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ON STABLY FREE MODULES

This article has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text article. 1977 Math. USSR Sb. 31 479 (http://iopscience.iop.org/0025-5734/31/4/A04) View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more

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MAT. SBORNIK

MATH. USSR SBORNIK

TOM 102(144X1977), NO. 4

Vol. 31 (197, No. 4

ON STABLY FREE MODULES UDC 513.015.7 A. A. SUSLIN ABSTRACT. In this paper we show that if A is an affine algebra of dimension over an algebraically closed field, then each stably free module whose rank is greater than or equal to is free. We also obtain some results on orbits of unimodular rows. Bibliography: 17 titles. In this paper we shall consider only commutative rings and unitary modules. A module over a ring A is called stably free if " =s A m for some integers and m. It is clear that such modules are finitely generated and projective. Moreover, if ^>& is the rank of (cf. [1], Chapter IN, or [5], Chapter II), then the function rank is constant on Spec A and is equal to m n. From the Bass cancellation theorem (cf. [1], Chapter IV) it follows that if A is a noetherian ring and is a stably free module with rank > dim max(>4) + 1 (where dim max(yl) is the dimension of the spectrum of maximal ideals), then is free. Next we assume that A is an affine algebra over a field k; then dim max(/l) = dim A and by the above result all stably free A -modules of rank greater than or equal to dim A + 1 are free. On the other hand, there exist examples of stably free A -modules of rank dim which are not free; in these examples A is an affine algebra over the field R of real numbers (cf. [13]). Our main goal is the proof of the following result. THEOREM 1. Let A be an affine algebra over an algebraically closed field k. Then every stably free A -module of rank dim A is free. We observe that a similar result holds in case k is an algebraic extension of a finite field; this follows from a theorem of Vaserstein (cf. [7], [8] or [2]). We shall derive Theorem 1 from the following curious result on unimodular rows. THEOREM 2. Let A be an arbitrary ring, let (a0, ax, . . . , ar) be a unimodular row, and let n0, , . . . , nr be positive integers. Suppose that ' = / J divisible by r\. Then there exists a matrix a G SLr+i(A) with (a, a"', . . . , a"r) as the first row. We remark that for r = 2 Theorem 2 was independently proved by Swan and Towber (cf. [14]). The same authors constructed examples showing that the condition '_ , : r\ is necessary for the validity of Theorem 2 (cf. [14]). Some words about notation. For positive integers r and we denote by Mrs(A) the set of r X s matrices with elements in A and by \Jmrs(A) the subset of Mrs(A) consisting of AMS (MOS) subject classifications (1970). Primary 13C10, 15A09; Secondary 16A54, 18F25.
American Mathematical Society 1978

479

480

. . SUSLIN

right invertible matrices; we shall write \Jms(A) instead of \Jmls(A). We denote by Mr(A) the ring Mrr(A), by GLr(A) and SLr{A) the complete (respectively special) group of order r and by Er(A) the subgroup of SLr(A) generated by elementary matrices. Finally, let e, Mlr(A) be the row for which all entries except the /th one are equal to zero and the /th entry is the unit of the basic ring. The bulk of the present paper is a previously unpublished part of the author's thesis (cf. [16]). 1. Stably free modules and orbits of unimodular rows There is a simple and well-known interconnection between stably free modules and orbits of unimodular rows (cf. for example [15], 1).
LEMMA 1.1. Let A be a ring and let be a positive integer. Then the following conditions are equivalent: a) Each stably free module of rank > is free. b) For all r > + 1 the group GLr{A) acts transitively on \Jmr(A).

In view of this lemma, in future we may restrict ourselves to the study of orbits of unimodular rows. First we take note of the following obvious fact.
LEMMA 1.2. Let A be a ring, and let r > 2 be an integer. Then the following conditions are equivalent: a) The group GLr(A) acts transitively on Vmr(A). b) For each Umr(A) there exists a matrix a G GLr(A) such that a = ev c) For each \Jmr(A) there exists GLr(A) whose first row is equal to v. Moreover, for r = 1 these conditions hold for all A.

