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Andrei S. Rapinchuk

Publications and source records attributed to Andrei S. Rapinchuk.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

On Almost Strong Approximation in Reductive Algebraic Groups

We investigate a slight weakening of the classical property of strong approximation, which we call almost strong approximation, for connected reductive algebraic groups over global fields with respect to special sets of valuations. While nonsimply connected groups (in particular, all algebraic tori) always fail to have strong approximation -- and even almost strong approximation -- with respect to any finite set of valuations, we show that under appropriate assumptions they do have almost strong approximation with respect to certain infinite sets of valuations that can be characterized in terms of Dirichlet density and include tractable sets of valuations, i.e. those sets that contain all archimedean valuations and a generalized arithmetic progression minus a set of Dirichlet density zero. Almost strong approximation is likely to have a variety of applications, and as an example we use almost strong approximation in tori with respect to tractable sets to extend the essential part of the result of Radhika and Raghunathan on the congruence subgroup problem for inner forms of type $\textsf{A}_n$ to all absolutely almost simple simply connected groups. This version of the paper has been updated to reflect recent results of Y. Cao and Y. Wang (arXiv:2511.00824).

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arXiv2026

Products of trees and ${\rm PGL}_2$-torsors over the punctured affine line

The goal of this article is to present a computation of the Galois cohomology of the group $G = \mathrm{PGL}_2$ over rings of Laurent polynomials. This computation recovers the main result of \cite{CGP} in this case by a new method, based on the analysis of actions on appropriate geometric objects (products of trees and, in general, of affine buildings), which was already used in \cite{ARR} to give a new proof of the theorem of Raghunathan-Ramanathan \cite{RR} concerning Galois cohomology over polynomial rings. Going beyond Galois cohomology, this method also enables one to determine the finite subgroups in the group of points over relevant polynomial rings. In view of these and other potential applications of the method in different situations (in particular, in the study of algebraic groups over the coordinate rings of general affine curves), we have attempted to make our exposition largely self-contained and accessible to broad mathematical audience.

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arXiv2026

The congruence subgroup property for $S$-arithmetic subgroups of simple algebraic groups when $S$ has positive Dirichlet density

Let $G$ be an absolutely almost simple simply connected algebraic group defined over a number field $K$, and let $M/K$ be the minimal Galois extension over which $G$ becomes an inner form of a split group. Assume that $G$ satisfies the Margulis-Platonov conjecture over $K$. We prove that if $S$ is a set of valuations of $K$ that contains all archimedean ones but does not contain any nonarchimedean valuations $v$ for which $G$ is anisotropic over the completion $K_v$ such that its intersection $S \cap \mathrm{Spl}(M/K)$ with the set $\mathrm{Spl}(M/K)$ of nonarchimedean valuations of $K$ that split completely in $M$ has positive Dirichlet density, then the congruence kernel $C^S(G)$ is trivial. This result provides additional evidence for Serre's Congruence Subgroup Conjecture. The proof does not involve any case-by-case considerations and relies on previous results concerning the congruence kernel and recent results on almost strong approximation.

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arXiv2023

Properness of the global-to-local map for algebraic groups with toric connected component and other finiteness properties

This is a companion paper to our previous work, where we proved the finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich group for an arbitrary torus $T$ over a finitely generated field $K$ with respect to any divisorial set $V$ of places of $K$. Here, we extend this result to any $K$-group $D$ whose connected component is a torus (for the same $V$), and as a consequence obtain a finiteness result for the local-to-global conjugacy of maximal tori in reductive groups over finitely generated fields. Moreover, we prove the finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich group for tori over function fields $K$ of normal varieties defined over base fields of characteristic zero and satisfying Serre's condition (F), in which case $V$ consists of the discrete valuations associated with the prime divisors on the variety (geometric places). In this situation, we also establish the finiteness of the number of $K$-isomorphism classes of algebraic $K$-tori of a given dimension having good reduction at all $v \in V$, and then discuss ways of extending this result to positive characteristic. Finally, we prove the finiteness of the number of isomorphism classes of forms of an absolutely almost simple group defined over the function field of a complex surface that have good reduction at all geometric places.

