The article deals with profinite groups in which the centralizers are abelian (CA-groups), that is, with profinite commutativity-transitive groups. It is shown that such groups are virtually pronilpotent. More precisely, let G be a profinite CA-group. It is shown that G has a normal open subgroup N which is either abelian or pro-p. Further, a rather detailed information about the finite quotient G/N is obtained.
A group G has restricted centralizers if for each g in G the centralizer C_G(g) either is finite or has finite index in G. A theorem of Shalev states that a profinite group with restricted centralizers is abelian-by-finite. In the present article we handle profinite groups with restricted centralizers of word-values. We show that if w is a multilinear commutator word and G a profinite group with restricted centralizers of w-values, then the verbal subgroup w(G) is abelian-by-finite.
We introduce and investigate a class of profinite groups defined via extensions of centralizers analogous to the extensively studied class of finitely generated fully residually free groups, that is, limit groups (in the sense of Z. Sela). From the fact that the profinite completion of limit groups belong to this class, results on their group-theoretical structure and homological properties are obtained.
The article deals with profinite groups in which centralizers are virtually procyclic. Suppose that G is a profinite group such that the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually torsion-free while the centralizer of every element of infinite order is virtually procyclic. We show that G is either virtually pro-p for some prime p or virtually torsion-free procyclic. The same conclusion holds for profinite groups in which the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually procyclic; moreover, if G is not pro-p, then G has finite rank.
The article deals with profinite groups in which the centralizers are pronilpotent (CN-groups). It is shown that such groups are virtually pronilpotent. More precisely, let G be a profinite CN-group, and let F be the maximal normal pronilpotent subgroup of G. It is shown that F is open and the structure of the finite quotient G/F is described in detail.
A group $G$ is said to have restricted centralizers if for each $g$ in $G$ the centralizer $C_G(g)$ either is finite or has finite index in $G$. Shalev showed that a profinite group with restricted centralizers is virtually abelian. Given a set of primes $π$, we take interest in profinite groups with restricted centralizers of $π$-elements. It is shown that such a profinite group has an open subgroup of the form $P\times Q$, where $P$ is an abelian pro-$π$ subgroup and $Q$ is a pro-$π'$ subgroup. This significantly strengthens a result from our earlier paper.
A group $G$ is said to have restricted centralizers if for each $g \in G$ the centralizer $C_G(g)$ either is finite or has finite index in $G$. Shalev showed that a profinite group with restricted centralizers is virtually abelian. We take interest in profinite groups with restricted centralizers of uniform commutators, that is, elements of the form $[x_1,\dots,x_k]$, where $π(x_1)=π(x_2)=\dots=π(x_k)$. Here $π(x)$ denotes the set of prime divisors of the order of $x\in G$. It is shown that such a group necessarily has an open nilpotent subgroup. We use this result to deduce that $γ_k(G)$ is f…
For a positive integer r we prove that if G is a profinite group in which the centralizer of every nontrivial element has rank at most r, then G is either a pro-p group or a group of finite rank. Further, if G is not virtually a pro-p group, then G is virtually of rank at most r+1.
Let $q$ be a prime, $n$ a positive integer and $A$ an elementary abelian group of order $q^r$ with $r\geq2$ acting on a finite $q'$-group $G$. The following results are proved. We show that if all elements in $γ_{r-1}(C_G(a))$ are $n$-Engel in $G$ for any $a\in A^\#$, then $γ_{r-1}(G)$ is $k$-Engel for some $\{n,q,r\}$-bounded number $k$, and if, for some integer $d$ such that $2^d\leq r-1$, all elements in the $d$th derived group of $C_G(a)$ are $n$-Engel in $G$ for any $a\in A^\#$, then the $d$th derived group $G^{(d)}$ is $k$-Engel for some $\{n,q,r\}$-bounded number $k$. Assuming $r\geq 3$…
The structure of finite and locally finite groups in which every element has prime power order (CP-groups) is well known. In this paper we note that the combination of our earlier results with the available information on the structure of finite CP-groups yields a detailed description of profinite groups with that property. Then we deal with two generalizations of profinite CP-groups. Theorem 1.2. A profinite group G is virtually pro-p for some prime p if and only if for each nontrivial x in G there is a prime p (depending on x) such that the centralizer of x is virtually pro-p. Theorem 1.3. L…
In this paper, we characterize finite group $G$ with unique proper non-abelian element centralizer. This improves \cite[Theorem 1.1]{nab}. Among other results, we have proved that if $C(a)$ is the proper non-abelian element centralizer of $G$ for some $a \in G$, then $\frac{C(a)}{Z(G)}$ is the Fitting subgroup of $\frac{G}{Z(G)}$, $C(a)$ is the Fitting subgroup of $G$ and $G' \in C(a)$, where $G'$ is the commutator subgroup of $G$.
