Invariant characters and coprime actions on finite nilpotent groups

Abstract. Let S be a subgroup of SLn(R), where R is a commutative ring with identity and n \geqq 3n \geqq 3. The order of S, o(S), is the R-ideal generated by x_ij, x_ii - x_jj (i 1 j)x_{ij},\ x_{ii} - x_{jj}\ (i \neq j), where (x_ij) ? S(x_{ij}) \in S. Let En(R) be the subgroup of SLn(R) generated by the elementary matrices. The level of S, l(S), is the largest R-ideal \frak q\frak {q} with the property that S contains all the \frak q\frak {q}-elementary matrices and all conjugates of these by elements of En(R). It is clear that l(S) \leqq o(S)l(S) \leqq o(S). Vaserstein has proved that, for all R and for all n \geqq 3n \geqq 3, the subgroup S is normalized by En(R) if and only if l(S) = o(S)