Let r and be positive integers, and let ,, a 2 Mrs(A); we shall write a, a 2 (a, ~ a 2 ) if a 2 = a, for some GLS(A) (for some ES(A)). In future we shall need the following well-known property of determinants. Since it is difficult to give an adequate reference, we shall give a detailed proof of this property.
L E M M A 1.2. Let a{, a2, , 2 Mr(A), and suppose that a2 = a2 a , . Then

PROOF.

First of all, we have

, /, /, 2 \ / \ /, 2,^ det * 2 det , = det * 2 det 1= = det 1 2 1 VPiPa/ VPi P/ \0/ V P x 2> , , /, 2 .\ /1 ] /. \ , ,/ . ,, ( ) ' ( 1 ) = ( - ) = d e t ^ - 2 ) deta,.

This proves our assertion in case det a, is not a zero divisor in A. Next we consider the matrices a, + , 2, { and 2 with entries in the ring A[X]. Since d e t ^ + X) is a unitary polynomial, it is not a zero divisor in A [X], and by the above formula
det

/a, + +X /a,
\ Pi Pi

Setting X = 0, we obtain the desired result.

ON STABLY FREE MODULES

481

COROLLARY 1.4. Under the conditions of Lemma 1.3 we have

V2 P 2 In fact,

det h
where
T

V 2 2/

=det l1 al) = det (ft aj - [ ) = det(aip,-ai&),

\ /

denotes transposition.

LEMMA 1.5. Let at, a2 G Mr(A). Suppose that a, a 2 = a2 a, and (a,, a 2 ) G U m r 2 r ( ^ ) . Then there exists a matrix G SL2r(A) the first r rows of which form the matrix (a,, a 2 ).
PROOF. Let

be a right inverse to the matrix (a,, a2). By Corollary 1.4,

U2
Set

Yi/

ifthen ,, , + 1 2 2 = 1, and by Lemma 1.3 we can set 12 . PROPOSITION 1.6. Let r be an integer and suppose that (a0, a,, . . . , ar) G Um, + ,(/<). 772e iAere exists a matrix a G 5 + |(/1) whose first row is (a 0 , a,, a\, . . . , a'r~). PROOF. We shall prove this proposition by induction on r. For r = 1 it is obvious. Suppose that r > 2 and denote by / the ring /, A. For a E ^ w e shall denote by a' the canonical image of a in the ring A'. By the inductive assumption applied to the ring A' and the row (a'o, . . . , a'r_,) G \Jmr{A') we can find a matrix G /(/1) such that the first row of coincides with (a0, a,, . . . , //) and det A + ar- A A. By Lemma 1.5, there exist matrices ,, 2 G Mr{A) such that Wi Ys

We denote by A " the ring A /det A. By the Whitehead lemma (cf. [1], Chapter V), the matrix

((a")1"1

lies in Er(A") (here a" denotes the canonical image of ar in the ring A"), and therefore there exist matrices , G Er{A) and /?2 G () such that

482

. . SUSLIN

Set

(, U & ( ? \ -
yL
Y2

/ l.o p

where denotes the adjoint of (see, e.g., [9], Chapter XIII, 4). The matrix can be written in the form

Subtracting, with suitable coefficients, the rows with indices 2 to r from the last r rows, we obtain a matrix from SL2r(A) which has the form

(, O r x r _i)y

where u Mrl(A). Deleting in this matrix the rows with numbers from 2 to r and the columns with numbers from r + 2 to 2r, we obtain a matrix SLr+i(A) the first row of which is equal to (a0, , a2, . . . , arr).
2. Behavior of unimodular rows under raising then* coordinates to a power

For an arbitrary ring A we identify SL2(A) with a subgroup of SL3(A) by means of the inclusion diag(l, a). It is easy to see that SL2(A) normalizes E3(A), and therefore the set SL2(A) E3(A) is a group and E3(A) is a normal subgroup of this group. Set H=SLi(A).Ei(A)/Et(A)=SLt(A)/SLl(A)nEt(A). If (a0, ,) Om2(A) and 60, bx & A are such that aobQ + a,6, = 1, we set
m. s.(fl0,
a

i)

