$${A\in $\{A\in GL_n(\mathbb{C}) : |det(A)|=1}$$ det(A)|=1\}$$ This seems to me to be a perfectly natural group to study; it is easy to define and contains $U(n), SL_n$, and all the torsion. Is there any good reason why this group isn't among the usual classical groups that are so well-understood and thoroughly discussed? I understand that most of those are studied/defined by looking at groups preserving particular inner products, but it still surprises me that I've never heard of any interesting results/properties of this group. The only guess I currently have is it's not compact.
I could ask the same question with $\mathbb{R}$ but then "morally" the group is just two copies of $SL_n(\mathbb{R})$ so I understand why it's less interesting.
A perfectly acceptable answer is that I'm totally misinformed and this group is perfectly understood, classical, named, etc., in which case any reference would be appreciated.
