We prove that for any finite index subgroup $\Ga$ in $SL_n(\mathbb{Z})$, there exists $k=k(n)\in\mathbb{N}$, $\ep=\ep(\Ga)>0$, and an infinite family of finite index subgroups in $\Ga$ with a Kazhdan constant greater than $\ep$ with respect to a generating set of order $k$. On the other hand, we prove that for any finite index subgroup $\Ga$ of $SL_n(\mathbb{Z})$, and for any $\ep>0$ and $k\in \mathbb{N}$, there exists a finite index subgroup $\Ga'\leq \Ga$ such that the Kazhdan constant of any finite index subgroup in $\Ga'$ is less than $\ep$, with respect to any generating set of order $k$. In addition, we prove that the Kazhdan constant of the principal congruence subgroup $Γ_n(m)$, with respect to a generating set consisting of elementary matrices (and their conjugates), is greater than $\frac{c}{m}$, where $c>0$ depends only on $n$. For a fixed $n$, this bound is asymptotically best possible.
Given a simple Lie group $G$, we show that the lattices in $G$ are weakly uniformly discrete. This is a strengthening of the Kazhdan-Margulis theorem. Our proof however is straightforward --- considering general IRS rather than lattices allows us to apply a compactness argument. In terms of p.m.p. actions, we show that for every $ε$ there is an identity neighbourhood $U$ which intersects trivially the stabilizers of $1-ε$ of the points in every non-atomic $G$-space.
Let $Γ$ be a group of type $F_n$ and let $X$ be the $n$ skeleton of the universal cover of a $K(Γ,1)$ simplicial complex with finite $n$ skeleton. We show that if $Γ$ is strongly $n$-Kazhdan, then for any family of finite index subgroups $\{Λ_i\}_i$, the family of simplicial complexes $\{Λ_i\backslash X\}_i$ are bounded degree $n$-dimensional spectral expanders. Using this we construct new examples of $2$ dimensional spectral expanders.
We reformulate and extend the geometric method for proving Kazhdan property T developed by Dymara and Januszkiewicz and used by Ershov and Jaikin. The main result says that a group G, generated by finite subgroups G_i, has property T if the group generated by each pair of subgroups has property T and sufficiently large Kazhdan constant. Essentially, the same result was proven by Dymara and Januszkiewicz, however our bound for "sufficiently large" is significantly better. As an application of this result, we give exact bounds for the Kazhdan constants and the spectral gaps of the random walks o…
Let $H$ be a proper subgroup of a discrete group $G$. We introduce a notion of relative inner amenability of $H$ in $G$, we prove some equivalent conditions and provide examples as well as counter-examples. We also discuss the corresponding relative property gamma for pairs of finite factors $N\subset M$ and we deduce from this a characterization of discrete, icc groups which do not have Kazhdan's property (T).
We discuss a practical algorithm to compute parabolic Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials. As an application we compute Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials which are needed to evaluate a character formula for reductive groups due to Lusztig. Some coefficients of these polynomials have interesting interpretations for certain finite groups. We find examples of finite dimensional modules for finite groups with much higher dimensional first cohomology group than in all previously known cases. Some of these examples lead to the construction of finite groups with many maximal subgroups, contradicting an old conject…
Property FW is a natural combinatorial weakening of Kazhdan's Property T. We prove that the group of piecewise homographic self-transformations of the real projective line, has "few" infinite subgroups with Property FW. In particular, no such subgroup is amenable or has Kazhdan's Property T. These results are extracted from a longer paper. We provide a complete proof, whose main tools are the use of the notion of partial action and of one-dimensional geometric structures.
Let $n \ge 3$. We positively answer a question of Lubotzky and prove that every finite index subgroup of SL(n, Z) contains a finite index subgroup which is generated by two elements.
We show that if $G$ is a non-archimedean, Roelcke precompact, Polish group, then $G$ has Kazhdan's property (T). Moreover, if $G$ has a smallest open subgroup of finite index, then $G$ has a finite Kazhdan set. Examples of such $G$ include automorphism groups of countable $ω$-categorical structures, that is, the closed, oligomorphic permutation groups on a countable set. The proof uses work of the second author on the unitary representations of such groups, together with a separation result for infinite permutation groups. The latter allows the construction of a non-abelian free subgroup of $G…
We compute the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariants $Σ^1$ for the generalized solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups $Γ_n$ and their finite index subgroups. Using $Σ^1$, we show that certain finite index subgroups of $Γ_n$ cannot be isomorphic to $Γ_{k}$ for any $k$. In addition, we use the BNS-invariants to give a new proof of property $R_\infty$ for the groups $Γ_n$ and their finite index subgroups.
