For any countable torsion subgroup $H$ of an unbounded Abelian group $G$ there is a complete Hausdorff group topology $τ$ such that $H$ is the von Neumann radical of $(G,τ)$. In particular, any unbounded torsion countable Abelian group admits a complete Hausdorff minimally almost periodic (MinAP) group topology. If $G$ is a bounded torsion countably infinite Abelian group, then it admits a MinAP group topology if and only if all its leading Ulm-Kaplansky invariants are infinite. In such a case, a MinAP group topology can be chosen to be complete.
For any countable subgroup $H$ of an unbounded Abelian group $G$ there is a complete Hausdorff group topology $τ$ such that $H$ is the von Neumann radical of $(G,τ)$. In particular, we obtain the positive answer to Comfort's question: any unbounded countable Abelian group admits a complete Hausdorff minimally almost periodic (MinAP) group topology. A bounded infinite Abelian group admits a MinAP group topology if and only if all its leading Ulm-Kaplansky invariants are infinite. If, in addition, $G$ is countably infinite, a MinAP group topology can be chosen to be complete.
A second countable virtually free pro-p group all of whose torsion elements have finite centralizer is the free pro-p product of finite p-groups and a free pro-p factor.
In this note, we construct torsion-free countable, amenable, weakly mixing groups, which answer a question of V. Bergelson. Some results related to verbal subgroups and crystallographic groups are also presented.
We show that there is a countable universal abelian p-group for purity, i.e., a countable abelian p-group $U$ such that every countable abelian p-group purely embeds in $U$. This is the last result needed to provide a complete solution to Problem 5.1 of [Fuc15] below $\aleph_ω$. We introduce $\aleph_0$-strongly homogeneous p-groups, show that there is a universal abelian p-group for purity which is $\aleph_0$-strongly homogeneous, and completely characterize the countable $\aleph_0$-strongly homogeneous p-groups.
We classify up to coarse equivalence all countable abelian groups of finite torsion free rank. The Q-cohomological dimension and the torsion free rank are the two invariants that give us such classification. We also prove that any countable abelian group of finite torsion free rank is coarsely equivalent to Z^n + H where H is a direct sum (possibly infinite) of cyclic groups. A partial generalization to countable abelian groups of the Gromov rigidity theorem for abelian groups is shown.
We construct, in locally compact, second countable, amenable groups, sets with large density that fail to have certain combinatorial properties. For the property of being a shift of a set of measurable recurrence we show that this is possible when the group does not have cocompact von Neumann kernel. For the stronger property of being piecewise-syndetic we show that this is always possible. For minimally almost periodic, locally compact, second countable, amenable groups, we prove that any dilation of a positive density set by an open neighborhood of the identity contains a set of measurable r…
We compute the asymptotic dimension of the rationals given with an invariant proper metric. Also, we show that a countable torsion abelian group taken with an invariant proper metric has asymptotic dimension zero.
It is shown that, for any pair of cardinals with infinite sum, there exist a group and an equation over this group such that the first cardinal is the number of solutions to this equation and the second cardinal is the number of non-solutions to this equation. A countable torsion-free non-topologizable group is constructed.
We use a recent result of Alexander and Nishinaka to show that if $G$ is a non-elementary torsion-free hyperbolic group and $R$ is a countable domain, then the group ring $RG$ is primitive. This implies that the group ring $KG$ of any non-elementary torsion-free hyperbolic group $G$ over a field $K$ is primitive.
In this paper we give two families of non-metrizable topologies on the group of the integers having a countable dual group which is isomorphic to a infinite torsion subgroup of the unit circle in the complex plane. Both families are related to $D$-sequences, which are sequences of natural numbers such that each term divides the following. The first family consists of locally quasi-convex group topologies. The second consists of complete topologies which are not locally quasi-convex. In order to study the dual groups for both families we need to make numerical considerations of independent inte…
We give a complete characterization of countable primitive groups in several settings including linear groups, subgroups of mapping class groups, groups acting minimally on trees and convergence groups. The latter category includes as a special case Kleinian groups as well as subgroups of word hyperbolic groups. As an application we calculate the Frattini subgroup in many of these settings, often generalizing results that were only known for finitely generated groups. In particular, we answer a question of G. Higman and B.H. Neumann on the Frattini group of an amalgamated product.
We prove that the group G=Hom(P,Z) of all homomorphisms from the Baer-Specker group P to the group Z of integer numbers endowed with the topology of pointwise convergence contains no infinite compact subsets. We deduce from this fact that the second Pontryagin dual of G is discrete. As G is non-discrete, it is not reflexive. Since G can be viewed as a closed subgroup of the Tychonoff product of continuum many copies of the integers Z, this provides an example of a group described in the title, thereby answering Problem 11 from [J.Galindo, L.Recorder-Núñez, M.Tkachenko, Reflexivity of prodiscre…
We study the Hirsch-Plotkin radical of stability groups of (general) subspace series of infinite dimensional vector spaces. We show that in countable dimension and some other cases, the HP-radical of the stability group coincides with the set of all space automorphisms that fix a finite sub-series; this implies that the HP radical is a Fitting group. Conversely, we prove that every countable Fitting group, which is either torsion-free or a p-group may be represented as a subgroup of the HP radical of a series stabilizer.
We prove that if $Γ$ is a countable group without a subgroup isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}^2$ that acts faithfully and minimally by orientation preserving homeomorphisms on the circle, then it has a free orbit. We give examples showing that this does not hold for actions by homeomorphisms of the line.