It is easy to see that this definition does not depend on the choice of b0 and bx, and hence we obtain a well-defined map Um2(/1) * H. In case A is a Dedekind ring the group coincides with SK{{A) and the above map is the usual Mennicke symbol (cf. [1], Chapter VI). As in the classical case (cf. [1], Chapter VI, or [10], 13), it is easy to show that this symbol has the following multiplicativity properties: if (0, , \) Um2(A), then m.s.(a 0 ,a,-a/) =m.s.(a o ,a 1 ) -m.s.(a0, a / ) ; if (a 0 a'Q, ,) Um 2 (i), then m.s.(a o - o ', a,)=m.s.(a 0 , ) .8.(0', a,)
LEMMA 2.1. Lei (a 0 , ,) Om2(A), and let s be a positive integer. Then there exists a matrix a & E3(A) such that 0 0\ /I 0 0
V

0ao aj

\0a0 a[,

ON STABLY FREE MODULES PROOF.

483

We pick b0, bx, c0 and c, such that aj b0 + ax bx = 1 = a0 c0 + ax c, and

set

,ci

c0/

Then Ez (A) = m. s. (al, a^f1 m. s. (a0, al) = m. s. (a0, a,)'" m. s. (a0, izj 5 = 1, i.e. E3(A). For a positive integer > 2 and a matrix 2() we denote by 3() the ideal generated by all 2-minors of the matrix a. It is clear that for each 3() there exists a matrix Mn2(A) such that = 12.
LEMMA 2.2. Let r > 3 // /ei (a 0 , . . ., ar) Um r+1 (/1). Suppose there exists a row /, -() such that a0 A + ax A + 2t(^,) = /I, vvAere w = (a2, . . . , ) 1_,(). Then, for each s,

(al, au ..., ar) ~ (a0, a\, ...,

ar).

PROOF. Let d 2IQ be such that ^ + ,^ + / = and let Mr_X2(A) be a matrix for which (vw) = d- 12. We set A' = A/dA and a/ = a, mod ? . Then (, aj) Um 2 (^'), and by Lemma 2.1 there exist E3(A) and M2i(A) such that

1 0 0\ We have 1 0 0 ON / I 0 0 v\f(lO
E

/I 0 0 \

,
0\

\+d-y.
_ (

Oala^J

\0ala1w)

\\0asoaJ
0 0

^B>/

V a u

I O O C U / 1 0

0 a 0 aj a>/

\0 a 0 a[ w;

Thus there exists a matrix , +2(/1) such that 1 0 0 0 ... 0 \ . /I 0 0 0 . . . 0 1 ot = I s 0 a 0 fli a 2 . . . fit// \0 a0 ax a 2 . . . a,It is clear that , is of the type (' s), where SLr+x(A) and (al ay, ...,
COROLLARY

ar) - (a0, al, ...,

ar). Then, for each

2.3. Let r = 2k + 1 > 1, and let (a0, . . . , ar) Umr+X(A). (al , au ..., ar) ~ (a0, as , . . ., aT).

For r = 1 the lemma is obvious, and for r > 3 it suffices to apply Lemma 2.2 with = (b3, - b2, b5, - b4, . . . , b2k+x, - b2k), where the bt are such that ajbi = 1.
PROOF. COROLLARY

2.4. Let r = 2k > 4, and let (a0, . . . , ar) Um r + 1 (^). Then, for each s,

PROOF.

(al, alt al, ..., ar) (a0, a[, al,... ,ar). We choose b0, . . . , br such that aibi = 1, and we set

484 = (2<22fe4 a3, b\,

. . SUSLIN b^ bpz, be,b&, .... b2k,

Then 2l(^,) 3 2_ 6 2 ,- + a2i b2i for / = 3, . . . , k, and a; _2a2fe4a3 a3 b\ a4 b2 b4b3 | =

so that we can again apply Lemma 2.2. LEMMA 2.5. Z^f v, w , () 6e rows iwc/i > = 0 an*/ at least one of the entries of is zero. Then \r + wT e Er(A). PROOF. We may assume that the rth coordinate of is equal to zero. So we can write = (t;,, 0) and w = (wu a), where , ,, w, Mlr_x(A) and t>, wj = 0. Then ! ,
- t ) =

ilr-i + wl -,)^ ^ ! \)

