On Suslin Matrices and Their Connection to Spin Groups Vineeth Chintala
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On Suslin Matrices and their connection to Spin groups Vineeth Chintala Introduction William Clifford (1878) constructed his algebras in order to gen- eralise Complex numbers and Quaternions to higher dimensions. Though Clifford algebras have found wide applications in geometry, quantum mechanics and applied mathematics, their abstract con- struction may not be easy to work with. Even in the simplest case for a hyperbolic quadratic form, where Clifford algebras are total matrix rings, there is no simple isomorphism describing their generators. In this paper, we will give a simple description of Clifford algebras us- ing what are called Suslin matrices. The identities followed by these matrices will then be used to study the corresponding Spin groups. Conversely one will now be able to relate some (seemingly) acciden- tal properties of Suslin matrices to the geometry of Clifford algebras. Let R be a commutative ring and V be a free R-module. This ar- ticle is on the Clifford algebra of the hyperbolic module H(V) = V ⊕ V∗ equipped with the quadratic form q(x, f ) = f (x). These algebras are isomorphic to total matrix rings of size 2n × 2n, where dim V = n. The representation of Clifford algebras in terms of Suslin matrices is faithful only when dim V is odd and we will mostly be concerned with this case. With an explicit construction at hand, one can expect to derive some results on the Clifford algebra and its Spin group us- ing simple matrix computations. For example, the identities followed by the Suslin matrices (in Equation 1) give us (as we will see) the involution on the Clifford algebra. Indeed given any element of the Clifford algebra we will be able to explicitly construct its conjugate matrix under the involution. As an application of Suslin matrices, we give a proof of the following exceptional isomorphisms : arXiv:2009.12107v2 [math.RA] 16 Dec 2020 ∼ ∼ Spin4(R) = SL2(R) × SL2(R), Spin6(R) = SL4(R). On the other hand, some key properties of Suslin matrices (see Theorem 2.4 and the margin-notes in 7.3) are re-derived here (with minimal computation) using the connection to Clifford algebras. These properties play the crucial role in the papers [JR], [JR2] which study an action of the orthogonal group on unimodular rows. In addition, this connection to Clifford algebras explains why the size of a Suslin matrix has to be of the form 2n−1 × 2n−1. One can go on on suslin matrices and their connection to spin groups 2 and ask if there are other matrix-constructions, possibly of smaller sizes. Indeed, it turns out that the size chosen by Suslin is the least possible. This is an embedding problem of a quadratic space into the algebra of matrices - it belongs to a larger theme of finding natural ways of constructing algebras out of quadratic spaces. It would be interesting to see similar constructions for other types of quadratic forms - and for this reason alone, it might be worthwhile having this connection between Suslin matrices and Clifford algebras. We begin with a few preliminaries on Clifford algebras and Suslin matrices (to make the article accessible) and the link between them. The involution of the Clifford algebra is then described via some identities followed by the Suslin matrices. It turns out that the behav- ior of the Suslin matrices (hence that of the Spin groups) depends on whether the dimension of V is odd or even. One realizes this after observing the pattern followed by the involution in the odd and even cases. This leads us to Section 5 where the action of the Spin group on the Suslin space is studied in detail. The last part of the paper contains a few remarks on the Spin and Epin groups. By a ring, we always mean a ring with unity. In this paper, V will always denote a free R-module where R is any commutative ring and H(V) = V ⊕ V∗. From now on, we fix the