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.
An 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 an Engel element precisely when we can choose ${\mathscr E}(g)=\{ 1\}$.) It is proved that if a profinite group $G$ admits an elementary abelian group of automorphisms $A$ of coprime order $q^2$ for a prime $q$ such that for each $a\in A\setminus\{1\}$ every element of the centralizer $C_G(a)$ has a countable (or finite) Engel sink, then $G$ has a finite normal subgroup $N$ such that $G/N$ i…
In the first half of this paper, we outline the construction of a new class of abelian pro-$p$ groups, which covers all countably-based pro-$p$ groups. In the second half, we study them, and classify them up to topological isomorphism and abstract isomorphism. We use Ulm's classification of discrete countable p-groups, which are the Pontryagin duals of such pro-$p$ groups. It emerges that they are all abstractly isomorphic to Cartesian products of finite groups and $p$-adic integers. We have thus constructed uncountably many pairwise topologically non-isomorphic profinite groups abstractly iso…
Let $G$ be a finite non-abelian group and $m=|G|/|Z(G)|$. In this paper we investigate $m$-centralizer group $G$ with cyclic center and we will prove that if $G$ is a finite non-abelian $m$-centralizer $CA$-group, then there exists an integer $r>1$ such that $m=2^r.$ It is also prove that if $G$ is an $m$-centralizer non-abelian finite group which is not a $CA$-group and its derived subgroup $G'$ is of order 2, then there exists an integer $s>1$ such that $m=2^{2s}.$
A group $G$ is said to be $n$-centralizer if its number of element centralizers $\mid \Cent(G)\mid=n$, an F-group if every non-central element centralizer contains no other element centralizer and a CA-group if all non-central element centralizers are abelian. For any non-abelian $n$-centralizer group $G$, we prove that $\mid \frac{G}{Z(G)}\mid \leq (n-2)^2$, if $n \leq 12$ and $\mid \frac{G}{Z(G)}\mid \leq 2(n-4)^{{log}_2^{(n-4)}}$ otherwise, which improves an earlier result. We prove that if $G$ is an arbitrary non-abelian $n$-centralizer F-group, then gcd$(n-2, \mid \frac{G}{Z(G)}\mid) \neq…
We study homological approximations of the profinite completion of a limit group (see Thm.~A) and obtain the analogous of Bridson and Howie's Theorem for the profinite completion of a non-abelian limit group (see Thm.~B).
Magnus proved that, given two elements $x$ and $y$ of a finitely generated free group $F$ with equal normal closures $\langle x\rangle^F=\langle y\rangle^F$, then $x$ is conjugated either to $y$ or $y^{-1}$. More recently, this property, called the Magnus property, has been generalized to oriented surface groups. In this paper, we consider an analogue property for profinite surface groups. While Magnus property, in general, does not hold in the profinite setting, it does hold in some restricted form. In particular, for ${\mathscr S}$ a class of finite groups, we prove that, if $x$ and $y$ are …
We extend results on transitive self-similar abelian subgroups of the group of automorphisms $\mathcal{A}_m$ of an $m$-ary tree $\mathcal{T}_m$ in \cite{BS}, to the general case where the permutation group induced on the first level of the tree has $s\geq 1$ orbits. We prove that such a group $A$ embeds in a self-similar abelian group $A^*$ which is also a maximal abelian subgroup of $\mathcal{A}_m$. The construction of $A^*$ is based on the definition of a free monoid $Δ$ of rank $s$ of partial diagonal monomorphisms of $\mathcal{A}_m$, which is used to determine the structure of $C_{\mathcal…
A subgroup $H$ of a group $G$ is said to be a TNI-subgroup if $N_{G}(H)\cap H^g=1$ for any $g\in G\,\backslash \,N_{G}(H).$ Let $A$ be an abelian group acting coprimely on the finite group $G$ by automorphisms in such a way that $C_G(A)=\{g\in G : g^a=g $\, for all $a\in A\}$ is a solvable TNI-subgroup of $G$. We prove that $G$ is a solvable group with Fitting length $h(G)$ is at most $h(C_G(A))+\ell(A)$. In particular $h(G)\leq \ell(A)+3$ whenever $C_G(A)$ is nonnormal. Here, $h(G)$ is the Fitting length of $G$ and $\ell(A)$ is the number of primes dividing $A$ counted with multiplicities.
