Let $G$ be a finite group, $π(G)$ be the set of prime divisors dividing the order of $G$ and $π_e(G)$ (spectrum) denote the set of element orders of $G$. We define $w_o(G)$ = $|π(G)|$ the width of order of $G$ and $w_s(G)$ = max$\{|π(k)| | k \in π_e(G)\}$ the width of spectrum of $G$. In this paper, we discuss the cases of $w_o(G)$ and $w_s(G)$ are small, prove several new results and give a survey about the two widths of groups.
In this paper we consider the palindromic width of free nilpotent groups. In particular, we prove that the palindromic width of a finitely generated free nilpotent group is finite. We also prove that the palindromic width of a free abelian-by-nilpotent group is finite.
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 $\…
For a finite group generated by involutions, the involution width is defined to be the minimal $k\in\mathbb{N}$ such that any group element can be written as a product of at most $k$ involutions. We show that the involution width of every non-abelian finite simple group is at most $4$. This result is sharp, as there are families with involution width precisely 4.
In this paper we show that there exists an uncountable family of finitely generated simple groups with the same positive theory as any non-abelian free group. In particular, these simple groups have infinite $w$-verbal width for all non-trivial words $w$.
A group has finite palindromic width if there exists $n$ such that every element can be expressed as a product of $n$ or fewer palindromic words. We show that if $G$ has finite palindromic width with respect to some generating set, then so does $G \wr \mathbb{Z}^{r}$. We also give a new, self-contained, proof that finitely generated metabelian groups have finite palindromic width. Finally, we show that solvable groups satisfying the maximal condition on normal subgroups (max-n) have finite palindromic width.
An estimate on the commutator width is given for Chevalley groups over rings of stable rank 1, and the general method suitable for other rings of small dimension.
The conjugacy growth function counts the number of distinct conjugacy classes in a ball of radius $n$. We give a lower bound for the conjugacy growth of certain branch groups, among them the Grigorchuk group. This bound is a function of intermediate growth. We further proof that certain branch groups have the property that every element can be expressed as a product of uniformly boundedly many conjugates of the generators. We call this property bounded conjugacy width. We also show how bounded conjugacy width relates to other algebraic properties of groups and apply these results to study the …
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 …
This paper investigate bounds of the commutator width \cite {Mur} of a wreath product of two groups. The commutator width of direct limit of wreath product of cyclic groups are found. For given a permutational wreath product sequence of cyclic groups we investigate its commutator width and some properties of its commutator subgroup. It was proven that the commutator width of an arbitrary element of the wreath product of cyclic groups $C_{p_i}, \, p_i\in \mathbb{N} $ equals to 1. As a corollary, it is shown that the commutator width of Sylows $p$-subgroups of symmetric and alternating groups $p…
The class $A$ of anabelian groups is defined as the collection of finite groups without abelian composition factors. We prove that the commutator word $[x_1,x_2]$ and the power word $x_1^p$ have bounded width in $A$ when $p$ is an odd integer. By contrast the word $x^{30}$ does not have bounded width in $A$. On the other hand any given word $w$ has bounded width for those groups in $A$ whose composition factors are sufficiently large as a function of $w$. In the course of the proof we establish that sufficiently large almost simple groups cannot satisfy $w$ as a coset identity.
Let $p$ be a fixed prime. For a finite group generated by elements of order $p$, the $p$-width is defined to be the minimal $k\in\mathbb{N}$ such that any group element can be written as a product of at most $k$ elements of order $p$. Let $A_{n}$ denote the alternating group of even permutations on $n$ letters. We show that the $p$-width of $A_{n}$ $(n\geq p)$ is at most $3$. This result is sharp, as there are families of alternating groups with $p$-width precisely 3, for each prime $p$.
Let S be a generating set of a group G. We say that G has FINITE WIDTH relative to S if G=(S\cup S^{-1})^k for a suitable natural number k. We say that a group G is a group of FINITE C-WIDTH if G has finite width with respect to all conjugation-invariant generating sets. We give a number of examples of groups of finite C-width, and, in particular, we prove that the commutator subgroup F' of Thompson's group F is a group of finite C-width. We also study the behaviour of the class of all groups of finite C-width under some group-theoretic constructions; it is established, for instance, that this…
In arXiv:1303.1129, the authors provided a bound for the palindromic width of free abelian-by-nilpotent group $AN_n$ of rank $n$ and free nilpotent group ${\rm N}_{n,r}$ of rank $n$ and step $r$. In the present paper we study palindromic widths of groups $\widetilde{AN}_n$ and $\widetilde{\rm N}_{n,r}$. We denote by $\widetilde{G}_n = G_n / \langle \langle x_1^2, \ldots, x_n^2 \rangle \rangle$ the quotient of group $G_n = \langle x_1, \ldots, x_n \rangle$, which is free in some variety by the normal subgroup generated by $x_1^2, \ldots, x_n^2$. We prove that the palindromic width of the quotie…
Palindromes are those reduced words of free products of groups that coincide with their reverse words. We prove that a free product of groups $G$ has infinite palindromic width, provided that $G$ is not the free product of two cyclic groups of order two. This means that there is no a uniform bound $k$ such that every element of $G$ is a product of at most $k$ palindromes. Earlier the similar fact established for non-abelian free groups.
