A unital $\ell$-group $(G,u)$ is an abelian group $G$ equipped with a translation-invariant lattice-order and a distinguished element $u$, called order-unit, whose positive integer multiples eventually dominate each element of $G$. We classify finitely generated unital $\ell$-groups by sequences $\mathcal W = (W_{0},W_{1},...)$ of weighted abstract simplicial complexes, where $W_{t+1}$ is obtained from $W_{t}$ either by the classical Alexander binary stellar operation, or by deleting a maximal simplex of $W_{t}$. A simple criterion is given to recognize when two such sequences classify isomorphic unital $\ell$-groups. Many properties of the unital $\ell$-group $(G,u)$ can be directly read off from its associated sequence: for instance, the properties of being totally ordered, archimedean, finitely presented, simplicial, free.
In this paper we determine all finitely generated abelian groups which are varietal capable with respect to the variety of polynilpotent groups. This result is a vast generalization of the famous Baer's result about capability of finitely generated abelian groups.
We will show that every element of a finitely generated abelian group is automorphically equivalent what we will define to be a {\em representative element} in a {\em repeat-free subgroup}, and for finite abelian groups we can count the number of automorphism classes of elements.
We show that every finitely generated nilpotent group of class 2 occurs as the quotient of a finitely presented abelian-by-nilpotent group by its largest nilpotent normal subgroup.
We show that finitely generated Abelian groups admit equal growth functions with respect to symmetric generating sets if and only if they have the same rank and the torsion parts have the same parity. In contrast, finitely generated Abelian groups admit equal growth functions with respect to monoid generating sets if and only if they have same rank. Moreover, we show that the size of the torsion part is in fact determined by the set of all growth functions of a finitely generated Abelian group.
We discuss various methods and their effectiveness for solving linear equations over finitely generated abelian groups. More precisely, if $φ\colon G\to H$ is a homomorphism of finitely generated abelian groups and $b\in H$, we discuss various algorithms for checking whether $b\in \imφ$ holds and if so, for computing a pre-image of $b$ in $G$ together with the kernel of $φ$.
In this paper, we present an explicit formula for the Baer invariant of a finitely generated abelian group with respect to the variety of polynilpotent groups of class row $(c_1,...,c_t)$, ${\cal N}_{c_1,...,c_t}$. In particular, one can obtain an explicit structure of the $\ell$-solvable multiplier (the Baer invariant with respect to the vaiety of solvable groups of length at most $\ell\geq 1,\ {\cal S}_{\ell}$.) of a finitely generated abelian group.
We present an explicit structure for the Baer invariant of a finitely generated abelian group with respect to the variety $[\mathfrak{N}_{c_1},\mathfrak{N}_{c_2}]$, for all $c_2\leq c_1\leq 2c_2$. As a consequence we determine necessary and sufficient conditions for such groups to be $[\mathfrak{N}_{c_1},\mathfrak{N}_{c_2}]$-capable. We also show that if $c_1\neq 1\neq c_2$, then a finitely generated abelian group is $[\mathfrak{N}_{c_1},\mathfrak{N}_{c_2}]$-capable if and only if it is capable. Finally we show that $\mathfrak{S}_2$-capability implies capability but there is a finitely generat…
In this note we introduce the class of $\mathcal H$-groups (or Hall groups) related to the class of $\mathcal B$-groups defined by Ph. Hall in 1950's. Establishing some basic properties of Hall groups we use them to obtain results concerning embeddings of abelian groups. In particular, we give an explicit classification of all abelian groups that can occur as subgroups in finitely-generated metabelian groups. Hall groups allow to give a negative answer to the Baumslag's conjecture of 1990 on the cardinality of the set of isomorphism classes for abelian subgroups in finitely generated metabelia…
W.H.~Mills has determined, for a finitely generated abelian group $G$, the regular subgroups $N \cong G$ of $S(G)$, the group of permutations on the set $G$, which have the same holomorph of $G$, that is, such that $N_{S(G)}(N) = N_{S(G)}(ρ(G))$, where $ρ$ is the (right) regular representation. We give an alternative approach to Mills' result, which relies on a characterization of the regular subgroups of $N_{S(G)}(ρ(G))$ in terms of commutative ring structures on $G$. We are led to solve, for the case of a finitely generated abelian group $G$, the following problem: given an abelian group $(G…
Let $G$ be an $\ell$-group (which is short for ``lattice-ordered abelian group''). Baker and Beynon proved that $G$ is finitely presented iff it is finitely generated and projective. In the category $\mathcal U$ of {\it unital} $\ell$-groups---those $\ell$-groups having a distinguished order-unit $u$---only the $(\Leftarrow)$-direction holds in general. Morphisms in $\mathcal U$ are {\it unital $\ell$-homomorphisms,} i.e., hom\-o\-mor\-phisms that preserve the order-unit and the lattice structure. We show that a unital $\ell$-group $(G,u)$ is finitely presented iff it has a basis, i.e., $G$ is…
In this paper we define Ordered Generating System for finite non-abelian groups, which is a generalization of the basis theorem for finite abelian groups. We prove the following: If each composition factor of a group G has Ordered Generating System, then G has Ordered Generating System as well. Hence, it remains to prove that every finite simple group has Ordered Generating System. In this paper we prove that the sporadic group of Mathieu has the property of Ordered Generating System.