We classify closed abelian subgroups of the simple groups $G_2$, $F_4$, $Aut(so(8))$ having centralizer the same dimension as the dimension of the subgroup, as well as finite abelian subgroups of certain spin and half-spin groups having finite centralizer.
Every finite non-abelian group of order $n$ has a non-central element whose centralizer has order exceeding $n^{1/3}$. The proof does not rely on the classification of finite simple groups, yet it uses the Feit-Thompson theorem.
Let $G$ be a Camina $p$-group of nilpotence class $3$. We prove that if $G' < C_G (G')$, then $|Z(G)| \le |G':G_3|^{1/2}$. We also prove that if $G/G_3$ has only one or two abelian subgroups of order $|G:G'|$, then $G' < C_G (G')$. If $G/G_3$ has $p^a + 1$ abelian subgroups of order $|G:G'|$, then either $G' < C_G (G')$ or $|Z(G)| \le p^{2a}$.
We construct a correspondence between the cohomology groups of a group $G$ relative to a family of subgroups $\famS$ and the classes of `relative extensions' of $G$ by abelian groups, modulo a certain equivalence relation. We establish this correspondence for both discrete and profinite group pairs. We go on to discuss the relationships of profinite group pairs of cohomological dimension one with free products and projective group pairs.
A soluble pro-p group of finite rank is finitely axiomatizable in the class of all profinite groups if and only if for each open subgroup H, the image of Z(H) in the abelianization of H is finite, subject to some suitable hypothesis of finite presentability.
The generalised Fitting subgroup of a finite group is the group generated by all subnormal subgroups that are either nilpotent or quasisimple. The importance of this subgroup in finite group theory stems from the fact that it always contains its own centraliser, so that any finite group is an abelian extension of a group of automorphisms of its generalised Fitting subgroup. We define a class of profinite groups which generalises this phenomenon, and explore some consequences for the structure of profinite groups.
The main result of the paper is the following theorem. Let $q$ be a prime and $A$ an elementary abelian group of order $q^3$. Suppose that $A$ acts coprimely on a profinite group $G$ and assume that $C_G(a)$ is locally nilpotent for each $a\in A^{\#}$. Then the group $G$ is locally nilpotent.
The main result of this paper is the following theorem. Let q be a prime, A an elementary abelian group of order q^3. Suppose that A acts as a coprime group of automorphisms on a profinite group G in such a manner that C_G(a)' is periodic for each nontrivial element a in A. Then G' is locally finite.
Let G be a profinite group. The following results are proved. The commutator subgroup G' is finite if and only if G is covered by countably many abelian subgroups. The group G is finite-by-nilpotent if and only if G is covered by countably many nilpotent subgroups. The main result is that the commutator subgroup G' is finite-by-nilpotent if and only if the set of commutators in G is covered by countably many nilpotent subgroups.
The set of all centralizers of elements in a finite group $G$ is denoted by $Cent(G)$ and $G$ is called $n-$centralizer if $|Cent(G)| = n$. In this paper, the structure of centralizers in a non-abelian finite group $G$ with this property that $\frac{G}{Z(G)} \cong Z_{p^2} \rtimes Z_{p^2}$ is obtained. As a consequence, it is proved that such a group has exactly $[(p+1)^2+1]$ element centralizers and the structure of the commuting conjugacy class graph of $G$ is completely determined.