/ l r - i O^j / ! , . ! + o i l [a v, 1 ) { 0

Ol

Q 1

The first factor obviously lies in Er(A), and the second factor lies in Er(A) by a lemma of Vaserstein (cf. [6]).
LEMMA 2.6. Let = (c,, . . . , cr) G , (), /e? w = (a,, . . . , a r ) Um r (/1),

suppose that wT = 0. rAen, /or iowe a,^ ,

</ PROOF. We pick bx, . . ., br such that ,&, = 1. Then for each / we have

\/=l

Mi

'

'

Hence

and
r

o= 2 ^ = 3 fl/(cAcA)e/=2 (c<6/
i=i Mi i</ and w U m r ( ^ ) , and let w T = 0. COROLLARY 2.7. Lei r > 3, let , r(A)

1, + w -v

r (/i).

PROOF. Since r > 3, by Lemma 2.6 the row u can be represented as a sum vx + + vs, where u, wT = 0 and at least one of the coordinates of each t>, is zero. Therefore, by Lemma 2.5,

1=1

COROLLARY 2.8. Suppose that r > 3, // /ei U 2 , W M, r (yl) 6e such that vx w T t>2 w = l. Then vx ~ U2-

rr

= =

ON STABLY FREE MODULES

485

PROOF. By Corollary 2.7, the matrix = 1, + wT(v2 t>,) lies in Er(A); at the same time , = v2. COROLLARY 2.9. Let r > 3, let a e GL r (^), and let vx and v2 be the first and second rows of a. Then u, ~ v2. PROOF. We denote by uT the sum of the first and second columns of the matrix a " 1 . Then vl u T = v2 uT = 1, and our assertion follows from Corollary 2.8. LEMMA 2.10. Suppose that r > 2, and let (a0, . . . , ar) G Umr+](A). Then

(al av ...,

ar) ~ r (a0, a\, ...,

ar).

PROOF. First we consider the case r = 2. We choose b0, bx and b2 such that aibi = 1, and set

al

b2-\-a0al

It is easy to see that det = 1, and therefore, by Corollary 2.9,

(al , b2+aoau
We set

bi + a^)

-^ (b2 + a0au a , u0 + a,a 2 ).

i = a 2 (1 + aobo), a, ( 1 + aobo)), * = K (bt+aj (1 +aobo), (6,-aJ (1 +ao&o)).

Then (al 6 a + a o a i . + )^) u\ = (a\, b2, bx) u[ = (al, b2, bL). Hence (cf. Corollary 2.8) ul = (al alt 2 ) ul = 1.

(aj, bt + afa, bL + aoa2)-^(al b2, ^)(

In the same way one can show that

au a,).

, , b0 + ala2)'^(bi,
Thus (al, ax, a2)~ and a't = at moa(a3A

at, b0)^ (a0, al, a2).

+ + ,)

(aQ, a\, a2). In the general case we set A' = A/(azA

+ + arA), and apply the above reasoning to the row (a'^,

a\, a'2). Thus we obtain a matrix e E3(A) such that

(al, au 2) = (a0, a\, a2) mod(a3A+ . . . +arA).

Now it is clear that there exists a matrix which can be written in the form

and for which (al, av . . . , ar) = (a0, a\, . . . , ar). PROOF OF THEOREM 2. Of course, we may assume that r > 2. First we consider the special case when n0 = r\ and , = 1 for / > 1. In this case Lemma 2.10, Corollaries 2.3

486

. . SUSLIN

and

2.4 and Proposition 1.6 give us the following equivalences: (a?, av . . . . ar) (aro"\ *u , . ar) ~ (ao> i, al, ..., arr)~(\, 0, . . . . 0).

In the general case there exists an / such that n, : 2; for the sake of convenience we may assume that / = 0. Then, using the above special case and applying Corollaries 2.3 and 2.4 and Lemma 2.10 we obtain the following equivalences:

<#,#,

. . . . ,"')~(* " - \ 2

) ( /\ "', !, . . . , ar)

- ( ^ ^ , , .... ) ^ ( , , 2 ,
For

..., , ) ~ ( 1 , 0 , ..., 0).

