In this paper we study left and right 4-Engel elements of a group. In particular, we prove that $<a, a^b>$ is nilpotent of class at most 4, whenever $a$ is any element and $b^{\pm 1}$ are right 4-Engel elements or $a^{\pm 1}$ are left 4-Engel elements and $b$ is an arbitrary element of $G$. Furthermore we prove that for any prime $p$ and any element $a$ of finite $p$-power order in a group $G$ such that $a^{\pm 1}\in L_4(G)$, $a^4$, if $p=2$, and $a^p$, if $p$ is an odd prime number, is in the Baer radical of $G$.
In this paper we study left 3-Engel elements in groups. In particular, we prove that for any prime $p$ and any left 3-Engel element $x$ of finite $p$-power order in a group $G$, $x^p$ is in the Baer radical of $G$. Also it is proved that $<x,y>$ is nilpotent of class 4 for every two left 3-Engel elements in a group $G$.
For any odd prime $p$, we give an example of a locally finite $p$-group $G$ containing a left 3-Engel element $x$ where $\langle x \rangle^G$ is not nilpotent.
Let $G$ be a group and let $x\in G$ be a left $3$-Engel element of order dividing $60$. Suppose furthermore that $\langle x\rangle^{G}$ has no elements of order $8$, $9$ and $25$. We show that $x$ is then contained in the locally nilpotent radical of $G$. In particular all the left $3$-Engel elements of a group of exponent $60$ are contained in the locally nilpotent radical.
In this paper we prove a group theoretic analogue of the well known local nilpotence theorem for sandwich Lie algebras due to Kostrikin and Zel'manov. We introduce the notion of a strong left 3-Engel element of a group G and show that these are always in the locally nilpotent radical of G. This generalises a previous result of Jabara and Traustason that showed that a left 3-Engel element a of a group G is in the locally nilpotent radical of G whenever a is of odd order.
Let $Γ$ be the first Grigorchuk group. According to a result of Bartholdi, the only left Engel elements of $Γ$ are the involutions. This implies that the set of left Engel elements of $Γ$ is not a subgroup. Of particular interest is to wonder whether this happens also for the sets of bounded left Engel elements, right Engel elements, and bounded right Engel elements of $Γ$. Motivated by this, we prove that these three subsets of $Γ$ coincide with the identity subgroup.
We give an infinite family of examples that generalise the construction given in arXiv:1811.12074 of a locally finite 2-group $G$ containing a left 3-Engel element $x$ where ${\langle x \rangle}^G$, the normal closure of $x$ in $G$, is not nilpotent. The construction is based on a family of Lie algebras that are of interest in their own right and make use of a classical theorem of Lucas, regarding when $\binom{m}{n}$ is even.
An element $g$ of a group $G$ is said to be right Engel if for every $x\in G$ there is a number $n=n(g,x)$ such that $[g,{}_{n}x]=1$. We prove that if a profinite group $G$ admits a coprime automorphism $φ$ of prime order such that every fixed point of $φ$ is a right Engel element, then $G$ is locally nilpotent.
The following problem is proposed as Problem 18.57 in [The Kourovka Notebook, No. 18, 2014] by D. V. Lytkina: Let $G$ be a finite $2$-group generated by involutions in which $[x, u, u] = 1$ for every $x \in G$ and every involution $u \in G$. Is the derived length of $G$ bounded? The question is asked of an upper bound on the solvability length of finite $2$-groups generated by involutions in which every involution (not only the generators) is also left $2$-Engel. We negatively answer the question.
We generalize to FC*, the class of generalized FC-groups introduced in [F. de Giovanni, A. Russo, G. Vincenzi, Groups with restricted conjugacy classes, Serdica Math. J. 28 (2002), 241-254], a result of Baer on Engel elements. More precisely, we prove that the sets of left Engel elements and bounded left Engel elements of an FC*-group G coincide with the Fitting subgroup; whereas the sets of right Engel elements and bounded right Engel elements of G are subgroups and the former coincides with the hypercentre. We also give an example of an FC*-group for which the set of right Engel elements con…
We prove that the set of right 4-Engel elements of a group $G$ is a subgroup for locally nilpotent groups $G$ without elements of orders 2, 3 or 5; and in this case the normal closure $<x>^G$ is nilpotent of class at most 7 for each right 4-Engel elements $x$ of $G$.
