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.
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.
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 a group $G$ is almost Engel if for every $g\in G$ there is a finite set ${\mathscr E}(g)$ such that for every $x\in G$ all sufficiently long commutators $[...[[x,g],g],\dots ,g]$ belong to ${\mathscr E}(g)$, that is, for every $x\in G$ there is a positive integer $n(x,g)$ such that $[...[[x,g],g],\dots ,g]\in {\mathscr E}(g)$ if $g$ is repeated at least $n(x,g)$ times. (Thus, Engel groups are precisely the almost Engel groups for which we can choose ${\mathscr E}(g)=\{ 1\}$ for all $g\in G$.) We prove that if a compact (Hausdorff) group $G$ is almost Engel, then $G$ has a finite no…
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 $G$.
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…
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.
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.
Given a finite group $G$, the Engel graph of $G$ is a directed graph encoding pairs of elements satisfying some Engel word. From the work of Detomi, Lucchini and Nemmi, the strongly connectivity of the Engel graph of an arbitrary group $G$ is reduced to the understanding of the strongly connectivity of the Engel graph of non-abelian simple groups. In this paper, we investigate the strongly connectivity of the Engel graph of finite non-abelian simple groups.
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…
Let $g$ be an element of a group $G$. For a positive integer $n$, let $E_n(g)$ be the subgroup generated by all commutators $[...[[x,g],g],\dots ,g]$ over $x\in G$, where $g$ is repeated $n$ times. We prove that if $G$ is a profinite group such that for every $g\in G$ there is $n=n(g)$ such that $E_n(g)$ is finite, then $G$ has a finite normal subgroup $N$ such that $G/N$ is locally nilpotent. The proof uses the Wilson--Zelmanov theorem saying that Engel profinite groups are locally nilpotent. In the case of a finite group $G$, we prove that if, for some $n$, $|E_n(g)|\leq m$ for all $g\in G$,…
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 …
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…
For a finite group $G,$ we investigate the direct graph $Γ(G),$ whose vertices are the non-hypercentral elements of $G$ and where there is an edge $x\mapsto y$ if and only if $[x,_ny]=1$ for some $n \in \mathbb N.$ We prove that $Γ(G)$ is always weakly connected and is strongly connected if $G/Z_{\infty}(G)$ is neither Frobenius nor almost simple.
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…
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.
We investigate the surjectivity of the word map defined by the n-th Engel word on the groups PSL(2,q) and SL(2,q). For SL(2,q), we show that this map is surjective onto the subset SL(2,q)\{-id} provided that q>Q(n) is sufficiently large. Moreover, we give an estimate for Q(n). We also present examples demonstrating that this does not hold for all q. We conclude that the n-th Engel word map is surjective for the groups PSL(2,q) when q>Q(n). By using the computer, we sharpen this result and show that for any n<5, the corresponding map is surjective for all the groups PSL(2,q). This provides evid…
Let $A$ be a residually finite dimensional algebra (not necessarily associative) over a field $k$. Suppose first that $k$ is algebraically closed. We show that if $A$ satisfies a homogeneous almost identity $Q$, then $A$ has an ideal of finite codimension satisfying the identity $Q$. Using well known results of Zelmanov, we conclude that, if a residually finite dimensional Lie algebra $L$ over $k$ is almost $d$-Engel, then $L$ has a nilpotent (resp. locally nilpotent) ideal of finite codimension if char $k=0$ (resp. char $k > 0$). Next, suppose that $k$ is finite (so $A$ is residually finite).…
In this paper, we characterize intra-regular LA-semihypergroups by using the properties of their left and right hyperideals and we investigate some useful conditions for an LA-semihypergroup to become an intra-regular LA-semihypergroup.
