English

Toric decomposition in algebraic groups

Algebraic Geometry 2026-07-06 v1 Group Theory

Abstract

Over an arbitrary field F\mathbb{F}, we construct n+1n+1 maximal tori T1,,Tn+1T_1,\dots,T_{n+1} in PGLn(F)\operatorname{PGL}_n(\mathbb{F}) so that the product T1Tn+1T_1\dots T_{n+1} is almost the whole PGLn(F)\operatorname{PGL}_n(\mathbb{F}) and every gT1Tn+1g\in T_1\dots T_{n+1} can be expressed uniquely as g=t1tn+1g=t_1\dots t_{n+1} where tiTit_i\in T_i. The construction is optimal, as the number of tori with this property attains a general upper bound for connected reductive groups over an algebraically closed field, as well as over finite fields. We also show that n+2n+2 suitably chosen maximal tori T1,,Tn+2T_1,\dots,T_{n+2} are enough to cover the whole group, i.e. PGLn(F)=T1Tn+2\operatorname{PGL}_n(\mathbb{F})=T_1\dots T_{n+2}, provided F>n2|\mathbb{F}|>n^2. This is optimal over a finite field and is conjecturally optimal over algebraically closed fields, i.e. the number of such tori is as small as possible.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.05212,
  title  = {Toric decomposition in algebraic groups},
  author = {Dávid R. Szabó},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.05212},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

First draft, 17 pages