We say that an element $g$ of a group $G$ is almost right Engel if there is a finite set ${\mathscr R}(g)$ such that for every $x\in G$ all sufficiently long commutators $[...[[g,x],x],\dots ,x]$ belong to ${\mathscr R}(g)$, that is, for every $x\in G$ there is a positive integer $n(x,g)$ such that $[...[[g,x],x],\dots ,x]\in {\mathscr R}(g)$ if $x$ is repeated at least $n(x,g)$ times. Thus, $g$ is a right Engel element precisely when we can choose ${\mathscr R}(g)=\{ 1\}$. We prove that if all elements of a compact (Hausdorff) group $G$ are almost right Engel, then $G$ has a finite normal sub…
A right Engel sink of an element $g$ of a group $G$ is a set ${\mathscr R}(g)$ such that for every $x\in G$ all sufficiently long commutators $[...[[g,x],x],\dots ,x]$ belong to ${\mathscr R}(g)$. (Thus, $g$ is a right Engel element precisely when we can choose ${\mathscr R}(g)=\{ 1\}$.) We prove that if a profinite group $G$ admits a coprime automorphism $φ$ of prime order such that every fixed point of $φ$ has a finite right Engel sink, then $G$ has an open locally nilpotent subgroup. A left Engel sink of an element $g$ of a group $G$ is a set ${\mathscr E}(g)$ such that for every $x\in G$ a…
Suppose that a finite group $G$ admits a soluble group of coprime automorphisms $A$. We prove that if, for some positive integer $m$, every element of the centralizer $C_G(A )$ has a left Engel sink of cardinality at most $m$ (or a right Engel sink of cardinality at most $m$), then $G$ has a subgroup of $(|A|,m)$-bounded index which has Fitting height at most $2α(A)+2$, where $α(A)$ is the composition length of $A$. We also prove that if, for some positive integer $r$, every element of the centralizer $C_G(A )$ has a left Engel sink of rank at most $r$ (or a right Engel sink of rank at most $r…
We study properties of Engel elements in weakly branch groups, lying in the group of automorphisms of a spherically homogeneous rooted tree. More precisely, we prove that the set of bounded left Engel elements is always trivial in weakly branch groups. In the case of branch groups, the existence of non-trivial left Engel elements implies that these are all $p$-elements and that the group is virtually a $p$-group (and so periodic) for some prime $p$. We also show that the set of right Engel elements of a weakly branch group is trivial under a relatively mild condition. Also, we apply these resu…
Let G be a linear group such that for every g in G there is a finite set R(g) with the property that for every x in G all sufficiently long commutators [g,x,x,...,x] belong to R(g). It is proved that G is finite-by-hypercentral.
Let $R_n(G)$ denotes the set of all right $n$-Engel elements of a group $G$. We show that in any group $G$ whose 5th term of lower central series has no element of order 2, $R_3(G)$ is a subgroup. Furthermore we prove that $R_4(G)$ is a subgroup for locally nilpotent groups $G$ without elements of orders 2, 3 or 5; and in this case the normal closure $<x >^G$ is nilpotent of class at most 7 for each $x\in R_4(G)$. Using a group constructed by Newman and Nickel we also show that, for each $n\geq 5$, there exists a nilpotent group of class $n+2$ containing a right $n$-Engel element $x$ and an el…
We give an affrmative answer to the question whether a residually finite Engel group satisfying an identity is locally nilpotent. More generally, for a residually finite group G with an identity, we prove that the set of right Engel elements of G is contained in the Hirsch-Plotkin radical of G. Given an arbitrary word w, we also show that the class of all groups G in which the w-values are right n-Engel and w(G) is locally nilpotent is a variety.
A left Engel sink of an element $g$ of a group $G$ is a set ${\mathscr E}(g)$ such that for every $x\in G$ all sufficiently long commutators $[...[[x,g],g],\dots ,g]$ belong to ${\mathscr E}(g)$. (Thus, $g$ is a left Engel element precisely when we can choose ${\mathscr E}(g)=\{ 1\}$.) We prove that if a finite group $G$ admits an automorphism $φ$ of prime order coprime to $|G|$ such that for some positive integer $m$ every element of the centralizer $C_G(φ)$ has a left Engel sink of cardinality at most $m$, then the index of the second Fitting subgroup $F_2(G)$ is bounded in terms of $m$. A r…
Let $g$ be an element of a finite group $G$ and let $R_{n}(g)$ be the subgroup generated by all the right Engel values $[g,{}_{n}x]$ over $x\in G$. In the case when $G$ is soluble we prove that if, for some $n$, the Fitting height of $R_{n}(g)$ is equal to $k$, then $g$ belongs to the $(k+1)$th Fitting subgroup $F_{k+1}(G)$. For nonsoluble $G$, it is proved that if, for some $n$, the generalized Fitting height of $R_n(g)$ is equal to $k$, then $g$ belongs to the generalized Fitting subgroup $F^*_{f(k,m)}(G)$ with $f(k,m)$ depending only on $k$ and $m$, where $|g|$ is the product of $m$ primes …
Let $p$ be a prime and let $G$ be a subgroup of a Sylow pro-$p$ subgroup of the group of automorphisms of the $p$-adic tree. We prove that if $G$ is fractal and $|G':\mathrm{st}_G(1)'|=\infty$, then the set $L(G)$ of left Engel elements of $G$ is trivial. This result applies to fractal nonabelian groups with torsion-free abelianization, for example the Basilica group, the Brunner-Sidki-Vieira group, and also to the GGS-group with constant defining vector. We further provide two examples showing that neither of the requirements $|G':\mathrm{st}_G(1)'|=\infty$ and being fractal can be dropped.