3. Some applications of Theorem 2 a ring 5 and a -module Af, let Um(Al) = {m6M:<p(m) = l for some 6 Hom s (, )};

for example, Um(5 r ) = Umr(B).

PROPOSITION 3.1. Let A be a ring, let be a positive integer, let be a finitely generated protective -module, and let p0 + Um(P[X]). Suppose that rank < and that (n 1)! is an invertible element of A. Then there exists an a G Aut(P[X]) such that a(p0 + ) = p0. PROOF. By Quillen's theorem ([11], Theorem 1), it suffices to prove our assertion in case A is a local ring. In this case is a free module. Moreover, since p0 XJm(P), we can choose a basis e,, . . . , er+l (r < 1) of the module in such a way that e, = p0. Under the isomorphism between P[X] and A[XY+l which corresponds to the isomorphism between and Ar+' defined by the above basis, the element />0 + is mapped to a row of the form (1 + OQX, , .. ., arX). The unimodularity of this row means that some power of a0 lies in the ideal axA + + arA. Now the standard procedure of extracting a root of a unimodular element (this procedure can be applied since r\ is an invertible element of the ring A) shows that there exists an element b0 A[X] such that 1 + a^X = bg mod(Xa, A[X) + + Xar-A[X\). Therefore

^ O + f l o X , * ! * , ' arX)T(ti, Now we indicate another application of Theorem 2.

a,X

arX)

LEMMA 3.2. Let = (a0, av . . . , ar) Um r + ,(). /ien zAe following conditions are equivalent: a) There exists a matrix a GLr+ t(A) whose first row is equal to v. b) There exists a matrix a SLr+ ,() whose first row is equal to v.

c) There exists a matrix Mr(A) such that = 1 mod {aiA + .. . + arA),

and if (a,, . . . , ar) = (Z>,, . . . , br), then

(here denotes the matrix associated to as in [9], Chapter XIII, 4).

ON STABLY FREE MODULES

487

PROOF. It clearly suffices to show the equivalence of b) and c). Suppose that b) holds; then the matrices and a ~' can be represented in the form /0 , . . . ar\ We have (a,, . . . , ) = (b{, . . . , br), from which it follows that bxA + + brA c + + arA. By symmetry, we also have the converse inclusion, and hence atA + + arA = bxA + + brA. Moreover, 1 = det = a0 det mod(a,v4 + + arA), so that satisfies the conditions of c). Conversely, if satisfies the conditions of c), then a0 det = 1 mod(blA + + brA), and therefore, for some c,,
a 1=

- (b0

- 6 , ...

-br

Then ,a0 det \c\ ax ... ar\

and so condition b) is satisfied. Let r be a positive integer, and let 31 be an ideal of a ring A admitting r generators. We denote by Fr(3I) the subset of GL,(/l/2l) defined in the following way: a Fr(3I) if, for an arbitrary system of generators ax, . . . , ar of the ideal 21, {a, ax, . . . , ar) ~ (1, 0, . . . , 0) (this definition makes sense since from a = b it follows that (a, ax, . . . , ar) ~ (b, ax, . . . , ar)).
COROLLARY 3.3. Suppose (a0, ax, . . . , ar) ~ (1, 0, . . . , 0), and let b0

=1,

Vr(axA + + arA). Then ( a A , au . . . . a r ) ~ ( l , 0, . . . , 0 ) . PROOF. By Lemma 3.2. there exists a matrix Mr(A) such that

a 0 - d e t p x = 1 mod ( a 1 A + ... + a r A )

a n d ( , , . . . , ) ft = ( & . . . , & , ) ,
we can again apply Lemma br) \ = (c x , . . . , c r ), + + ,)

where a{A = bjA. Since 6 0 ( atA) = Vr(2 btA\ 3.2 to find a matrix 2 Mr(A) for which 6 0 det 2 1 mod faA + . . . + a^) and

(bL, ...,

where tyA = ctA. Set = 2- . Then det j8 1 mod(axA and (, ar) $ = (cr, ..., cr), where atA = ctA. Applying once again Lemma 3.2 we see that (a o 6 o , alt . . . , ) ~ ( 1 , 0, . . . , 0). PROPOSITION 3.4. /ie set VrQ&) is a group containing GLX(A/Wf\

PROOF. From Corollary 3.3 it follows that Vr(W) is closed with respect to multiplication, and from Theorem 2 it follows that Kr(3I) D GLX{A/Wf\ Finally, if Kr(3t), then

488

. . SUSLIN

REMARK. Corollary 3.3 and Proposition 3.4 give a refinement of an old result of Buchsbaum (cf. [12], 5).