William W. Boone and Graham Higman proved that a finitely generated group has soluble word problem if and only if it can be embedded in a simple group that can be embedded in a finitely presented group. We prove the exact analogue for lattice-ordered groups: Theorem: A finitely generated lattice-ordered group has soluble word problem if and only if it can be embedded in an simple lattice-ordered group that can be embedded in a finitely presented lattice-ordered group. The proof uses permutation groups and the ideas used to prove the lattice-ordered group analogue of Higman's Embedding Theorem.
We show that Cayley graphs of finitely generated Abelian groups are rather rigid. As a consequence we obtain that two finitely generated Abelian groups admit isomorphic Cayley graphs if and only if they have the same rank and their torsion parts have the same cardinality. The proof uses only elementary arguments and is formulated in a geometric language.
In this paper, we compute an upper bound for the Dehn function of a finitely presented metabelian group. In addition, we prove that the same upper bound works for the relative Dehn function of a finitely generated metabelian group. We also show that every wreath product of a free abelian group of finite rank with a finitely generated abelian group can be embedded into a metabelian group with exponential Dehn function.
We extend the classical Stallings theory (describing subgroups of free groups as automata) to direct products of free and abelian groups: after introducing enriched automata (i.e., automata with extra abelian labels), we obtain an explicit bijection between subgroups and a certain type of such enriched automata, which - as it happens in the free group - is computable in the finitely generated case. This approach provides a neat geometric description of (even non finitely generated) intersections of finitely generated subgroups within this non-Howson family. In particular, we give a geometric s…
Suppose a group $G$ is quasi-isometric to a free product of a finite set $S$ of finitely generated abelian groups; let $S'$ denote the set of ranks of the free abelian parts of the groups in $S$. Then $G$ is commensurable with the free product of $\Z$ with a $\Z^n$ for each $n$ occurring in $S'$.
We prove that the class of nilpotent by finite, solvable by finite, polycyclic by finite, nilpotent of nilpotency class $n$ and supersolvable groups are closed under the formation of the non-abelian tensor product. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the non-abelian tensor product of finitely generated groups to be finitely generated. We prove that central extensions of most finite simple groups have trivial Bogomolov multiplier.
It is well known there is no finitely generated abelian group which has the $R_\infty$ property. We will show that also many non-finitely generated abelian groups do not have the $R_\infty$ property, but this does not hold for all of them. In fact we construct an uncountable number of infinite countable abelian groups which do have the $R_{\infty}$ property. We also construct an abelian group such that the cardinality of the Reidemeister classes is uncountable for any automorphism of that group. 8 pages, no figures
Bestvina, Feighn and Handel proved that every subgroup of the outer automorphism group, $\textrm{Out}(F_n)$, of the free group of rank $n$ is either virtually finitely generated abelian or contains a nonabelian free group. In this note we consider the more general situation of the outer automorphism group $\textrm{Out}(G)$ of a finitely generated free-by-finite group $G$. We show that $\textrm{Out}(G)$ is translation discrete and that every subgroup of $\textrm{Out}(G)$ is either virtually finitely generated abelian or contains a nonabelian free group.
We investigate the palindromic width of finitely generated solvable groups. We prove that every finitely generated $3$-step solvable group has finite palindromic width. More generally, we show the finiteness of palindromic width for finitely generated abelian-by-nilpotent-by-nilpotent groups. For arbitrary solvable groups of step $\geq 3$, we prove that if $G$ is a finitely generated solvable group that is an extension of an abelian group by a group satisfying the maximal condition for normal subgroups, then the palindromic width of $G$ is finite. We also prove that the palindromic width of $\…
Finitely generated (non-abelian) free metabelian pro-p groups, and wreath products of f.g. free abelian pro-p groups, are all finitely axiomatizable in the class of all profinite groups.
