over a noncommutative division algebra with involution. Rather than adopting a very abstract approach, the problems are stated in matrix or linear-algebraic terms. The known solutions depend crucially on the particular field considered, although there are some general results which are mentioned. While many of the results date back a long time, some recent results, especially those on skew-hermitian forms over a quaternion algebra over a number field, are included.     

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     

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     

A Hermitian analogue of the Bröcker-Prestel theorem

The Bröcker-Prestel local-global principle characterizes weak isotropy of quadratic forms over a formally real field in terms of weak isotropy over the Henselizations and isotropy over the real closures of that field. A Hermitian analogue of this principle is presented for algebras of index at most two. An improved result is also presented for algebras with a decomposable involution, algebras of Pythagorean index at most two, and algebras over SAP and ED fields.     

Weakly hyperbolic involutions

Pfister’s Local–Global Principle states that a quadratic form over a (formally) real field is weakly hyperbolic (i.e. represents a torsion element in the Witt ring) if and only if its total signature is zero. This result extends naturally to the setting of central simple algebras with involution. The present article provides a new proof of this result and extends it to the case of signatures at preorderings. Furthermore the quantitative relation between nilpotence and torsion is explored for quadratic forms as well as for central simple algebras with involution.     

Corrigendum to the paper “Hermitian forms over division algebras over real function fields”

In the previous paper [T] we gave a classification of hermitian forms over the real function fieldk=R(t) and its completionsk _v with respect to valuationsv trivial onR. Unfortunately in the local case the arguments given for cases A and D, in general, were not correct. Therefore the resulting local and local-global classifications obtained were incorrect. I would like also to thank Dr. D. Hoffmann for pointing out these mistakes and the referee for useful comments. Here we would like to make necessary corrections to [T]. We keep the same notation used there, except that in the first paragraph,J is not the standard involution of a quaternion division algebraD (with basis {1,i,j,ij}). All hermitian forms will be hermitian forms with respect toJ, with values inD.     

Orthogonal Pfister involutions in characteristic two

We show that over a field of characteristic 2 a central simple algebra with orthogonal involution that decomposes into a product of quaternion algebras with involution is either anisotropic or metabolic. We use this to define an invariant of such orthogonal involutions that completely determines the isotropy behaviour of the involution. We also give an example of a non-totally decomposable algebra with orthogonal involution that becomes totally decomposable over every splitting field of the algebra.     

Structurable Superalgebras of Classical Type

This article classifies simple structurable superalgebras with nontrivial involution over algebraically closed fields of characteristic 0 whose Kantor Lie superalgebra is of classical (i.e., non-Cartan) type. These are either structurable superalgebras of a hermitian superform or two examples constructed from cubic forms. It also makes extensive use of the Grassmann envelope to transfer constructions and results from ordinary algebras to superalgebras.     

On split products of quaternion algebras with involution in characteristic two

The question of whether a split tensor product of quaternion algebras with involution over a field of characteristic two can be expressed as a tensor product of split quaternion algebras with involution is shown to have an affirmative answer.     

On the hermitian picard group of a congruence order

In this note methods are developed which permit us to concretely calculate the hermitian Picard group of a congruence order A over a discrete valuation ring, with respect to an involution α of A. In particular, this allows us to exhibit some explicit examples of algebras A whose hermitian Picard group strongly depends upon the chosen involution on A.     

Forms Represented by Linear Forms

This paper is the third in a series in which the author investigates the question of representation of forms by linear forms. Whereas in the first two treatments the proportion of forms F of degree 3 (resp. degree d) which can be written as a sum of two cubes (resp. d-th powers) of linear forms with algebraic coefficients is determined, the generalization now consists in allowing more general expressions of degree d in two linear forms. The main result is thus to give an asymptotic formula, in terms of their height, for the number or decomposable forms that have a representation

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.     

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.     

Universal quadratic forms and indecomposables over biquadratic fields

The aim of this article is to study (additively) indecomposable algebraic integers of biquadratic number fields K and universal totally positive quadratic forms with coefficients in . There are given sufficient conditions for an indecomposable element of a quadratic subfield to remain indecomposable in the biquadratic number field K. Furthermore, estimates are proven which enable algorithmization of the method of escalation over K. These are used to prove, over two particular biquadratic number fields and , a lower bound on the number of variables of a universal quadratic forms.