A countable graph is ultrahomogeneous if every isomorphism between finite induced subgraphs can be extended to an automorphism. Woodrow and Lachlan showed that there are essentially four types of such countably infinite graphs: the random graph; infinite disjoint unions of complete graphs $K_n$ with $n\in \mathbb{N}$ vertices; the $K_n$-free graphs; finite unions of the infinite complete graph $K_ω$; and duals of such graphs. The groups $\operatorname{Aut}(Γ)$ of automorphisms of such graphs $Γ$ have a natural topology, which is compatible with multiplication and inversion, i.e.\ the groups $\…
We say that a countable discrete group $Γ$ satisfies the invariant von Neumann subalgebras rigidity (ISR) property if every $Γ$- invariant von Neumann subalgebra $\mathcal{M}$ in $L(Γ)$ is of the form $L(Λ)$ for some normal subgroup $Λ\lhd Γ$. We show many ``negatively curved" groups, including all torsion free non-amenable hyperbolic groups and torsion free groups with positive first $L^2$-Betti number under a mild assumption, and certain finite direct product of them have this property. We also discuss whether the torsion-free assumption can be relaxed.
Let $K$ be a global function field of characteristic $p$, and let $Γ$ be a finite-index subgroup of an arithmetic group defined with respect to $K$ and such that any torsion element of $Γ$ is a $p$-torsion element. We define semiduality groups, and we show that $Γ$ is a $\mathbb{Z}[1/p]$-semiduality group if $Γ$ acts as a lattice on a product of trees. We also give other examples of semiduality groups, including lamplighter groups, Diestel-Leader groups, and countable sums of finite groups.
We prove that every countable family of countable acylindrically hyperbolic groups has a common finitely generated acylindrically hyperbolic quotient. As an application, we obtain an acylindrically hyperbolic group $Q$ with strong fixed point properties: $Q$ has property $FL^p$ for all $p\in [1, +\infty)$, and every action of $Q$ on a finite dimensional contractible topological space has a fixed point. In addition, $Q$ has other properties which are rather unusual for groups exhibiting "hyperbolic-like" behaviour. E.g., $Q$ is not uniformly non-amenable and has finite generating sets with arbi…
A group is irreducibly represented if it has a faithful irreducible unitary representation. For countable groups, a criterion for irreducible representability is given, which generalises a result obtained for finite groups by W. Gaschütz in 1954. In particular, torsionfree groups and infinite conjugacy class groups are irreducibly represented. We indicate some consequences of this for operator algebras. In particular, we charaterise up to isomorphism the countable subgroups $Δ$ of the unitary group of a separable infinite dimensional Hilbert space $\Cal H$ of which the bicommutants $Δ''$ (in t…
Let R be a countable, principal ideal domain which is not a field and A be a countable R-algebra which is free as an R-module. Then we will construct an aleph_1-free R-module G of rank aleph_1 with endomorphism algebra End_RG=A . Clearly the result does not hold for fields. Recall that an R-module is aleph_1-free if all its countable submodules are free, a condition closely related to Pontryagin's theorem. This result has many consequences, depending on the algebra A in use. For instance, if we choose A=R, then clearly G is an indecomposable `almost free' module. The existence of such modules …
This paper is devoted to the first-order theory of torsion-free hyperbolic groups. One of its purposes is to review some results and to provide precise and correct statements and definitions, as well as some proofs and new results. A key concept is that of a tower (Sela) or NTQ system (Kharlampovich-Myasnikov). We discuss them thoroughly. We state and prove a new general theorem which unifies several results in the literature: elementarily equivalent torsion-free hyperbolic groups have isomorphic cores (Sela); if $H$ is elementarily embedded in a torsion-free hyperbolic group $G$, then $G$ is …
We study limit models in the class of abelian groups with the subgroup relation and in the class of torsion-free abelian groups with the pure subgroup relation. We show: $\textbf{Theorem}$ (1) If $G$ is a limit model of cardinality $λ$ in the class of abelian groups with the subgroup relation, then $G \cong (\oplus_λ\mathbb{Q}) \oplus \oplus_{p \text{ prime}} (\oplus_λ \mathbb{Z}(p^\infty))$. (2) If $G$ is a limit model of cardinality $λ$ in the class of torsion-free abelian groups with the pure subgroup relation, then: * If the length of the chain has uncountable cofinality, then $ G \cong (\…
A tuple (or subgroup) in a group is said to degenerate to another if the latter is an endomorphic image of the former. In a countable reduced abelian group, it is shown that if tuples (or finite subgroups) degenerate to each other, then they lie in the same automorphism orbit. The proof is based on techniques that were developed by Kaplansky and Mackey in order to give an elegant proof of Ulm's theorem. Similar results hold for reduced countably generated torsion modules over principal ideal domains. It is shown that the depth and the description of atoms of the resulting poset of orbits of tu…
Given a family $F$ of subsets of a group $G$ we describe the structure of its thin-completion $τ^*(F)$, which is the smallest thin-complete family that contains $I$. A family $F$ of subsets of $G$ is called thin-complete if each $F$-thin subset of $G$ belongs to $F$. A subset $A$ of $G$ is called $F$-thin if for any distinct points $x,y$ of $G$ the intersection $xA\cap yA$ belongs to the family $F$. We prove that the thin-completion of an ideal in an ideal. If $G$ is a countable non-torsion group, then the thin-completion $τ^*(F_G)$ of the ideal $F_G$ of finite subsets of $G$ is coanalytic but…