4. Stably free modules over algebras

In this section we shall give the proof of Theorem 1 from the Introduction. Let A be an affine algebra over an algebraically closed field k, and let dim A = r. We need to show that for each row = (0, . . . , ar) \Jmr+1(A) there exists a matrix GLr+x{A) whose first row is equal to v. It clearly suffices to prove our assertion in case the nil-radical of A is equal to zero. In this case A can be identified with the coordinate ring of an affine algebraic variety X of dimension r. We denote by Y} a union of those irreducible components of X whose dimension is less than or equal to r 1, and by Y2 the subvariety of singularities of X (it is known (cf. [17]) that dim Y2 < r 1); we set = Y\ U Y2- We denote by the subvariety of X defined by the equation a0 = 0, and set U = X \ ( ). U is a nonsingular variety, and its dimension at each point is equal to r. It is easy to show that there exist functions bx, . . ., br A such that the differential form

does not vanish identically on any of the components of U; in other words, dim < r - 1, where is the variety of zeros of the above form. The set ( \ ) is a closed subvariety of \ of dimension not greater than r 1; therefore the image of this set under the morphism/: X \ - kr defined by the functions ax/a0 + bx, . . . , ar/a0 + br is a constructible subset of kr of dimension not greater than r 1, and hence there exists an open subset K, c kr which does not intersect this image. Moreover, from the theorem on dimension of fibers (cf. [17], Chapter I, 6) it follows that there exists an open subset V2 C kr such that the preimage of each point of this subset under the morphism/is a finite set. We pick a point (c,, . . . , cr) , V2, and for * > 1 we set , = , + ao(bi - c,). It is clear that the functions , (1 < / < r) do not have common zeros on Z; furthermore, by our construction they have only a finite number of common zeros, and all these zeros lie outside . If A: is one of these common zeros, then the value of the differential form dax /\ /\ dar at is equal to the value at of the differential form multiplied by ao(x)~r and therefore is not equal to zero. Since (a0, . . . , ar) (a0, a,,..., ar), in what follows we may assume that the functions a,, . . . , ar have only a finite number of simple zeros. In this case the quotient ring A/(axA + + arA) is isomorphic to a product of several copies of the field k. Since k is algebraically closed, we have ; GL, (/, + . . . +arA) = GL1 (/, + . . . + a)rA)
hence vr(alA+ and (a0, ...,ar)~(l,0, ...,0). . . . +arA)=GL1(A/alA+ ... +aTA)
rl

5. A procedure for constructing invertible matrices

Let A be a ring, and let = (a0, . . . , ar) and w = (b0, . . . , br) be such that wT = 1. Then by Theorem 2 there exists a matrix (, w) SLr+ {(A) whose first row is equal to

ON STABLY FREE MODULES

489

(a0, , a\, . . . , a'). All entries of the matrix (, w) are polynomials in the a, and 6,; for example, for r = 2

(
b\ b26 -

& b\ o^ An inductive method for constructing (, w) was given in the proof of Proposition 1.6; however, for large r, to find an explicit formula for (, w) is a cumbersome and rather senseless undertaking. Next we shall give a method of constructing another matrix ar(v, w) starting with an arbitrary pair of rows v, w e Mlr+i(A). In contrast with , otr has a number of nice properties, some of which will be listed below. Before constructing this matrix we indicate the following properties: a) ar(v, w) is a matrix of order , it has only 0, a, and 6, as its entries, and there are at most r + 1 nonzero elements in each row and in each column. b) Since there are many zeros among the entries of ar{v, w), the order of this matrix can be lowered by performing elementary transformations on the rows and the columns; one can show that using such elementary transformations the order of ar(v, w) can be lowered up to r + 1, and as a result of these transformations we get the matrix (, w). ar(v, w) is constructed by induction: we set ao(v, w) = a0; for r > 1 we represent and w in the form = (0, ,), w = {b0, w,) and set
fao-lr-l
r

Or-l (UI, Wx)

LEMMA 5.1. The matrix ar(v, w) has (he following properties: a) ar(v, w) ar(w, ) = ( wT) \2, = ar(w, v)T ar(v, w); b) det ar(v, w) = (v wTf~' for r > 1.

