Related papers: Products of involutions in symplectic groups over …

Let $s$ be an $n$-dimensional symplectic form over an arbitrary field with characteristic not $2$, with $n>2$. The simplicity of the group $\mathrm{Sp}(s)/\{\pm \mathrm{id}\}$ and the existence of a non-trivial involution in…

We classify bireflectional elements (products of 2 involutions) in symplectic groups Sp$(2n, K)$ over a field $K$. We also classify rev ersible elements (elements conjugate to their inverses) and bireflectional elements in finite projective…

We prove that every automorphism of an infinite-dimensional vector space over a field is the product of four involutions, a result that is optimal in the general case. We also characterize the automorphisms that are the product of three…

In the stable general linear group over an arbitrary field, we prove that every element with determinant $\pm 1$ is the product of three involutions, and of no less in general. We also obtain several results of the same flavor, with…

An element of a group is called bireflectional when it is the product of two involutions of the group (i.e. elements of order 1 or 2). If an element is bireflectional then it is conjugated to its inverse. It is known that all elements of…

In this paper we study symplectic involutions and quadratic pairs that become hyperbolic over the function field of a conic. In particular, we classify them in degree 4 and deduce results on 5 dimensional minimal quadratic forms, thus…

Answering a question of Geoff Robinson, we compute the large n limiting proportion of i(n,q)/q^[n^2/2], where i(n,q) denotes the number of involutions in GL(n,q). We give similar results for the finite unitary, symplectic, and orthogonal…

The projective orthogonal and symplectic groups $PO_n(F)$ and $PSp_n(F)$ have a natural action on the $F$ vector space $V' = M_n(F) \oplus ... \oplus M_n(F)$. Here we assume $F$ is an infinite field of characteristic not 2. If we assume…

Let $V$ be a $2n$-dimensional vector space over a field $F$ and $\Omega$ be a non-degenerate symplectic form on $V$. Denote by ${\mathfrak H}_{k}(\Omega)$ the set of all $2k$-dimensional subspaces $U\subset V$ such that the restriction…

This paper is a new important step towards the complete classification of the finite simple groups which are $(2, 3)$-generated. In fact, we prove that the symplectic groups $Sp_{2n}(q)$ are $(2,3)$-generated for all $n\geq 4$. Because of…

For $\mathrm{O}(\mathrm{q},k)$, the orthogonal group over a field $k$ of characteristic 2 with respect to a quadratic form $\mathrm{q}$, we discuss the isomorphism classes of fixed points of involutions. When the quadratic space is either…

For a finite group generated by involutions, the involution width is defined to be the minimal $k\in\mathbb{N}$ such that any group element can be written as a product of at most $k$ involutions. We show that the involution width of every…

A classical theorem of Wonenburger, Djokovic, Hoffmann and Paige states that an element of the general linear group of a finite-dimensional vector space is the product of two involutions if and only if it is similar to its inverse. We give…

In this note we give a self-contained proof of the following classification (up to conjugation) of subgroups of the general symplectic group of dimension n over a finite field of characteristic l, for l at least 5, which can be derived from…

It is shown that a finite group in which more than 3/4 of the elements are involutions must be an elementary abelian 2-group. A group in which exactly 3/4 of the elements are involutions is characterized as the direct product of the…

A first characterization of the isomorphism classes of $k$-involutions for any reductive algebraic groups defined over a perfect field was given by Helminck in 2000 using $3$ invariants. In 2004, Helminck, Wu, and Dometrius gave a full…

We prove symplectic versions of Suslin's famous $n!$-theorem for algebras over quadratically closed perfect fields of characteristic $\neq 2$ and for algebras over finite fields of characteristic $\neq 2$.

Symmetric $k$-varieties generalize Riemannian sym\-me\-tric spaces to reductive groups defined over arbitrary fields. For most perfect fields, it is known that symmetric $k$-varieties are in one-to-one correspondence with isomorphy classes…

Let $A$ be a ring with $1\neq 0$, not necessarily finite, endowed with an involution~$*$, that is, an anti-automorphism of order $\leq 2$. Let $H_n(A)$ be the additive group of all $n\times n$ hermitian matrices over $A$ relative to $*$.…

We prove that for every field k and every positive integer n, there exists an absolutely simple n-dimensional abelian variety over k. We also prove an asymptotic result for finite fields: For every finite field k and positive integer n, we…