A recipe for obtaining finitely presented abelian-by-nilpotent groups is given. It relies on a geometric procedure that generalizes the construction of finitely presented metabelian groups introduced by R. Bieri and R. Strebel in 1980.
Abelian groups having partial orderings compatible with their binary operations have long been studied in the literature. In particular, lattice-ordered abelian groups constitute a universal-algebraic variety, and thus form a category which is monadic over the category of sets. The current paper studies the more general case of quasi-ordered abelian groups, identifying some of their more fundamental properties and their relationships to partially ordered and lattice-ordered groups. We reinterpret the category of quasi-ordered abelian groups with order preserving morphisms by examining the inte…
We show that if $G$ is a group and $G$ has a graph-product decomposition with finitely-generated abelian vertex groups, then $G$ has two canonical decompositions as a graph product of groups: a unique decomposition in which each vertex group is a directly-indecomposable cyclic group, and a unique decomposition in which each vertex group is a finitely-generated abelian group and the graph satisfies the $T_0$ property. Our results build on results by Droms, Laurence and Radcliffe.
We characterize the groups isomorphic to full automorphism groups of ordered abelian groups. The result will follow from classical theorems on ordered groups adding an argument from proofs used to realize rings as endomorphism rings of abelian groups.
A lattice-ordered group (an $\ell$-group) $G(\oplus, \vee, \wedge)$ can be naturally viewed as a semiring $G(\vee,\oplus)$. We give a full classification of (abelian) $\ell$-groups which are finitely generated as semirings, by first showing that each such $\ell$-group has an order-unit so that we can use the results of Busaniche, Cabrer and Mundici [8]. Then we carefully analyze their construction in our setting to obtain the classification in terms of certain $\ell$-groups associated to rooted trees (Theorem 4.1). This classification result has a number of important applications: for example …
In this paper, we consider the formal power series whose n-th coefficient is the number of copies of a given finite graph in the ball of radius n centred at the identity element in the Cayley graph of a finitely generated group and call it the growth function. Epstein, Iano-Fletcher and Uri Zwick proved that the growth function is a rational function if the group has a geodesic automatic structure. We compute the growth function in the case where the group is abelian and see that the denominator of the rational function is determined from the rank of the group.
We prove that torsion in the abelianizations of open normal subgroups in finitely presented pro-$p$ groups can grow arbitrarily fast. By way of contrast in $\mathbb Z_p$- analytic groups the torsion growth is at most polynomial.
We show that every graph product of finitely generated abelian groups acts properly and cocompactly on a CAT(0) cubical complex. The complex generalizes (up to subdivision) the Salvetti complex of a right-angled Artin group and the Coxeter complex of a right-angled Coxeter group. In the right-angled Artin group case it is related to the embedding into a right-angled Coxeter group described by Davis and Januszkiewicz. We compare the approaches and also adapt the argument that the action extends to finite index supergroup that is a graph product of finite groups.
In this article we introduce the notion of weak identities in a group and study their properties. We show that weak identities have some similar properties to ordinary ones. We use this notion to prove that any finitely generated solvable discriminating group is abelian.
A group G is (finitely) co-Hopfian if it does not contain any proper (finite-index) subgroups isomorphic to itself. We study finitely generated groups G that admit a descending chain of proper normal finite-index subgroups, each of which is isomorphic to G. We prove that up to finite index, these are always obtained by pulling back a chain of subgroups from a free abelian quotient. We give two applications: First, we show any characteristic proper finite-index subgroup isomorphic to G arises by pulling back a finite-index subgroup of the abelianization, and secondly, we prove special cases (fo…
The complexity of a geodesic language has connections to algebraic properties of the group. Gilman, Hermiller, Holt, and Rees show that a finitely generated group is virtually free if and only if its geodesic language is locally excluding for some finite inverse-closed generating set. The existence of such a correspondence and the result of Hermiller, Holt, and Rees that finitely generated abelian groups have piecewise excluding geodesic language for all finite inverse-closed generating sets motivated our work. We show that a finitely generated group with piecewise excluding geodesic language …
We say a group is finitely annihilated if it is the set-theoretic union of all its proper normal finite index subgroups. We investigate this new property, and observe that it is independent of several other well known group properties. For finitely generated groups, we show that in many cases it is equivalent to having non-cyclic abelianisation, and at the same time construct an explicit infinite family of counterexamples to this. We show for finitely presented groups that this property is neither Markov nor co-Markov. In the context of our work we show that the weight of a non-perfect finite …