We give new and improved results on the freeness of subgroups of free profinite groups: A subgroup containing the normal closure of a finite word in the elements of a basis is free; Every infinite index subgroup of a finitely generated nonabelian free profinite group is contained in an infinitely generated free profinite subgroup. These results are combined with the twisted wreath product approach of Haran, an observation on the action of compact groups, and a rank counting argument to prove a conjecture of Bary-Soroker, Fehm, and Wiese, thus providing a quite general sufficient condition for …
We generalize the notion of a projective profinite group to a projective pair of a profinite group and a closed subgroup. We establish the connection with Pseudo Algebraically Closed (PAC) extensions of PAC fields: Let M be an algebraic extension of a PAC field K. Then M/K is PAC if and only if the corresponding pair of absolute Galois groups (Gal(M),Gal(K)) is projective. Moreover any projective pair can be realized as absolute Galois groups of a PAC extension of a PAC field. Using this characterization we construct new examples of PAC extensions of relatively small fields, e.g., unbounded ab…
In this paper, we classify conjugacy classes of centralizers of irreducible subgroups in $PSL(n,\mathbb{C})$ using alternate modules a.k.a. finite abelian groups with an alternate bilinear form. When $n$ is squarefree, we prove that these conjugacy classes are classified by their isomorphism classes. More generally, we define a finite graph related to this classification whose combinatorial properties are expected to help us describe the stratification of the singular (orbifold) locus in some character varieties.
A profinite group G is just infinite if every non-trivial closed normal subgroup of G is of finite index, and hereditarily just infinite if every open subgroup is just infinite. Hereditarily just infinite profinite groups need not be virtually pro-p, as shown in a recent paper of Wilson. The same paper gives a criterion on an inverse system of finite groups that is sufficient to ensure the limit is either virtually abelian or hereditarily just infinite. We give criteria of a similar nature that characterise the just infinite and hereditarily just infinite properties under the assumption that G…
We obtain some general restrictions on the continuous endomorphisms of a profinite group G under the assumption that G has only finitely many open subgroups of each index (an assumption which automatically holds, for instance, if G is finitely generated). In particular, given such a group G and a continuous endomorphism phi we obtain a semidirect decomposition of G into a 'contracting' normal subgroup and a complement on which phi induces an automorphism; both the normal subgroup and the complement are closed. If G is isomorphic to a proper open subgroup of itself, we show that G has an infini…
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.
For a given m>=1, we consider the finite non-abelian groups G for which |C_G(g):<g>|<=m for every g in G\Z(G). We show that the order of G can be bounded in terms of m and the largest prime divisor of the order of G. Our approach relies on dealing first with the case where G is a non-abelian finite p-group. In that situation, if we take m=p^k to be a power of p, we show that |G|<=p^{2k+2} with the only exception of Q_8. This bound is best possible, and implies that the order of G can be bounded by a function of m alone in the case of nilpotent groups.
We consider coincidence Reidemeister zeta functions for tame endomorphism pairs of nilpotent groups of finite rank, shedding new light on the subject by means of profinite completion techniques. In particular, we provide a closed formula for coincidence Reidemeister numbers for iterations of endomorphism pairs of torsion-free nilpotent groups of finite rank, based on a weak commutativity condition, which derives from simultaneous triangularisability on abelian sections. Furthermore, we present results in support of a Pólya-Carlson dichotomy between rationality and a natural boundary for the an…
The role of finite centralizers of involutions in pseudo-finite groups is analyzed. It is shown that a pseudo-finite group admitting a definable involutory automorphism fixing only finitely many elements is finite-by-abelian-by-finite. As a consequence, we give a model-theoretic proof of a result for periodic groups due to Hartley and Meixner. Furthermore, it is shown that any pseudo-finite group has an infinite abelian subgroup.
For a CSA group $G$ and a wide class of abelian groups $A$ we give an explicit construction for the tensor $A$-completion of $G$ using free products with amalgamations. We apply the obtained results to the study of basic properties of $A$-free groups. In particular, canonical and reduced forms of elements in $A$-free groups are introduced, and then commuting and conjugate elements are described.
