a Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto, 40 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2E4 b Oliver Villa, SUPSI, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, CH-6928 Manno, Switzerland
Abstract:
Let V be a nonsingular vector space over a field K of characteristic 2 with |K|>3. Suppose K is perfect and π is an element in the special orthogonal group SO(V)=Ω(V) with dimB(π)=2d. The length of π with respect to the symmetry commutators is d if B(π) is not totally isotropic; otherwise it is d+1.