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arXiv2023

Simple algebraic groups with the same maximal tori, weakly commensurable Zariski-dense subgroups, and good reduction

We provide a new condition for an absolutely almost simple algebraic group to have good reduction with respect to a discrete valuation of the base field which is formulated in terms of the existence of maximal tori with special properties. This characterization, in particular, shows that the Finiteness Conjecture for forms of an absolutely almost simple algebraic group over a finitely generated field that have good reduction at a divisorial set of places of the field would imply the finiteness of the genus of the group at hand. It also leads to a new phenomenon that we refer to as "killing the genus by a purely transcendental extension." Yet another application deals with the investigation of "eigenvalue rigidity" of Zariski-dense subgroups, which in turn is related to the analysis of length-commensurable Riemann surfaces and general locally symmetric spaces. Finally, we analyze the Finiteness Conjecture and the genus problem for simple algebraic groups of type $\textsf{F}_4$.

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arXiv2023

Applications of the Fixed Point Theorem for group actions on buildings to algebraic groups over polynomial rings

We apply the Fixed Point Theorem for the actions of finite groups on Bruhat-Tits buildings and their products to establish two results concerning the groups of points of reductive algebraic groups over polynomial rings in one variable, assuming that the base field is of characteristic zero. First, we prove that for a reductive $k$-group $G$, every finite subgroup of $G(k[t])$ is conjugate to a subgroup of $G(k)$. This, in particular, implies that if $k$ is a finite extension of the $p$-adic field $\mathbb{Q}_p$, then the group $G(k[t])$ has finitely many conjugacy classes of finite subgroups, which is a well-known property for arithmetic groups. Second, we give a give a short proof of the theorem of Raghunathan-Ramanathan about $G$-torsors over the affine line.

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arXiv2023

The finiteness of the Tate-Shafarevich group over function fields for algebraic tori defined over the base field

Let $K$ be a field and $V$ be a set of rank one valuations of $K$. The corresponding Tate-Shafarevich group of a $K$-torus $T$ is $Sha(T , V) = \ker\left(H^1(K , T) \to \prod_{v \in V} H^1(K_v , T)\right)$. We prove that if $K = k(X)$ is the function field of a smooth geometrically integral quasi-projective variety over a field $k$ of characteristic 0 and $V$ is the set of discrete valuations of $K$ associated with prime divisors on $X$, then for any torus $T$ defined over the base field $k$, the group $Sha(T , V)$ is finite in the following situations: (1) $k$ is finitely generated and $X(k) \neq \emptyset$; (2) $k$ is a number field.

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arXiv2020

Linear algebraic groups with good reduction

This article is a survey of conjectures and results on reductive algebraic groups having good reduction at a suitable set of discrete valuations of the base field. Until recently, this subject has received relatively little attention, but now it appears to be developing into one of the central topics in the emerging arithmetic theory of (linear) algebraic groups over higher-dimensional fields. The focus of this article is on the Main Conjecture asserting the finiteness of the number of isomorphism classes of forms of a given reductive group over a finitely generated field that have good reduction at a divisorial set of places of the field. Various connections between this conjecture and other problems in the theory of algebraic groups (such as the analysis of the global-to-local map in Galois cohomology, the genus problem, etc.) are discussed in detail. The article also includes a brief review of the required facts about discrete valuations, forms of algebraic groups, and Galois cohomology.

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arXiv2019

The finiteness of the genus of a finite-dimensional division algebra, and some generalizations

We prove that the genus of a finite-dimensional division algebra is finite whenever the center is a finitely generated field of any characteristic. We also discuss potential applications of our method to other problems, including the finiteness of the genus of simple algebraic groups of type $\textsf{G}_2$. These applications involve the double cosets of adele groups of algebraic groups over arbitrary finitely generated fields: while over number fields these double cosets are associated with the class numbers of algebraic groups and hence have been actively analyzed, similar question over more general fields seem to come up for the first time. In the Appendix, we link the double cosets with $\check{\rm C}$ech cohomology and indicate connections between certain finiteness properties involving double cosets (Condition (T)) and Bass's finiteness conjecture in $K$-theory.