We classify closed abelian subgroups of the automorphism group of any compact classical simple Lie algebra whose centralizer has the same dimension as the dimension of the subgroup, and describe Weyl groups of maximal abelian subgroups.
Let $G$ be a locally finite group and $F(G)$ the Hirsch--Plotkin radical of $G$. Denote by $S$ the full inverse image of the generalized Fitting subgroup of $G/F(G)$ in $G$. Assume that there is a number $k$ such that the length of every chain of nested centralizers in $G$ does not exceed $k$. The Borovik--Khukhro conjecture states, in particular, that under this assumption the quotient $G/S$ contains an abelian subgroup of index bounded in terms of $k$. We disprove this statement and prove some its weaker analog.
Let $\{G_i :i\in\N\}$ be a family of finite Abelian groups. We say that a subgroup $G\leq \prod\limits_{i\in \N}G_i$ is \emph{order controllable} if for every $i\in \mathbb{N}$ there is $n_i\in \mathbb{N}$ such that for each $c\in G$, there exists $c_1\in G$ satisfying that $c_{1|[1,i]}=c_{|[1,i]}$, $supp (c_1)\subseteq [1,n_i]$, and order$(c_1)$ divides order$(c_{|[1,n_i]})$. In this paper we investigate the structure of order controllable subgroups. It is proved that every order controllable, profinite, abelian group contains a subset $\{g_n : n\in\N\}$ that topologically generates the group…
We begin a study of a pro-$p$ analogue of limit groups via extensions of centralizers and call $\mathcal{L}$ this new class of pro-$p$ groups. We show that the pro-$p$ groups of $\mathcal{L}$ have finite cohomological dimension, type $FP_{\infty}$ and non-positive Euler characteristic. Among the group theoretic properties it is proved that they are free-by-(torsion-free poly -procyclic) and if non-abelian do not have a finitely generated non-trivial normal subgroup of infinite index. Furthermore it is shown that every 2 generated pro-$p$ group in the class $\mathcal{L}$ is either free pro-$p$ …
Let $w$ be a group-word. Suppose that the set of all $w$-values in a profinite group $G$ is contained in a union of countably many subgroups. It is natural to ask in what way the structure of the verbal subgroup $w(G)$ depends on the properties of the covering subgroups. The present article is a survey of recent results related to that question. In particular we survey results on finite and countable coverings of word-values (mostly commutators) by procyclic, abelian, nilpotent, and soluble subgroups, as well as subgroups with finiteness conditions. The last section of the paper is devoted to …
Let $q$ be a prime and $A$ an elementary abelian $q$-group acting as a coprime group of automorphisms on a profinite group $G$. We show that if $A$ is of order $q^2$ and some power of each element in $C_G(a)$ is Engel in $G$ for any $a\in A^{\#}$, then $G$ is locally virtually nilpotent. Assuming that $A$ is of order $q^3$ we prove that if some power of each element in $C_G(a)$ is Engel in $C_G(a)$ for any $a\in A^{\#}$, then $G$ is locally virtually nilpotent. Some analogues consequences of quantitative nature for finite groups are also obtained.
Let $N \geq 2$ and let $\mathrm{Out}(F_N)$ be the outer automorphism group of a nonabelian free group of rank $N$. Let $\mathrm{IA}_N(\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z})$ be the finite index subgroup of $\mathrm{Out}(F_N)$ which is the kernel of the natural action of $\mathrm{Out}(F_N)$ on $H_1(F_N,\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z})$. We show that $\mathrm{IA}_N(\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z})$ is an $R$-group, that is, for every $ϕ,ψ\in \mathrm{IA}_N(\mathbb{Z}/3\mathbb{Z})$, if there exists $k \in \mathbb{N}^*$ such that $ϕ^k=ψ^k$, then $ϕ=ψ$. This answers a question of Handel and Mosher. We then use the fact that $\mathr…
We classify closed abelian subgroups of a compact simple Lie group of adjoint type and of type E having centralizer of the same dimension as the dimension of the subgroup and describe Weyl groups of maximal abelian subgroups.
