Tensor Maps of Twisted Group Schemes and Cohomological Invariants

Abstract

Working over an arbitrary field F of characteristic not 2, we consider linear algebraic groups over F. We view these as functors, represented by finitely generated F-Hopf algebras, from the category of commutative, associative, F-algebras Alg_F, to the category of groups. Classical examples of these groups, such as the special linear group SL_n are split, however there are also linear algebraic groups arising from central simple F-algebras which are non-split. For example, associated to a non-split central simple F-algebra A of degree n is a non-split special linear group SL(A). It is well known that central simple algebras are twisted forms of matrix algebras. This means that over the separable closure of F, denoted F_sep, we have A⊗_F F_sep ∼= M_n(F_sep) and that there is a twisted Gal(F_sep/F)-action on M_n(F_sep) whose fixed points are A. We show that a similar method of twisted Galois descent can be used to obtain all non-split semisimple linear algebraic groups associated to central simple algebras as fixed points within their split counterparts. In particular, these techniques can be used to construct the spin and half-spin groups Spin(A, τ ) and HSpin(A, τ ) associated to a central simple F-algebra of degree 4n with orthogonal involution. Furthermore, we develop a theory of twisted Galois descent for Hopf algebras and show how the fixed points obtained this way are the representing Hopf algebras of our non-split groups. Returning to the view of group schemes as functors, we discuss how the group schemes we consider are sheaves on the étale site of Alg_F whose stalks are Chevalley groups over local, strictly Henselian F-algebras. This allows us to use the generators and relations presentation of Chevalley groups to explicitly describe group scheme morphisms. After showing how the Kronecker tensor product of matrices induces maps between simply connected groups, we give an explicit description of these maps in terms of Chevalley generators. This allows us to compute the kernel of these new maps composed with standard isogenies and thereby construct new tensor product maps between non-simply connected split groups. These new maps are Gal(F_sep/F)-morphisms and so we apply our techniques of twisted Galois descent to also obtain new tensor product morphisms between non-split groups schemes. Finally, we use one of our new split tensor product maps to compute the degree three cohomological invariants of HSpin_4n for all n.