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Let $S$ be a ring with involution (with 2 invertible). Suppose that the non connective algebraic K-theory $K(S)$ is 0 (i.e. $K_{n}(S)=0$, for all $n$).

Can we say something about the (higher) Witt groups $W_{n}(S)$ ?

Edit: I was wondering if this kind of questions is tractable in general? What kind of articles or books can be recommended to have some insight about these questions? I will be grateful to any indication. Thank you in advance for any help in this direction.

Motivation: I came to this question after reading a paper about the universal localization property of non connective algebraic $K$-theory. So the question can be formulated as follows is a pretriangulated category (with involution) has a vanishing $K$-theory does all other localizing functors such as Witt spectrum vanishes.

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  • $\begingroup$ Are you sure Witt theory is a localizing invariant? I thought localizing invariants satisfy some kind of projective bundle formula, fundamental theorem or something. As in Saunier's paper arXiv:2209.05818. So localizing invariants would behave more like cohomology theories "with Chern classes", and the factorization through K-theory is related to the Chern character. It seems to me Witt theory would be outside that scope. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 13 at 6:17
  • $\begingroup$ @MatthiasWendt it seems that for dg-categories with duality, grothendieck Witt spectrum should be the universal localizing functor and there is a map from grothendieck Witt to Witt with fiber given by k-theory (C_2 orbits more precisely). In that context Witt should be localizing functor. It needs a confirmation. $\endgroup$
    – cellular
    Commented Aug 13 at 12:57
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, but then there are two different settings - one without fixed duality where K-theory is universal localizing, and one with fixed duality where Grothendieck-Witt is localizing. (And possibly the localization behaviour for GW is more complicated, changing dualities etc) Asking that "K-theory vanishes" implies "Witt-theory vanishes" seems to be moving between the different settings. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 14 at 6:29
  • $\begingroup$ @MatthiasWendt any help even in tangential direction would be appreciated $\endgroup$
    – cellular
    Commented Aug 14 at 11:22

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Not an answer, but maybe some intuition from a tangential direction, and too long for a comment. I hope the information here can be useful nonetheless.

We can consider a somewhat more geometric situation, algebraic K-theory and Witt groups for smooth schemes over fields of characteristic $\neq 2$ to get some intuition what could happen. Also, trivial involution. In this case, algebraic K-theory and Witt groups are representable by spectra $\mathbf{KGL}$ and $\mathbf{KT}$,respectively.

On the one hand, I would like to think of the following things as indication that Witt groups could be nontrivial even if K-groups vanish. One possibility to link algebraic K-theory and Witt groups is via hermitian K-theory, aka higher Grothendieck-Witt theory. There are Karoubi periodicity sequences linking algebraic and hermitian K-theory by means of forgetful and hyperbolic functors. In terms of the representing spectra, these can be formulated as cofiber sequences $$ \Sigma^{1,1}\mathbf{KO}\xrightarrow{\eta}\mathbf{KO}\to\mathbf{KGL} $$ This is explained in

  • O. Röndigs and P.A. Østvær. Slices of hermitian K-theory and Milnor's conjecture on quadratic forms. Geom. Topol. 20 (2016), no.2, 1157--1212. doi-link to paper

From this viewpoint, the vanishing of algebraic K-theory implies that $\eta$ is invertible on hermitian K-theory. But the Karoubi tower construction of $\mathbf{KT}$ means $\mathbf{KT}=\mathbf{KO}[\eta^{-1}]$, so the Witt-theory spectrum is actually obtained by making $\eta$ invertible on hermitian K-theory. I would interpret this as saying that the spectrum ${\bf KT}$ is less linked to algebraic K-theory than the rest of hermitian K-theory.

In a similar vein, one can consider the real realization of the relevant spectra, for example discussed in

The real realization of $\mathbf{KGL}$ is trivial, while the real realization of hermitian K-theory and Witt theory are both $\mathbf{KO}^{\rm top}[1/2]$. In some sense, real realization doesn't care about algebraic K-theory, and the hermitian K-theory information that is visible in the real realization is coming from Witt theory. This seems to say that it's possible to have situations where the Witt groups of $S$ could be nontrivial even when algebraic K-theory is trivial.

On the other hand, one can consider the slice spectral sequence for $\mathbf{KT}$. A discussion of the spectral sequence can also be found in the Röndigs-Østvær paper linked above. The spectral sequence has the form $$ E^1_{p,q,n}=\pi_{p,n}\left(\bigvee_{i\in\mathbb{Z}}\Sigma^{2i+q,q}\mathbf{MZ}/2\right)\Rightarrow\pi_{p,n}\mathbf{KT} $$ This is a method to compute the Witt theory from mod 2 motivic cohomology (with the motivic Steenrod operations appearing as first differentials). A consequence of the spectral sequence is that vanishing of mod 2 motivic cohomology implies vanishing of Witt groups.

It's not quite clear to me what to expect in the somewhat different situation of algebraic K-theory and Witt groups for stable $\infty$-category. The first part, linking Witt groups and algebraic K-theory, probably works in somewhat greater generality, while the second part seems to be quite tied to a geometric situation.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you for such interesting perspective! I need to meditate your answer! $\endgroup$
    – cellular
    Commented Aug 15 at 12:10

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