Assertion a) is proved by induction on r, and b) follows from a) and Lemma 1.3. Next we define a sequence of matrices Ir Mr(A) by the following recurrence formulas:

The following assertions can be easily proved by induction on r.

LEMMA 5.2. a) // = /,"' = ( - l) < W IA b) det Ir = 1.
r r+ 2

tor

" ' - ( ''

Thus for r = 4k + I and r = 4k + 2 Ir is an antisymmetric matrix, and for r = 4k + 3 and r = 4k Ir is a symmetric matrix.
LEMMA 5.3. The following formulas are valid: a) for r = 4k: (ctr(v, w) Ir)T = ctr(v, w) Ir\ b)forr = 4k + 1: otr(v, w)-Ir- otr(v, w)T = (v wT) Ir; c)for r = 4k + 2: (ar(v, w) Ir)T = - 0,(15, w) Ir; d) for r = 4k + 3: ar(v, w)- Ir- otr(v, w)T = (v w T ) Ir.

Suppose now that wT = 1; then by the previous lemma for r = 4k the matrix ar(v, w) is self-adjoint with respect to the quadratic form defined by Ir, for r = 4k + 1 it

490

. . SUSLIN

is symplectic with respect to the skew-symmetric form Ir, for r = 4k + 2 it is self-adjoint with respect to the skew-symmetric form Ir, and for r = 4k + 3 it is orthogonal with respect to the quadratic form defined by Ir. Consider in particular the case r = 3. Then o 0 0 0 0
a

-b, 0
fit!

a s (o, w) =

-h
-b*

0 . , We have rearranged the rows and the columns of a3(v, w) in such a way that it would become orthogonal with respect to the standard quadratic form defined by the matrix
0 1*

0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0

bo

<h

Incidentally, the very fact that a3(v, w) exists has the following interesting implication. LEMMA 5.4. The group OS(A) acts transitively on the set of rows of length one. In fact, let u = (a0, ax, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7) be a row of length one; then, setting = (a0, au a2, a3) and w = (a 4 , a5, a6, a7), we see that u = (e, + e5) a3(v, w). Next we introduce the groups Gr(A). For r = 0 mod 4 let Gr{A) be the Witt group of nonsingular quadratic forms. For r 1 mod 4 let Gr{A) be the symplectic A",-functor of the ring A. For r 2 mod 4 let Gr(A) be the Witt group of nonsingular skew-symmetric forms. For r = 3 mod 4 let Gr(A) be the orthogonal ^,-functor of the ring A. The matrices ar(v, w) enable us to define maps/,.: \Jmr+l(A) > Gr(A) in the following way: we choose a row w such that wT = 1; for r = 2k + 1 we set/r(t>) = [ar(v, w)] and for r = 2k we set/.(t?) = [ar(t>, w) Ir\. It is easy to see that this definition does not depend on the choice of w. Letting r = 1 in this definition, we see that the resulting map Um 2 (^)-> KxSp(A) is precisely the well-known Mennicke symbol (cf. [1], [3], [8] and [10]). This symbol was extensively studied in connection with its role in the solution of the congruence subgroup problem (cf. [3]). For r = 2 the resulting symbol Um3(yl)- W{A) was introduced by Vaserstem (cf. [2], [7] and [8]), who proved some important properties of this symbol and used it to obtain some deep results on orbits of the action of SL3(A) on Um3(/1). It seems that for r > 3 the symbols Um r + , > Gr should also be of some interest; however at present the meaning of these symbols is unclear and their properties unknown. In conclusion we would like to pose some problems which in our opinion present considerable interest. PROBLEM 1. Find conditions that should be imposed on the field k in order that for each affine ^-algebra A of dimension each stably free module of rank would be free. As we observed above, algebraically closed and finite fields have this property, and the field R does not. We feel that this problem is connected with divisibility in the Milnor AT-functors of the field k (cf. [4]).