This contains a new version of the so-called non-commutative Gauss algorithm for polycyclic groups. Its results allow to read off the order and the index of a subgroup in an (possibly infinite) polycyclic group.
We generalise a technical tool, originally developed by Pervova for the study of maximal subgroups in Grigorchuk and GGS groups, to all weakly branch groups satisfying a natural condition, and in particular to all branch groups. We then use this tool to prove that every maximal subgroup of infinite index of a branch group is also a branch group. As a further application of this result, we show that every maximal subgroup of the Basilica group is of finite index.
We consider abelain subgroups of small index in finite groups. More generally, we consider subgroups such that the product of their index by the index of their centralizer is small.
Using graph-theoretic techniques for f.g. subgroups of $F^{\mathbb{Z}[t]}$ we provide a criterion for a f.g. subgroup of a f.g. fully residually free group to be of finite index. Moreover, we show that this criterion can be checked effectively. Also we obtain an analogue of Greenberg-Stallings Theorem for f.g. fully residually free groups, and prove that a f.g. non-abelian subgroup of a f.g. fully residually free group is of finite index in its commensurator.
For an epimorphism pi of the free group F_n onto a finite group G write Gamma(G,pi) for the group of all automorphisms f of F_n for which pi*f = pi. This is called the standard congruence subgroup of Aut(F_n) associated to G and pi. In the case n = 2 we present formulas for the index of Gamma(G,pi) where G is abelian or dihedral. Moreover, we show that congruence subgroups associated to dihedral groups provide a family of subgroups of arbitrary large index in Aut(F_2) generated by a fixed number of elements. This implies that finite index subgroups of Aut(F_2) cannot be written as free product…
It is proved that every group of the form $G=AB$ with two subgroups $A$ and $B$ each of which is either abelian or has a quasicyclic subgroup of index $2$ is soluble of derived length at most $3$. In particular, if $A$ is abelian and $B$ is a locally quaternion group, this gives a positive answer to Question 18.95 of "Kourovka notebook" posed by A.I.Sozutov.
In this paper, we finished the classification of three-generator finite $p$-groups $G$ such that $Φ(G)\le Z(G)$. This paper is a part of classification of finite $p$-groups with a minimal non-abelian subgroup of index $p$, and partly solved a problem proposed by Y. Berkovich.
The main result of [4] is that all finitely presented groups of p-deficiency greater than one are p-large. Here we prove that groups with a finite presentation of p-deficiency one possess a finite index subgroup that surjects onto . This implies that these groups do not have Kazhdan's property (T). Additionally, we prove that the main result of [4] implies a result of Lackenby [8].
A subgroup $H$ of a group $G$ is said to be {\it pronormal} in $G$ if $H$ and $H^g$ are conjugate in $\langle H, H^g \rangle$ for each $g \in G$. Some problems in Finite Group Theory, Combinatorics, and Permutation Group Theory were solved in terms of pronormality, therefore, the question of pronormality of a given subgroup in a given group is of interest. Subgroups of odd index in finite groups satisfy a native necessary condition of pronormality. In this paper we continue investigations on pronormality of subgroups of odd index and consider the pronormality question for subgroups of odd inde…
Using small cancellation methods, we show that the property invariable generation does not pass to finite index subgroups, answering questions of Wiegold and Kantor-Lubotzky-Shalev. We further show that a finitely generated group that is invariably generated is not necessarily finitely invariably generated, answering a question of Cox. The same results were also obtained independently by Minasyan.
A subgroup $H$ of a group $G$ is said to be pronormal in $G$ if $H$ and $H^g$ are conjugate in $\langle H, H^g \rangle$ for every $g \in G$. In this paper we classify finite simple groups $E_6(q)$ and ${}^2E_6(q)$ in which all the subgroups of odd index are pronormal. Thus, we complete a classification of finite simple exceptional groups of Lie type in which all the subgroups of odd index are pronormal.
We construct torsion-free hyperbolic groups without unique product whose subgroups up to some given finite index are themselves non-unique product groups. This is achieved by generalising a construction of Comerford to graphical small cancellation presentations, showing that for every subgroup $H$ of a graphical small cancellation group there exists a free group $F$ such that $H*F$ admits a graphical small cancellation presentation.