We prove that the palindromic width of HNN extension of a group by proper associated subgroups is infinite. We also prove that the palindromic width of the amalgamated free product of two groups via a proper subgroup is infinite (except when the amalgamated subgroup has index two in each of the factors). Combining these results it follows that the palindromic width of the fundamental group of a graph of groups is mostly infinite.
Let G be a group and S a subset of G that generates G. For each x in G define the length l_S(x) of x relative to S to be the minimal k such that x is a product of k elements of S. The supremum of the values l_S(x), x \in G, is called the width of G with respect to S. Here we focus on a free group F. The width of F relative to the set of all primitive (respectively palindromic) elements is called the primitive (respectively palindromic) width of F. We prove that for a free group F_n of finite rank n, both widths are infinite. A result of independent interest is that every primitive element of F…
We prove that Chevalley groups over polynomial rings $\mathbb F_q[t]$ and over Laurent polynomial $\mathbb F_q[t,t^{-1}]$ rings, where $\mathbb F_q$ is a finite field, are boundedly elementarily generated. Using this we produce explicit bounds of the commutator width of these groups. Under some additional assumptions, we prove similar results for other classes of Chevalley groups over Dedekind rings of arithmetic rings in positive characteristic. As a corollary, we produce explicit estimates for the commutator width of affine Kac--Moody groups defined over finite fields. The paper contains als…
Recently George Bergman proved that the symmetric group of an infinite set possesses the following property which we call by the {\it universality of finite width}: given any generating set $X$ of the symmetric group of an infinite set $Ω,$ there is a uniform bound $k \in \N$ such that any permutation $σ\in \text{Sym}(Ω)$ is a product of at most $k$ elements of $X \cup X^{-1},$ or, in other words, $\text{Sym}(Ω)=(X^{\pm 1})^k.$ Bergman also formulated a sort of general conjecture stating that `the automorphism groups of structures that can be put together out of many isomorphic copies of thems…
It is shown that there exists a finitely generated infinite simple group of infinite commutator width, and that the commutator width of a finitely generated infinite boundedly simple group can be arbitrarily large. Besides, such groups can be constructed with decidable word and conjugacy problems.
The size of minimal generating set for commutator of Sylow 2-subgroup of alternating group was found. Given a permutational wreath product of finite cyclic groups sequence we prove that the commutator width of such groups is 1 and we research some properties of its commutator subgroup. It was shown that $(Syl_2 A_{2^k})^2 = Syl'_2 (A_{2^k}), \, k>2$. A new approach to presentation of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group ${A_{2^{k}}}$ was applied. As a result the short proof that the commutator width of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group ${A_{2^{k}}}$, permutation group ${S_{2^{k}}}$ and …
We prove that the nilpotent product of a set of groups $A_{1},\dots, A_{s}$ has finite palindromic width if and only if the palindromic widths of $A_{i}, i=1,\dots, s,$ are finite. We give a new proof that the commutator width of $F_n \wr K$ is infinite, where $F_n$ is a free group of rank $n \geq 2$ and $K$ a finite group. This result, combining with a result of Fink \cite{f1} gives examples of groups with infinite commutator width but finite palindromic width with respect to some generating set.
Let $G$ be a non-elementary hyperbolic group. Let $w$ be a group word such that the set $w[G]$ of all its values in $G$ does not coincide with $G$ or 1. We show that the width of verbal subgroup $w(G)=<w[G]>$ is infinite. That is, there is no such $l\in\mathbb Z$ that any $g\in w(G)$ can be represented as a product of $\le l$ values of $w$ and their inverses.
It is shown that there exist finitely generated infinite simple groups of infinite commutator width and infinite square width on which there exists no stably unbounded conjugation-invariant norm, and in particular stable commutator length vanishes. Moreover, a recursive presentation of such a group with decidable word and conjugacy problems is constructed.
Twin-width is a recently introduced graph parameter with applications in algorithmics, combinatorics, and finite model theory. For graphs of bounded degree, finiteness of twin-width is preserved by quasi-isometry. Thus, through Cayley graphs, it defines a group invariant. We prove that groups which are abelian, hyperbolic, ordered, solvable, or with polynomial growth, have finite twin-width. Twin-width can be characterised by excluding patterns in the self-action by product of the group elements. Based on this characterisation, we propose a strengthening called uniform twin-width, which is sta…
Let $G$ be the first Grigorchuk group. We show that the commutator width of $G$ is $2$: every element $g\in [G,G]$ is a product of two commutators, and also of six conjugates of $a$. Furthermore, we show that every finitely generated subgroup $H\leq G$ has finite commutator width, which however can be arbitrarily large, and that $G$ contains a subgroup of infinite commutator width. The proofs were assisted by the computer algebra system GAP.
