In this paper, we establish a definitive result which almost completely closes the problem of bounded elementary generation for Chevalley groups of rank $\ge 2$ over arbitrary Dedekind rings R of arithmetic type, with uniform bounds. Namely, we show that for every reduced irreducible root system $\Phi $ of rank $\ge 2$, there exists a universal bound $L=L(\Phi )$ such that the simply connected Chevalley groups $G(\Phi ,R)$ have elementary width $\le L$ for all Dedekind rings of arithmetic type R.

We introduce and study the model-theoretic notions of absolute connectedness and type-absolute connectedness for groups. We prove that groups of rational points of split semisimple linear groups (that is, Chevalley groups) over arbitrary infinite fields are absolutely connected and characterize connected Lie groups which are type-absolutely connected. We prove that the class of type-absolutely connected group is exactly the class of discretely topologized groups with the trivial Bohr compactification, that is, the class of minimally almost periodic groups.

In the present paper, which is a direct sequel of our paper [14] joint with Roozbeh Hazrat, we prove an unrelativized version of the standard commutator formula in the setting of Chevalley groups. Namely, let Φ be a reduced irreducible root system of rank ≥ 2, let R be a commutative ring and let I,J be two ideals of R. We consider subgroups of the Chevalley group G(Φ, R) of type Φ over R. The unrelativized elementary subgroup E(Φ, I) of level I is generated (as a group) by the elementary unipotents xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, of level I. Obviously, in general, E(Φ, I) has no chance to be normal in E(Φ, R); its normal closure in the absolute elementary subgroup E(Φ, R) is denoted by E(Φ, R, I). The main results of [14] implied that the commutator [E(Φ, I), E(Φ, J)] is in fact normal in E(Φ, R). In the present paper we prove an unexpected result, that in fact [E(Φ, I), E(Φ, J)] = [E(Φ, R, I), E(Φ, R, J)]. It follows that the standard commutator formula also holds in the unrelativized form, namely [E(Φ, I), C(Φ, R, J)] = [E(Φ, I), E(Φ, J)], where C(Φ, R, I) is the full congruence subgroup of level I. In particular, E(Φ, I) is normal in C(Φ, R, I).

This paper explores the possible use of Schubert cells and Schubert varieties in finite geometry, particularly in regard to the question of whether these objects might be a source of understanding of ovoids or provide new examples. The main result provides a characterization of those Schubert cells for finite Chevalley groups which have the first property (thinness) of ovoids. More importantly, perhaps this short paper can help to bridge the modern language barrier between finite geometry and representation theory. For this purpose, this paper includes very brief surveys of the powerful lattice theory point of view from finite geometry and the powerful method of indexing points of flag varieties by Chevalley generators from representation theory.

Let Φ be a reduced irreducible root system of rank greater than or equal to 2, let R be a commutative ring and let I, J be two ideals of R. In the present paper we describe generators of the commutator groups of relative elementary subgroups [E(Φ,R,I),E(Φ,R,J)] both as normal subgroups of the elementary Chevalley group E(Φ,R), and as groups. Namely, let xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ ξ ∈ R, be an elementary generator of E(Φ,R). As a normal subgroup of the absolute elementary group E(Φ,R), the relative elementary subgroup is generated by xα(ξ), α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I. Classical results due to Stein, Tits and Vaserstein assert that as a group E(Φ,R,I) is generated by zα(ξ,η), where α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, η ∈ R. In the present paper, we prove the following birelative analogues of these results. As a normal subgroup of E(Φ,R) the relative commutator subgroup [E(Φ,R,I),E(Φ,R,J)] is generated by the following three types of generators: (i) [xα(ξ),zα(ζ,η)], (ii) [xα(ξ),x_α(ζ)] and (iii) xα(ξζ), where α ∈ Φ, ξ ∈ I, ζ ∈ J, η ∈ R. As a group, the generators are essentially the same, only that type (iii) should be enlarged to (iv) zα(ξζ,η). For classical groups, these results, with many more computational proofs, were established in previous papers by the authors. There is already an amazing application of these results in the recent work of Stepanov on relative commutator width.

For a split semisimple Chevalley group scheme G with Lie algebra over an arbitrary base scheme S, we consider the quotient of by the adjoint action of G. We study in detail the structure of over S. Given a maximal torus T with Lie algebra and associated Weyl group W, we show that the Chevalley morphism π : /W → /G is an isomorphism except for the group Sp2n over a base with 2-torsion. In this case this morphism is only dominant and we compute it explicitly. We compute the adjoint quotient in some other classical cases, yielding examples where the formation of the quotient → /G commutes, or does not commute, with base change on S.

We finish the proof of the main structure theorems for a Chevalley group G(Φ, R) of rank ≥ 2 over an arbitrary commutative ring R. Namely, we prove that for any admissible pair (A, B) in the sense of Abe, the corresponding relative elementary group E(Φ,R, A, B) and the full congruence subgroup C(Φ, R, A, B) are normal in G(Φ, R) itself, and not just normalised by the elementary group E(Φ, R) and that [E (Φ, R), C(Φ, R, A, B)] = E, (Φ, R, A, B). For the case Φ = F4 these results are new. The proof is new also for other cases, since we explicitly define C (Φ, R, A, B) by congruences in the adjoint representation of G (Φ, R) and give several equivalent characterisations of that group and use these characterisations in our proof.