Orthogonal Group - Galois Cohomology and Orthogonal Groups

Galois Cohomology and Orthogonal Groups

In the theory of Galois cohomology of algebraic groups, some further points of view are introduced. They have explanatory value, in particular in relation with the theory of quadratic forms; but were for the most part post hoc, as far as the discovery of the phenomena is concerned. The first point is that quadratic forms over a field can be identified as a Galois H1, or twisted forms (torsors) of an orthogonal group. As an algebraic group, an orthogonal group is in general neither connected nor simply-connected; the latter point brings in the spin phenomena, while the former is related to the discriminant.

The 'spin' name of the spinor norm can be explained by a connection to the spin group (more accurately a pin group). This may now be explained quickly by Galois cohomology (which however postdates the introduction of the term by more direct use of Clifford algebras). The spin covering of the orthogonal group provides a short exact sequence of algebraic groups.

Here μ₂ is the algebraic group of square roots of 1; over a field of characteristic not 2 it is roughly the same as a two-element group with trivial Galois action. The connecting homomorphism from H0(O_V), which is simply the group O_V(F) of F-valued points, to H1(μ₂) is essentially the spinor norm, because H1(μ₂) is isomorphic to the multiplicative group of the field modulo squares.

There is also the connecting homomorphism from H1 of the orthogonal group, to the H2 of the kernel of the spin covering. The cohomology is non-abelian, so that this is as far as we can go, at least with the conventional definitions.