standard basis for V = Rn and identify V with its dual V∗. One can then write the quadratic form on H(V) as T q(v, w) = v · w = a1b1 + ··· + anbn. 1 1 for v = (a1, ··· , an), w = (b1, ··· , bn). References : For general literature on Clifford algebras and Spin groups Acknowledgements. I would like to thank my advisor Prof. Ravi over a commutative ring, the reader is referred to [B1], [B2] of H. Bass. Rao for the many discussions we had while working on this paper. For a more detailed introduction to His willingness to give his time so generously has been very much Suslin matrices (and their important appreciated. connection to unimodular rows), a few references are Suslin’s paper [S], the Part of this work was done during a short enjoyable visit to papers [JR], [JR2] of Ravi Rao and Selby Fields Institute (in Toronto), which funded me to attend its Spring Jose, and T. Y. Lam’s book [L] (sections III.7, VIII.5). school on Torsors in 2013. 1 The Suslin Construction The Suslin construction gives a sequence of matrices whose size doubles at every step. Moreover each Suslin matrix S has a conjugate Suslin matrix S such that SS and S + S are scalars (norm and the trace). Let us pause here to see the recursive process by which the Suslin on suslin matrices and their connection to spin groups 3 n n T 2n−1 matrix Sn(v, w) of size 2 × 2 , and determinant (v · w ) , is con- structed from two vectors v, w in Rn+1. n Let v = (a0, v1), w = (b0, w1) where v1, w1 are vectors in R . Define ! a0 v1 S0(a0, b0) = a0, S1(v, w) = −w1 b0 and 0 1 a0 I2n−1 Sn−1(v1, w1) B C Sn(v, w) = @ A . T −Sn−1(w1, v1) b0 I2n−1 For Sn = Sn(v, w), define 0 1 b0 I2n−1 −Sn−1(v1, w1) T B C Sn := Sn(w, v) = @ A . T Sn−1(w1, v1) a0 I2n−1 For example if v = (a1, a2) and w = (b1, b2), then ! ! a a b −a S(v, w) = 1 2 , S(v, w) = 1 2 . −b2 b1 b2 a1 For v = (a1, a2, a3) and w = (b1, b2, b3), 0 1 0 1 a1 0 a2 a3 b1 0 −a2 −a3 B − C B − C B 0 a1 b3 b2C B 0 b1 b3 b2C S(v, w) = B C , S(v, w) = B C . @−b2 a3 b1 0 A @b2 −a3 a1 0 A −b3 −a2 0 b1 b3 a2 0 a1 For v = (a1, a2, a3, a4) and w = (b1, b2, b3, b4), the corresponding 8 × 8 Suslin matrices are 0 1 a1 0 0 0 a2 0 a3 a4 B C B 0 a1 0 0 0 a2 −b4 b3C B C B 0 0 a1 0 −b3 a4 b2 0 C B C B 0 0 0 a −b −a 0 b C B 1 4 3 2C B C S(v, w) = B C B C B−b2 0 a3 a4 b1 0 0 0 C B C B 0 −b −b b 0 b 0 0 C B 2 4 3 1 C B C @−b3 a4 −a2 0 0 0 b1 0 A −b4 −a3 0 −a2 0 0 0 b1 on suslin matrices and their connection to spin groups 4 and 0 1 b1 0 0 0 −a2 0 −a3 −a4 B C B 0 b1 0 0 0 −a2 b4 −b3C B C B 0 0 b1 0 b3 −a4 −b2 0 C B C B 0 0 0 b b a 0 −b C B 1 4 3 2C B C S(v, w) = B C . B C Bb2 0 −a3 −a4 a1 0 0 0 C B C B 0 b b −b 0 a 0 0 C B 2 4 3 1 C B C @b3 −a4 a2 0 0 0 a1 0 A b4 a3 0 a2 0 0 0 a1 Notice that Sn(v, w) is also a Suslin matrix. Indeed, Sn(v, w) = 0 0 Sn(v , w ) where 0 ! ! v (b0, −v1) 0 = . w (a0, −w1) In particular, we have S0(a0, b0) = b0. One can easily check that a Suslin matrix Sn = Sn(v, w) satisfies the following properties: T SnSn = SnSn = (v · w )I2n , T 2n−1 det Sn = (v · w ) . Unless otherwise specified, we assume that n > 0. Then the element (v, w) is determined by its corresponding Suslin matrix Sn(v, w). So we sometimes identify the element (v, w) with Sn(v, w) for n > 0. The set of Suslin matrices of size 2n × 2n is an R-module under matrix-addition and scalar multiplication given by rSn(v, w) = Sn(rv, rw) for r 2 R; Moreover when n > 0, the mapping Sn ! Sn is an isometry of the quadratic space H(Rn+1), preserving the quadratic form q(v, w) = v · wT. In his paper [S], A. Suslin then describes a sequence of matrices Jn 2 M2n (R) by the recurrence formula 8 >1 for n = 0 > > > >0 1 > > Jn−1 0 <>@ A for n even Jn = 0 −Jn−1 > > > >0 1 > 0 Jn−1 > for n odd. >@ A : −Jn−1 0 It is easy to check that det(J) = 1 and 2 2 We will simply write J and S (or S(v, w)) and drop the subscript when there is no confusion. When there is some confusion, remember that the subscript r in Sr is used to indicate that r r Sr (or Jr) is a 2 × 2 matrix.