In this paper we measure how efficiently a finite simple group $G$ is generated by its elements of order $p$, where $p$ is a fixed prime. This measure, known as the $p$-width of $G$, is the minimal $k\in \mathbb{N}$ such that any $g\in G$ can be written as a product of at most $k$ elements of order $p$. Using primarily character theoretic methods, we sharply bound the $p$-width of some low rank families of Lie type groups, as well as the simple alternating and sporadic groups.
In the first, mostly expository, part of this paper, a graded Lie algebra is associated to every group G given with an N-series of subgroups. The asymptotics of the Poincare series of this algebra give estimates on the growth of the group G. This establishes the existence of a gap between polynomial growth and growth of type $e^{\sqrt n}$ in the class of residually-p groups, and gives examples of finitely generated p-groups of uniformly exponential growth. In the second part, we produce two examples of groups of finite width and describe their Lie algebras, introducing a notion of Cayley graph…
We present new infinite families of expander graphs of vertex degree 4, which is the minimal possible degree for Cayley graph expanders. Our first family defines a tower of coverings (with covering indices equals 2) and our second family is given as Cayley graphs of finite groups with very short presentations with only 2 generators and 4 relations. Both families are based on particular finite quotients of a group G of infinite upper triangular matrices over the ring M(3,F2). We present explicit vector space bases for the finite abelian quotients of the lower exponent-2 groups of G by upper tri…
A palindrome is a word that reads the same left-to-right as right-to-left. We show that every simple group has a finite generating set $X$, such that every element of it can be written as a palindrome in the letters of $X$. Moreover, every simple group has palindromic width $pw(G,X)=1$, where $X$ only differs by at most one Nielsen-transformation from any given generating set. On the contrary, we prove that all non-abelian finite simple groups $G$ also have a generating set $S$ with $pw(G,S)>1$. As a by-product of our work we also obtain that every just-infinite group has finite palindromic wi…
The width $\wid(G,W)$ of the verbal subgroup $v(G,W)$ of a group $G$ defined by a collection of group words $W$ is the smallest number $m$ in $\mathbb N \cup {+\infty}$ such that every element of $v(G,W)$ is can be represented as the product of at most $m$ words in $W$ evaluated on the group $G$ and their inverses. Recall that every verbal subgroup of the group $T_{n} (K)$ of triangular matrices over an arbitrary field $K$ can be defined by just one word: an outer commutator word or a power word. We prove that for every outer commutator word $w$ the equality $\wid(T_{n} (K),w)=1$ holds on the …
We say that the weak width of an infinite subgroup $H$ of $G$ in $G$ is $n$ if there exists a collection of $n$ strongly essentially distinct conjugates $\{ H, g_1^{-1} H g_1,\cdots, g_{n-1}^{-1} H g_{n-1} \}$ of $H$ in $G$ such that the intersection $H \cap g_i^{-1} H g_i$ is infinite for all $1 \leq i \leq n-1$ and $n$ is maximal possible. We prove that a quasiconvex subgroup of a negatively curved group has finite weak width in the ambient group. We also give examples demonstrating that height, width, and weak width are different invariants of a subgroup.
Given a permutational wreath product sequence of cyclic groups of prime order we research a commutator width of such groups and some properties of its commutator subgroup. Commutator width of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group $A_{2^{k}}$, permutation group $S_{2^k}$ and $C_p \wr B$ were founded. The result of research was extended on subgroups $(Syl_2 {A_{2^k}})'$, $p>2$. The paper presents a construction of commutator subgroup of Sylow 2-subgroups of symmetric and alternating groups. Also minimal generic sets of Sylow 2-subgroups of $A_{2^k}$ were founded. Elements presentation of $(Syl_…
We say that a finite subset of the unit sphere in $\mathbf{R}^d$ is transitive if there is a group of isometries which acts transitively on it. We show that the width of any transitive set is bounded above by a constant times $(\log d)^{-1/2}$. This is a consequence of the following result: If $G$ is a finite group and $ρ: G \rightarrow \mbox{U}_d(\mathbf{C})$ a unitary representation, and if $v \in \mathbf{C}^d$ is a unit vector, there is another unit vector $w \in \mathbf{C}^d$ such that \[ \sup_{g \in G} |\langle ρ(g) v, w \rangle| \leq (1 + c \log d)^{-1/2}.\] These results answer a questi…
We say that a group $G$ has Bergman's property (the property of universality of finite width) if for every generating set $X$ of $G$ with $X=X^{-1}$ we have that $G=X^k$ for some natural number $k.$ The property is named after George Bergman who have proved recently that the infinite symmetric groups are groups of universally finite width. The first example of an infinite group with Bergman's property is due to Shelah (1980s). Lately some other examples have been found: the automorphism groups of doubly transitive chains (Droste-Holland), the automorphism group of reals as a Borel space (Drost…