ON STABLY FREE MODULES

491

PROBLEM 2. Is the following generalization of Theorem 1 true: If A is an affine algebra over an algebraically closed field k, then stably isomorphic projective A -modules of rank dim A are isomorphic? Using methods similar to those described above, one can obtain the following partial result in this direction: if dim A = 2 and Px and P2 are stably isomorphic projective -modules of rank 2 such that the element 2(/>,) of the Picard group of the ring A is divisible by 2, then Pl ss P2. PROBLEM 3. How far can we shift the estimate in Theorem 1, i.e. for which m will each stably free -module of rank > m be free? All stably free but not free modules known to the author are of rank < (dim A - l)/2. PROBLEM 4. Is the following generalization of Proposition 3.1 true: If is a projective A -module of rank < r + 1 and r\ GL{(A), then for each unimodular element/) = p0 + Xpx + X^p2 + e \Jm(P[X]) there exists an automorphism of the module P[X] for which a(p) = 0 By Quillen's theorem, Problem 4 is equivalent to the following question: If A is a local ring such that r\^GLx(A), and/? = (fo(X), . . . ,fr(X)) Umr+1(A[X]) is an element such that = e, mod X, then it is possible to embed the row in an invertible matrix?

Received 30/JULY/76
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Hyman Bass, Algebraic K-theory, Benjamin, New York, 1968. 2. , Liberation de modules projectifs sur certains anneaux de poly norms, Seminaire Bourbaki 1973/74, Expose 448, Lecture Notes in Math., vol. 431, Springer-Verlag, Berlin and New York, 1975, pp. 228-254. 3. H. Bass, J. Milnor and J.-P. Serre, Solution of the congruence subgroup problem for SL n (n > 3) and Sp 2 n (n > 2), Inst. Hautes Etudes Sci. Publ. Math. No. 33 (1967), 59-137. 4. H. Bass and J. Tate, The Milnor ring of a global field, Algebraic ^-theory. II (Proc. Conf. Battelle Inst., Seattle, 1972), Lecture Notes in Math., vol. 342, Springer-Verlag, Berlin and New York, 1973, pp. 349-446. 5. N. Bourbaki, Algebre commutative, Chaps. 1-7, Actualites Sci. Indust., nos. 1290, 1293, 1308, 1314, Hermann Paris, 1961, 1964, 1965; English transl., Hermann, Paris; Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1972. 6. L. N. Vaserstein, On the stabilization of the general linear group over a ring, Mat. Sb. 79 (121) (1969), 405-424; English transl. in Math. USSR Sb. 8 (1969). 7. L. N. Vaserstein and A. A. Suslin, Serre's problem on projective modules over polynomial rings and algebraic K-theory, Funkcional. Anal, i Prilozen. 8 (1974), no. 2, 65-66; English transl. in Functional Anal. Appl. 8 (1974). 8. , Serre's problem on projective modules over polynomial rings and algebraic K-theory, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR Ser. Mat. 40 (1976), 993-1054; English transl. in Math. USSR Izv. 10 (1976). 9. Serge Lang, Algebra, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1965. 10. John Milnor, Introduction to algebraic K-theory, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, N. J.; Univ. of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, 1971. 11. Daniel Quillen, Projective modules over polynomial rings, Invent. Math. 36 (1976), 167-171. 12. Richard G. Swan, A cancellation theorem for projective modules in the metastable range, Invent. Math. 27 (1974), 23-43. 13. , Vector bundles and projective modules, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 105 (1962), 264-277. 14. Richard G. Swan and Jacob Towber, A class of projective modules which are nearly free, J. Algebra 36 (1975), 427^t34. 15. A. A. Suslin, On projective modules over polynomial rings, Mat. Sb. 93 (135) (1974), 588-595; English transl. in Math. USSR Sb. 22 (1974). 16. , On the structure of projective modules over polynomial rings, Candidate's Dissertation, Leningrad, 1975. (Russian) 17. I. R. Safarevic, Basic algebraic geometry, "Nauka", Moscow, 1972; English transl., Springer-Verlag, Berlin and New York, 1974. Translated by F. L.