Generation of relative commutator subgroups in Chevalley groups. II

In the present paper, which is a direct sequel of our paper [14] joint with Roozbeh Hazrat, we prove an unrelativized version of the standard commutator formula in the setting of Chevalley groups. Namely, let Φ be a reduced irreducible root system of rank ≥ 2, let R be a commutative ring and let I,J be two ideals of R. We consider subgroups of the Chevalley group G(Φ, R) of type Φ over R. The unrelativized elementary subgroup E(Φ, I) of level I is generated (as a group) by the elementary unipotents xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, of level I. Obviously, in general, E(Φ, I) has no chance to be normal in E(Φ, R); its normal closure in the absolute elementary subgroup E(Φ, R) is denoted by E(Φ, R, I). The main results of [14] implied that the commutator [E(Φ, I), E(Φ, J)] is in fact normal in E(Φ, R). In the present paper we prove an unexpected result, that in fact [E(Φ, I), E(Φ, J)] = [E(Φ, R, I), E(Φ, R, J)]. It follows that the standard commutator formula also holds in the unrelativized form, namely [E(Φ, I), C(Φ, R, J)] = [E(Φ, I), E(Φ, J)], where C(Φ, R, I) is the full congruence subgroup of level I. In particular, E(Φ, I) is normal in C(Φ, R, I).

Generation of relative commutator subgroups in Chevalley groups

Let Φ be a reduced irreducible root system of rank greater than or equal to 2, let R be a commutative ring and let I, J be two ideals of R. In the present paper we describe generators of the commutator groups of relative elementary subgroups [E(Φ,R,I),E(Φ,R,J)] both as normal subgroups of the elementary Chevalley group E(Φ,R), and as groups. Namely, let xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ ξ ∈ R, be an elementary generator of E(Φ,R). As a normal subgroup of the absolute elementary group E(Φ,R), the relative elementary subgroup is generated by xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I. Classical results due to Stein, Tits and Vaserstein assert that as a group E(Φ,R,I) is generated by zα(ξ,η), where α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, η ∈ R. In the present paper, we prove the following birelative analogues of these results. As a normal subgroup of E(Φ,R) the relative commutator subgroup [E(Φ,R,I),E(Φ,R,J)] is generated by the following three types of generators: (i) [xα(ξ),zα(ζ,η)], (ii) [xα(ξ),x_α(ζ)] and (iii) xα(ξζ), where α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, ζ ∈ J, η ∈ R. As a group, the generators are essentially the same, only that type (iii) should be enlarged to (iv) zα(ξζ,η). For classical groups, these results, with many more computational proofs, were established in previous papers by the authors. There is already an amazing application of these results in the recent work of Stepanov on relative commutator width.