English

Another presentation for symplectic Steinberg groups

K-Theory and Homology 2014-12-12 v2

Abstract

We solve a classical problem of centrality of symplectic K2\mathrm K_2, namely we show that for an arbitrary commutative ring RR, l3l\geq3 the symplectic Steinberg group StSp(2l,R)\mathrm{StSp}(2l,\,R) as an extension of the elementary symplectic group Ep(2l,R)\mathrm{Ep}(2l,\,R) is a central extension. This allows to conclude that the explicit definition of symplectic K2Sp(2l,R)\mathrm{K_2Sp}(2l,\,R) as a kernel of this extension, i.e. as a group of non-elementary relations among symplectic transvections, coincides with the usual implicit definition via plus-construction. We proceed from van der Kallen's classical paper, where he shows an analogous result for linear K-theory. We find a new set of generators for the symplectic Steinberg group and a defining system of relations among them. In this new presentation it is obvious that the symplectic Steinberg group is a central extension.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1405.4296,
  title  = {Another presentation for symplectic Steinberg groups},
  author = {Andrei Lavrenov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1405.4296},
  year   = {2014}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T04:16:30.462Z