A residually finite (profinite) group $G$ is just infinite if every non-trivial (closed) normal subgroup of $G$ is of finite index. This paper considers the problem of determining whether a (closed) subgroup $H$ of a just infinite group is itself just infinite. If $G$ is not virtually abelian, we give a description of the just infinite property for normal subgroups in terms of maximal subgroups. In particular, we show that such a group $G$ is hereditarily just infinite if and only if all maximal subgroups of finite index are just infinite. We also obtain results for certain families of virtual…
Suppose that $G$ is a finite $p$-group. If all subgroups of index $p^t$ of $G$ are abelian and at least one subgroup of index $p^{t-1}$ of $G$ is not abelian, then $G$ is called an $\mathcal{A}_t$-group. In this paper, some information about $\mathcal{A}_t$-groups are obtained and $\mathcal{A}_3$-groups are completely classified. This solves an {\it old problem} proposed by Berkovich and Janko in their book. Abundant information about $\mathcal{A}_3$-groups are given.
We show that if $H$ is a quasiconvex subgroup of infinite index in a non-elementary hyperbolic group $G$ then the Schreier coset graph $X$ for $G$ relative to $H$ is non-amenable (that is, $X$ has positive Cheeger constant). We present some corollaries regading the Martin boundary and Martin compactification of $X$ and the co-growth of $H$ in $G$.
We give a structural description of the normal subgroups of subgroups of finite index in branch groups in terms of rigid stabilizers. This gives further insight into the structure lattices of branch groups introduced by the second author. We derive a condition concerning abstract commensurability of branch groups acting on the p-ary tree for any prime p.
We prove that for arbitrary two finitely generated subgroups A and B having infinite index in a free group F, there is a subgroup H of finite index in B such that the subgroup generated by A and H has infinite index in F. The main corollary of this theorem says that a noncyclic free group of finite rank admits a faithful highly transitive action on an infinite set, whereas the restriction of this action to any finitely generated subgroup of infinite index in F has no infinite orbits.
A subgroup $H$ of a group $G$ is said to be {pronormal} in $G$ if $H$ and $H^g$ are conjugate in $\langle H, H^g \rangle$ for every $g \in G$. Some problems in finite group theory, combinatorics, and permutation group theory were solved in terms of pronormality. In 2012, E. Vdovin and the third author conjectured that the subgroups of odd index are pronormal in finite simple groups. In this paper we disprove their conjecture and discuss a recent progress in the classification of finite simple groups in which the subgroups of odd index are pronormal.
Let $p$ be an odd prime, and let $S$ be a $p$-group with a unique elementary abelian subgroup $A$ of index $p$. We classify the simple fusion systems over all such groups $S$ in which $A$ is essential. The resulting list, which depends on the classification of finite simple groups, includes a large variety of new, exotic simple fusion systems.
We study the lattice of finite-index extensions of a given finitely generated subgroup $H$ of a free group $F$. This lattice is finite and we give a combinatorial characterization of its greatest element, which is the commensurator of $H$. This characterization leads to a fast algorithm to compute the commensurator, which is based on a standard algorithm from automata theory. We also give a sub-exponential and super-polynomial upper bound for the number of finite-index extensions of $H$, and we give a language-theoretic characterization of the lattice of finite-index subgroups of $H$. Finally,…
We prove in this paper that a finite almost simple group $R$ with socle the non-abelian simple group $S$ possesses a conjugacy class of core-free maximal subgroups whose index coincides with the smallest index $\operatorname{l}(S)$ of a maximal group of $S$ or a conjugacy class of core-free maximal subgroups with a fixed index $v_S \leq {\operatorname{l}(S)^2}$, depending only on $S$. We show that the number of subgroups of the outer automorphism group of $S$ is bounded by $\log^3 {\operatorname{l}(S)}$ and $\operatorname{l}(S)^2 < |S|$.
We determine the abstract commensurator com(F) of Thompson's group F and describe it in terms of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the real line and in terms of tree pair diagrams. We show com (F) is not finitely generated and determine which subgroups of finite index in F are isomorphic to F. We show that the natural map from the commensurator group to the quasi-isometry group of F is injective.
We construct three groups $Λ_1$, $Λ_2$, $Λ_3$, which can all be decomposed as amalgamated products $F_9 \ast_{F_{81}} F_{9}$ and have very few normal subgroups of finite or infinite index. Concretely, $Λ_1$ is a simple group, $Λ_2$ is not simple but has no non-trivial normal subgroup of infinite index, and $Λ_3$ is not simple but has no proper subgroup of finite index.
We prove that if F is a finitely generated free group and f:F -> F is an automorphism with polynomial growth of degree d, then there exists a characteristic subgroup S < F of finite index such that the induced automorphism of the abelianisation of S also grows polynomially of degree d. The proof is geometric in nature and makes use of improved relative train track representatives.
