Witt group

Noun

Witt group (plural Witt groups)

1. Given a field k of characteristic ≠ 2, the abelian group of equivalence classes of nondegenerate symmetric bilinear forms over k (where the equivalence relation is such that two forms are equivalent if each is obtainable from the other by adding a metabolic quadratic space), with the group operation corresponding to that of orthogonal direct sum of forms;
   • A general method of studying the Witt group of a smooth variety is through the graded group associated to the filtration induced by the filtration of the Witt group of the function field by powers of the fundamental ideal of even rank forms.1995, Raman Parimala, “Study of quadratic forms - Some connections with geometry”, in S. D. Chatterji, editor, Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, Zürich m94, Birkhäuser...
   • The second reason for this emphasis is that an analog of the Thomason-Waldhausen Localization Theorem also holds for many other (co-) homology theories besides K-theory, among which Hochschild homology, (negative, periodic, ordinary) cyclic homology [49], topological Hochschild (and cyclic)...2011, Marco Schlichting, Higher Algebraic K-theory, Guillermo Cortiñas (editor), Topics in Algebraic and Topological K-Theory, Springer, Lecture Notes in Mathematics 2008, page 167
2. (broadly) given a variety X, the quotient of the Grothendieck group of isometry classes of quadratic spaces on X, with respect to orthogonal sum, modulo the subgroup generated by metabolic spaces
3. (broadly) given a category with duality, the quotient of isometry classes of symmetric spaces, modulo metabolic spaces.