Superstability and central extensions of algebraic groups

Altinel and Cherlin proved that any perfect central extension of a simple algebraic group over an algebraically closed field which happens to be of finite Morley rank is actually a finite central extension and is itself an algebraic group. We will prove an infinite rank version of their result with an additional hypothesis, while giving an example which shows the necessity of this hypothesis. The inspiration for the work comes from differential algebra; namely, a differential algebraic version of the results here was used by the second author to answer a question of Cassidy and Singer. The work here also provides an alternate path to the same answer. An almost simple superstable group G is one in which every definable normal subgroup H has the property that RU(G') > RU(H) . n for any n is an element of N. We prove that any almost simple superstable group which is a central extension of a simple algebraic group is actually a finite central extension and is an algebraic group. We also explain the applications of this result to differential algebraic groups. Many of the central ideas of the proof of our main theorem are an adaptation of techniques developed by the second author in the setting of differential algebraic groups. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.