We consider the outer automorphism group Out(A_Gamma) of the right-angled Artin group A_Gamma of a random graph Gamma on n vertices in the Erdos--Renyi model. We show that the functions (log(n)+log(log(n)))/n and 1-(log(n)+log(log(n)))/n bound the range of edge probability functions for which Out(A_Gamma) is finite: if the probability of an edge in Gamma is strictly between these functions as n grows, then asymptotically Out(A_Gamma) is almost surely finite, and if the edge probability is strictly outside of both of these functions, then asymptotically Out(A_Gamma) is almost surely infinite. T…
We study Morse subgroups and Morse boundaries of random right-angled Coxeter groups in the Erdős--Rényi model. We show that at densities below $\left(\sqrt{\frac{1}{2}}-ε\right)\sqrt{\frac{\log{n}}{n}}$ random right-angled Coxeter groups almost surely have Morse hyperbolic surface subgroups. This implies their Morse boundaries contain embedded circles and they cannot be quasi-isometric to a right-angled Artin group. Further, at densities above $\left(\sqrt{\frac{1}{2}}+ε\right)\sqrt{\frac{\log{n}}{n}}$ we show that, almost surely, the hyperbolic Morse special subgroups of a random right-angled…
This article examines the three-way relationship between right coherency of a monoid $S$, solutions of equations over $S$-acts, and injectivity properties of $S$-acts. A monoid $S$ is right coherent if every finitely generated subact of every finitely presented (right) $S$-act itself has a finite presentation. Purity properties of an $S$-act $A$ may either be expressed in terms of solutions in $A$ of certain consistent sets of equations over $A$, or in terms of injectivity properties. For example, an $S$-act $A$ is absolutely pure (almost pure) if every finite consistent set of equations over …
We establish strong constraints on the kernel of the (reduced) Burau representation $β_4:B_4\to \text{GL}_3\left(\mathbb{Z}\left[q^{\pm 1}\right]\right)$ of the braid group $B_4$. We develop a theory to explicitly determine the entries of the Burau matrices of braids in $B_4$, and this is an important step toward demonstrating that $β_4$ is faithful (a longstanding question posed in the 1930s). The theory is based on a novel combinatorial interpretation of $β_4\left(g\right)$, in terms of the Garside normal form of $g\in B_4$ and a new product decomposition of positive braids. We develop cance…
Given a graph $Γ$, its auxiliary \emph{square-graph} $\square(Γ)$ is the graph whose vertices are the non-edges of $Γ$ and whose edges are the pairs of non-edges which induce a square (i.e., a $4$-cycle) in $Γ$. We determine the threshold edge-probability $p=p_c(n)$ at which the Erd{\H o}s--Rényi random graph $Γ=Γ_{n,p}$ begins to asymptotically almost surely have a square-graph with a connected component whose squares together cover all the vertices of $Γ_{n,p}$. We show $p_c(n)=\sqrt{\sqrt{6}-2}/\sqrt{n}$, a polylogarithmic improvement on earlier bounds on $p_c(n)$ due to Hagen and the autho…
We prove that any product of two non-abelian free groups, $Γ=\mathbb F_m\times\mathbb F_k$, for $m,k\geq 2$, is not Hilbert-Schmidt stable. This means that there exist asymptotic representations $π_n:Γ\rightarrow \text{U}({d_n})$ with respect to the normalized Hilbert-Schmidt norm which are not close to actual representations. As a consequence, we prove the existence of contraction matrices $A,B$ such that $A$ almost commutes with $B$ and $B^*$, with respect to the normalized Hilbert-Schmidt norm, but $A,B$ are not close to any matrices $A',B'$ such that $A'$ commutes with $B'$ and $B'^*$. Thi…
Let p be an odd prime number. We describe the Whitehead group of all extra-special and almost extra-special p-groups. For this we compute, for any finite p-group P , the subgroup Cl\_1 (ZP) of SK\_1 (ZP), in terms of a genetic basis of P. We also introduce a deflation map Cl\_1 (ZP) $\rightarrow$ Cl\_1 (Z(P/N)) , for a normal subgroup N of P , and show that it is always surjective. Along the way, we give a new proof of the result describing the structure of SK\_1 (ZP), when P is an elementary abelian p-group.