Multiplicative arithmetic of finite quadratic forms over Dedekind rings

Letq(X) be a quadratic form in an even numberm of variables with coefficients in a Dedekind ringK. Let us assume that the setsR(q,a) = {N∈K ^m ;q(N) = a} of representations of elementsa ofK by the formq are finite. Then certain multiplicative relations are obtained by elementary means between the setsR(q,a) andR(q,ab), whereb is a product of prime elementsρ ofK with finite coefficientsK/ρK. The relations imply similar multiplicative relations between the numbers of elements of the setsR(q,a), which formerly could be obtained only in some special cases like the case whenK = ℤ is the ring of rational integers and only by means of the theory of Hecke operators on the spaces of theta-series. As an application, an almost elementary proof of the Siegel theorem on the mean number of representations of integers by integral positive quadratic forms of determinant 1 is given. Dedicated to the memory of Professor K G Ramanathan     

A stable range for quadratic forms over commutative rings

A commutative ring A has quadratic stable range 1 (qsr(A) = 1) if each primitive binary quadratic form over A represents a unit. It is shown that qsr(A) = 1 implies that every primitive quadratic form over A represents a unit, A has stable range 1 and finitely generated constant rank projectives over A are free. A classification of quadratic forms is provided over Bezout domains with characteristic other than 2, quadratic stable range 1, and a strong approximation property for a certain subset of their maximum spectrum. These domains include rings of holomorphic functions on connected noncompact Riemann surfaces. Examples of localizations of rings of algebraic integers are provided to show that the classical concept of stable range does not behave well in either direction under finite integral extensions and that qsr(A) = 1 does not descend from such extensions.     

On the stable rank and reducibility in algebras of real symmetric functions

Let A_?(??) denote the set of functions belonging to the disc algebra having real Fourier coefficients. We show that A_?(??) has Bass and topological stable ranks equal to 2, which settles the conjecture made by Brett Wick in [18]. We also give a necessary and sufficient condition for reducibility in some real algebras of functions on symmetric domains with holes, which is a generalization of the main theorem in [18]. A sufficient topological condition on the symmetric open set ?? is given for the corresponding real algebra A_?(??) to have Bass stable rank equal to 1 (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Semilattices of finitely generated ideals of exchange rings with finite stable rank

We find a distributive -semilattice of size that is not isomorphic to the maximal semilattice quotient of any Riesz monoid endowed with an order-unit of finite stable rank. We thus obtain solutions to various open problems in ring theory and in lattice theory. In particular:

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There is no exchange ring (thus, no von Neumann regular ring and no C*-algebra of real rank zero) with finite stable rank whose semilattice of finitely generated, idempotent-generated two-sided ideals is isomorphic to  .

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There is no locally finite, modular lattice whose semilattice of finitely generated congruences is isomorphic to .

These results are established by constructing an infinitary statement, denoted here by , that holds in the maximal semilattice quotient of every Riesz monoid endowed with an order-unit of finite stable rank, but not in the semilattice  .

     

Strongly stable rank and applications to matrix completion

We perform an in-depth study of strongly stable ranks of modules over a commutative ring. Here we define the strongly stable rank of a module to be the supremum of the stable ranks of its finitely generated submodules. As an application, we give non-Noetherian generalizations of known facts about outer products and matrix completions over PIRs and Dedekind domains. We construct Noetherian and non-Noetherian domains of arbitrary strongly stable rank. We also consider strongly n-generated ideals, and we characterize the rings in which every ideal is strongly 2-generated and the domains in which every ideal is strongly 3-generated.     

Annihilating polynomials for quadratic forms and Stirling numbers of the second kind

We present a set of generators of the full annihilator ideal for the Witt ring of an arbitrary field of characteristic unequal to two satisfying a non‐vanishing condition on the powers of the fundamental ideal in the torsion part of the Witt ring. This settles a conjecture of Ongenae and Van Geel. This result could only be proved by first obtaining a new lower bound on the 2‐adic valuation of Stirling numbers of the second kind. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

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.     

Algebraic jump loci for rank and Betti numbers over Laurent polynomial rings

Let C be a chain complex of finitely generated free modules over a commutative Laurent polynomial ring $L_s$ in s indeterminates. Given a group homomorphism $p:{\mathbb{Z}}^s?{\mathbb{Z}}^t$ we let $p_{!}(C)=C{?}_{L_s}{L}_t$ denote the resulting induced complex over the Laurent polynomial ring $L_t$ in t indeterminates. We prove that the Betti number jump loci, that is, the sets of those homomorphisms p such that $b_k(p_{!}(C))>b_k(C)$, have a surprisingly simple structure. We allow non-unital commutative rings of coefficients, and work with a notion of Betti numbers that generalises both the usual one for integral domains, and the analogous concept involving McCoy ranks in case of unital commutative rings.