We finish the classification, begun in two earlier papers, of all simple fusion systems over finite nonabelian $p$-groups with an abelian subgroup of index $p$. In particular, this gives many new examples illustrating the enormous variety of exotic examples that can arise. In addition, we classify all simple fusion systems over infinite nonabelian discrete $p$-toral groups with an abelian subgroup of index $p$. In all of these cases (finite or infinite), we reduce the problem to one of listing all $\mathbb{F}_pG$-modules (for $G$ finite) satisfying certain conditions: a problem which was solve…
A classification of maximal subgroups of odd index in finite simple groups was given by Liebeck and Saxl and, independently, Kantor in 1980s. In the cases of alternating groups or classical groups of Lie type over fields of odd characteristics, the classification was not complete. The classification was completed by the author in 2008. In the cases of finite simple classical groups of Lie type we used results obtained in Kleidman's PhD thesis. However there is a number of flaws in this PhD thesis. The flaws were corrected by Bray, Holt, and Roney-Dougal in 2013. In this note we provide a revis…
In this paper, we give a characterization of the normal subgroups of index $2^{s}(2n+1),\ s\in\{1,2\},\ n\in \mathbb{N}$ and of the subgroups of index three of the group representation of the Cayley tree.
We classify abelian subgroups of Out(F_n) up to finite index in an algorithmic and computationally friendly way. A process called disintegration is used to canonically decompose a single rotationless element ϕinto a composition of finitely many elements and then use these elements to generate an abelian subgroup A(ϕ) that contains ϕ. The main theorem is that up to finite index every abelian subgroup is realized by this construction. As an application we classify, up to finite index, abelian subgroups of Out(F_n) and of IA with maximal rank.
Given a group with at least two more generators than relations, we give an effective estimate on the minimal index of a subgroup with a nonabelian free quotient. We show that the index is bounded by a polynomial in the length of the relator word. We also provide a lower bound on the index.
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…
In this work, we derive the low index subgroups of the extended Hecke, Hecke and the Picard groups using tools in color symmetry theory. We also present the low index subgroups of the modular group.
The index of a subgroup of a group counts the number of cosets of that subgroup. A subgroup of finite index often shares structural properties with the group, and the existence of a subgroup of finite index with some particular property can therefore imply useful structural information for the overgroup. A developed theory of cosets in inverse semigroups exists, originally due to Schein: it is defined only for closed inverse subsemigroups, and the structural correspondences between an inverse semigroup and a closed inverse subsemigroup of finite index are weaker than in the group case. Neverth…
We show that the abstract commensurator of Thompson's group F is composed of four building blocks: two isomorphism types of simple groups, the multiplicative group of the positive rationals and a cyclic group of order two. The main result establishes the simplicity of a certain group of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the real line.
We describe an algorithm that computes the index of a finitely generated subgroup in a finitely $L$-presented group provided that this index is finite. This algorithm shows that the subgroup membership problem for finite index subgroups in a finitely $L$-presented group is decidable. As an application, we consider the low-index subgroups of some self-similar groups including the Grigorchuk group, the twisted twin of the Grigorchuk group, the Grigorchuk super-group and the Hanoi 3-group
A subgroup $Δ\leq Γ$ is commensurated if $|Δ:Δ\cap γΔγ^{-1}|<\infty$ for all $γ\in Γ$. We show a finitely generated branch group is just infinite if and only if every commensurated subgroup is either finite or of finite index. As a consequence, every commensurated subgroup of the Grigorchuk group is either finite or finite index.
A group G is a cn-group if for each subgroup H of G there exists a normal subgroup N of G such that the index of both H and N in HN is finite. The class of cn-groups contains properly the classes of core- finite groups and that of groups in which each subgroup has finite index in a normal subgroup. In the present paper it is shown that a cn-group whose periodic images are locally finite is finite-by-abelian-by-finite. Such groups are then described into some details by considering automorphisms of abelian groups. Finally, it is shown that if G is a locally graded group with the property that t…
We study the subgroup structure of the étale fundamental group $Π$ of a projective curve over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0. We obtain an analog of the diamond theorem for $Π$. As a consequence we show that most normal subgroups of infinite index are semi-free. In particular every proper open subgroup of a normal subgroup of infinite index is semi-free.
Motivated by their study of pro-p limit groups, D.H. Kochloukova and P.A. Zalesskii formulated a question concerning the minimum number of generators d(N) of a normal subgroup N of prime index p in a non-abelian limit group G (cf. Question*). It is shown that the analogous question for the rational rank has an affirmative answer (cf. Thm. A). From this result one may conclude that the original question of D.H. Kochloukova and P.A. Zalesskii has an affirmative answer if the abelianization G^{\ab} of G is torsion free and d(G)=d(G^{\ab}) (cf. Cor.~B), or if G has the IF-property (cf. Thm. C).
