On groups definable in $p$-adically closed fields

TL;DR

This paper studies the structure of groups definable in p-adically closed fields, establishing a decomposition into definable fsg and dfg components, and proves the Kneser-Tits conjecture in this setting.

Contribution

It extends the $dfg$/$fsg$ decomposition theory to groups in p-adically closed fields and proves the Kneser-Tits conjecture over these fields.

Findings

Existence of a definable normal dfg subgroup for definably amenable groups.

Decomposition of groups into a definable fsg quotient and a dfg subgroup.

Proof of the Kneser-Tits conjecture over p-adically closed fields.

Abstract

This paper is about the $dfg$/$fsg$ decomposition for groups $G$ definable in $p$-adically closed fields. It is proved that for $G$ definably amenable, $G$ has a definable normal $dfg$ subgroup $H$ such that the quotient $G/H$ is a definable $fsg$ group. The result was known for groups definable in $o$-minimal expansions of real closed fields (see \cite{C-P-o-mini}). We also give a version for arbitrary (not necessarily definably amenable) groups $G$ definable in $p$-adically closed fields: there is a definable $dfg$ subgroup $H$ of $G$ such that the homogeneous space $G/H$ is definable and definably compact. (In the $o$-minimal case this is Fact 3.25 of \cite{Peterzil-Starchenko-mutypes}). Note that $dfg$ stands for ``has a definable $f$-generic type", and $fsg$ for ``has finitely satisfiable generics", which will be discussed together with various equivalences. We will need to understand something about groups of the form $G(k)$ where $k$ is a $p$-adically closed field and $G$ a semisimple algebraic group over $k$, and as part of the analysis we will prove the Kneser-Tits conjecture over $p$-adically closed fields.