We study non-degenerate involutive set-theoretic solutions (X,r) of the Yang-Baxter equation, we call them simply solutions. We show that the structure group G(X,r) of a finite non-trivial solution (X,r) cannot be an Engel group. It is known that the structure group G(X,r) of a finite multipermutation solution (X,r) is a poly-Z group, thus our result gives a rich source of examples of braided groups and left braces G(X,r) which are poly-Z groups but not Engel groups. We also show that a finite solution of the Yang-Baxter equation can be embedded in a convenient way into a finite brace and into…
Let $G$ be a non-Engel group and let $L(G)$ be the set of all left Engel elements of $G$. Associate with $G$ a graph $\mathcal{E}_G$ as follows: Take $G\backslash L(G)$ as vertices of $\mathcal{E}_G$ and join two distinct vertices $x$ and $y$ whenever $[x,_k y]\not=1$ and $[y,_k x]\not=1$ for all positive integers $k$. We call $\mathcal{E}_G$, the Engel graph of $G$. In this paper we study the graph theoretical properties of $\mathcal{E}_G$.
Following Plotkin we say that the automorphism $x$ of the group $G$ is a nil-automorphism if, for every $g\in G$, there exists $n=n(g)$ such that $[g,_n x]=1$. If the integer $n$ can be chosen independently of $g$, then $x$ is said to be unipotent. Nil and unipotent automorphisms can be regarded as a natural extension of the concept of Engel element, since a nil-automorphism $x$ is just a left-Engel element in $G < x >$. In this paper we consider nil-automorphisms of groups with residual properties namely locally-graded groups, residually-finite groups and profinite groups. The first result we…
In this paper, we have introduced the concept of $\left( \in ,\in \vee q\right) $-fuzzy ideals in a right modular groupoid. We have discussed several important features of a completely regular right modular groupoid by using the $\left( \in ,\in \vee q\right) $-fuzzy left (right, two-sided) ideals, $\left( \in ,\in \vee q\right) $-fuzzy (generalized) bi-ideals and $\left( \in ,\in \vee q\right) $-fuzzy $(1,2)$-ideals. We have also used the concept of $\left( \in ,\in \vee q_{k}\right) $-fuzzy left (right, two-sided) ideals, $\left( \in ,\in \vee q_{k}\right) $-fuzzy quasi-ideals $\left( \in ,\…
We introduce right generating sets, Cayley graphs, growth functions, types and rates, and isoperimetric constants for left homogeneous spaces equipped with coordinate systems; characterise right amenable finitely right generated left homogeneous spaces with finite stabilisers as those whose isoperimetric constant is $0$; and prove that finitely right generated left homogeneous spaces with finite stabilisers of sub-exponential growth are right amenable, in particular, quotient sets of groups of sub-exponential growth by finite subgroups are right amenable.
We introduce right amenability, right Følner nets, and right paradoxical decompositions for left homogeneous spaces and prove the Tarski-Følner theorem for left homogeneous spaces with finite stabilisers. It states that right amenability, the existence of right Følner nets, and the non-existence of right paradoxical decompositions are equivalent.
In recent years, there has been a considerable amount of interest in the stability of a finitely-generated group $Γ$ with respect to a sequence of groups $\left\{G_{n}\right\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$, equipped with bi-invariant metrics $\left\{d_{n}\right\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$. We consider the case $G_{n}=\operatorname{U}\left(n\right)$ (resp. $G_{n}=\operatorname{Sym}\left(n\right)$), equipped with the normalized Hilbert-Schmidt metric $d_{n}^{\operatorname{HS}}$ (resp. the normalized Hamming metric $d_{n}^{\operatorname{Hamming}}$). Our main result is that if $Γ$ is infinite, hyperlinear (resp. sofic) a…
We give a strong fundamental domain for the quotient of $PGL_2\!\left(\mathbb{F}_q(\!(t^{-1})\!)\!\right)$ by $PGL_2\!\left(\mathbb{F}_q[t]\right)$ as a subset of distinct ordered triple points of $\mathbb{P}^1(\mathbb{F}_q(\!(t^{-1})\!))$.