For an ascending HNN-extension $G*_ψ$ of a finitely generated abelian group $G$, we study how a synchronization between the geometry of the group and weak periodicity of a configuration in $\mathcal{A}^{G*_ψ}$ forces global constraints on it, as well as in subshifts containing it. A particular case are Baumslag-Solitar groups $\mathrm{BS}(1,N)$, $N\ge2$, for which our results imply that a $\mathrm{BS}(1,N)$-SFT which contains a configuration with period $a^{N^\ell}$, $\ell\ge 0$, must contain a strongly periodic configuration with monochromatic $\mathbb{Z}$-sections. Then we study proper $n$-c…
We prove that every countable left-ordered group embeds into a finitely generated left-ordered simple group. Moreover, if the first group has a computable left-order, then the simple group also has a computable left-order. We also obtain a Boone-Higman-Thompson type theorem for left-orderable groups with recursively enumerable positive cones. These embeddings are Frattini embeddings, and isometric whenever the initial group is finitely generated. Finally, we reprove Thompson's theorem on word problem preserving embeddings into finitely generated simple groups and observe that the embedding is …
A classical result of Schreier states that nontrivial finitely generated normal subgroups of free groups are of finite index, that is, free groups can only quotient to finite groups with finitely generated kernel. In this note we extend this result to the class of right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs). More precisely, we prove that the quotient of a RAAG by a finitely generated (full) normal subgroup is abelian-by-finite and finite-by-abelian. As Schreier's result extends to nontrivial free products of groups, we further show that our result extends to graph products of groups. As a corollary, we …
Let $G$ be a group. We denote by $ν(G)$ a certain extension of the non-abelian tensor square $G \otimes G$ by $G \times G$. We prove that if $G$ is a finitely generated group in which the set of all simple tensors $T_{\otimes}(G)$ is finite, then the non-abelian tensor square $G \otimes G$ and the group $ν(G)$ are finite. Moreover, we show that if $G$ is a locally residually finite group in which the set of simple tensors $T_{\otimes}(H)$ is finite for every proper finitely generated subgroup $H$ of $G$, then the group $ν(G)$ is locally finite.
We extend each higher Johnson homomorphism to a crossed homomorphism from the automorphism group of a finite-rank free group to a finite-rank abelian group. We also extend each Morita homomorphism to a crossed homomorphism from the mapping class group of once-bounded surface to a finite-rank abelian group. This improves on the author's previous results [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 7 (2007):1297-1326]. To prove the first result, we express the higher Johnson homomorphisms as coboundary maps in group cohomology. Our methods involve the topology of nilpotent homogeneous spaces and lattices in nilpotent …
The goal of this article is to study results and examples concerning finitely presented covers of finitely generated amenable groups. We collect examples of groups $G$ with the following properties: (i) $G$ is finitely generated, (ii) $G$ is amenable, e.g. of intermediate growth, (iii) any finitely presented group $E$ with a quotient isomorphic to $G$ contains non-abelian free subgroups, or the stronger (iii') any finitely presented group with a quotient isomorphic to $G$ is large.
We show that the wreath product $G \wr \mathbb{Z}^n$ of any finitely generated group $G$ with $\mathbb{Z}^n$ has finite palindromic width. We also show that $C \wr A$ has finite palindromic width if $C$ has finite commutator width and $A$ is a finitely generated infinite abelian group. Further we prove that if $H$ is a non-abelian group with finite palindromic width and $G$ any finitely generated group, then every element of the subgroup $G' \wr H$ can be expressed as a product of uniformly boundedly many palindromes. From this we obtain that $P \wr H$ has finite palindromic width if $P$ is a …
We show the connection between the relative Dehn function of a finitely generated metabelian group and the distortion function of a corresponding subgroup in the wreath product of two free abelian groups of finite rank. Further, we show that if a finitely generated metabelian group $G$ is an extension of an abelian group by $\mathbb Z$ the relative Dehn function of $G$ is polynomially bounded. Therefore, if $G$ is finitely presented, the Dehn function is bounded above by the exponential function up to equivalence.
It is proved that for any prime $p$ a finitely generated nilpotent group is conjugacy separable in the class of finite $p$-groups if and only if the torsion subgroup of it is a finite $p$-group and the quotient group by the torsion subgroup is abelian.
A group G is a vGBS group if it admits a decomposition as a finite graph of groups with all edge and vertex groups finitely generated and free abelian. We construct the JSJ decomposition of a vGBS group over abelian groups. We prove that this decomposition is explicitly computable, and may be obtained by local changes on the initial graph of groups.
A group G is a vGBS group if it admits a decomposition as a finite graph of groups with all edge and vertex groups finitely generated and free abelian. We describe the compatibility JSJ decomposition over abelian groups. We prove that in general this decomposition is not algorithmically computable.