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arXiv2018

Spinor Groups with Good Reduction

Let $K$ be a 2-dimensional global field of characteristic $\neq 2$, and let $V$ be a divisorial set of places of $K$. We show that for a given $n \geqslant 5$, the set of $K$-isomorphism classes of spinor groups $G = \mathrm{Spin}_n(q)$ of nondegenerate $n$-dimensional quadratic forms over $K$ that have good reduction at all $v \in V$, is finite. This result yields some other finiteness properties, such as the finiteness of the genus $\mathbf{gen}_K(G)$ and the properness of the global-to-local map in Galois cohomology. The proof relies on the finiteness of the unramified cohomology groups $H^i(K , μ_2)_V$ for $i \geqslant 1$ established in the paper. The results for spinor groups are then extended to some unitary groups and to groups of type $\textsf{G}_2$.

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arXiv2018

Bounded generation of SL_2 over rings of S-integers with infinitely many units

Let O be the ring of S-integers in a number field k. We prove that if the group of units O^* is infinite then every matrix in $Γ$ = SL_2(O) is a product of at most 9 elementary matrices. This completes a long line of research in this direction. As a consequence, we obtain that $Γ$ is boundedly generated as an abstract group.

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arXiv2017

Generic elements of a Zariski-dense subgroup form an open subset

Let G be a semi-simple algebraic group over a finitely generated field K of characteristic zero, and let Γ< G(K) be a finitely generated Zariski-dense subgroup. In this note we prove that the set of K-generic elements of Γ(whose existence was established earlier in [9]) is open in the profinite topology of Γ. We then extend this result to the fields of positive characteristic, and also prove the existence of generic elements in this case.

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arXiv2015

On the size of the genus of a division algebra

Let D be a central division algebra of degree n over a field K. One defines the genus gen(D) of D as the set of classes [D'] in the Brauer group Br(K) of K represented by central division algebras D' of degree n over K having the same maximal subfields as D. We prove that if the field K is finitely generated and n is prime to its characteristic, then gen(D) is finite, and give explicit estimations of its size in certain situations.

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arXiv2015

On the congruence kernel for simple algebraic groups

This paper contains several results about the structure of the congruence kernel C^(S)(G) of an absolutely almost simple simply connected algebraic group G over a global field K with respect to a set of places S of K. In particular, we show that C^(S)(G) is always trivial if S contains a generalized arithmetic progression. We also give a criterion for the centrality of C^(S)(G) in the general situation in terms of the existence of commuting lifts of the groups G(K_v) for v \notin S in the S-arithmetic completion \widehat{G}^(S). This result enables one to give simple proofs of the centrality in a number of cases. Finally, we show that if K is a number field and $G$ is K-isotropic then C^(S)(G) as a normal subgroup of \widehat{G}^(S) is almost generated by a single element.

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arXiv2015

Division algebras with the same maximal subfields

We give a survey of recent results related to the problem of characterizing finite-dimensional division algebras by the set of isomorphism classes of their maximal subfields. We also discuss various generalizations of this problem and some of its applications. In the last section, we extend the problem to the context of absolutely almost simple algebraic groups.

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arXiv2014

On graphs and valuations

In the last two decades new techniques emerged to construct valuations on an infinite division ring $D,$ given a normal subgroup $N\subseteq D$ of finite index. These techniques were based on the commuting graph of $D^{\times}/N$ in the case where $D$ is non-commutative, and on the Milnor K-graph on $D^{\times}/N,$ in the case where $D$ is commutative. In this paper we unify these two approaches and consider V-graphs on $D^{\times}/N$ and how they lead to valuations. We furthermore generalize previous results to situations of finitely many valuations.

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