On the homotopy type of p-completions of infra-nilmanifolds

Infra-nilmanifolds are compact K(G,1)-manifolds with G a torsion-free, finitely generated, virtually nilpotent group. Motivated by previous results of various authors on p-completions of K(G,1)-spaces with G a finite or a nilpotent group, we study the homotopy type of p-completions of infra-nilmanifolds, for any prime p. We prove that the p-completion of an infra-nilmanifold is a virtually nilpotent space which is either aspherical or has infinitely many nonzero homotopy groups. The same is true for p-localization. Moreover, we show by means of examples that rationalizations of infra-nilmanifolds may be elliptic or hyperbolic. Received: 12 December 2001 / Published online: 5 September 2002     

On the uniqueness of roots in virtually nilpotent groups

After revisiting the concept of the torsion subgroup of a group with respect to a set of prime numbers P (as introduced by Ribenboim), we show that, for all p in P, p-th roots are unique in a virtually nilpotent group if and only if P-roots are unique in both its Fitting subgroup and its Fitting quotient. This more general notion of torsion also turns out to be sufficient to understand completely the kernel of the P-localization homomorphism of a virtually nilpotent group. Using this result, we characterize the finitely generated virtually nilpotent groups such that, when dividing out the P-torsion subgroup, P-roots exist and are unique in the resulting quotient. Received March 10, 1998; in final form July 10, 1998     

A special class of nilmanifolds admitting an Anosov diffeomorphism

A nilmanifold admits an Anosov diffeomorphism if and only if its fundamental group (which is finitely generated, torsion-free and nilpotent) supports an automorphism having no eigenvalues of absolute value one. Here we concentrate on nilpotency class 2 and fundamental groups whose commutator subgroup is of maximal torsion-free rank. We prove that the corresponding nilmanifold admits an Anosov diffeomorphism if and only if the torsion-free rank of the abelianization of its fundamental group is greater than or equal to 3.

     

A characterisation of virtually free groups

We prove that a finitely generated group G is virtually free if and only if there exists a generating set for G and k > 0 such that all k-locally geodesic words with respect to that generating set are geodesic. Received: 30 October 2006     

On the Howson Property of HNN-Extensions with Nilpotent Base Group and Amalgamated Free Products of Nilpotent Groups

We give necessary and sufficient conditions under which an amalgamated free product of finitely generated nilpotent groups is a Howson group (that is the intersection of any two finitely generated subgroups is finitely generated). Also we prove that if G = ? t, K | t ^?1 At = B ?, where K is a finitely generated and infinite nilpotent group and A, B non-trivial infinite proper subgroups of K, then G is not a Howson group. The problem of deciding when an ascending HNN-extension of a finitely generated nilpotent group is a Howson group is still open.     

On monomial representations of finitely generated nilpotent groups

A result of Segal states that every complex irreducible representation of a finitely generated nilpotent group G is monomial if and only if G is abelian-by-finite. A conjecture of Parshin, recently proved affirmatively by Beloshapka and Gorchinskii (2016), characterizes the monomial irreducible representations of finitely generated nilpotent groups. This article gives a slightly shorter proof of the conjecture using ideas of Kutzko and Brown. We also give a characterization of the finite-dimensional irreducible representations of two-step nilpotent groups and describe these completely for two-step groups whose center has rank one.     

A condition on finitely generated soluble groups

In this note we show that if Gis a finitely generated soluble group, then every infinite subset of Gcontains two elements generating a nilpotent group of class at most kif and only if Gis finite by a group in which every two generator subgroup is nilpotent of class at most k.     

Plancherel identity for semisimple hopf algebras

In this paper we discuss the structure of some product G =AB of nilpotent subgroups A and B. In particular we prove that if G is a minimax soluble group or a finitely generated linear group and if it does not have non-trivial periodic normal subgroups, then G is metanilpotent.     

Palindromic Width of Finitely Generated Solvable Groups

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 the palindromic width for finitely generated abelian-by-nilpotent-by-nilpotent groups. For arbitrary solvable groups of step ≥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 ??? with respect to the set of standard generators is 3.     

Virtually free factors of pro-p groups

Letp be a prime number,G a pro-p group, andH a closed (topologically) finitely generated subgroup ofG. We give conditions under whichH is virtually a free factor ofG, i.e., that there exists an open subgroupU ofG such thatU is the free pro-p product ofH and some other subgroup ofU. We prove that this happens if eitherG is a free pro-p group of any rank, or ifG is a free pro-p product of finitely generated pro-p groups. Research supported in part by grants from NSERC (Canada) and DGICYT (Spain).     

Polynomial mappings of groups

A mapping ϕ of a groupG to a groupF is said to be polynomial if it trivializes after several consecutive applications of operatorsD _h ,h ∈G, defined byD _h ϕ(g)=ϕ(g) ⁻¹ ϕ(gh). We study polynomial mappings of groups, mainly to nilpotent groups. In particular, we prove that polynomial mappings to a nilpotent group form a group with respect to the elementwise multiplication, and that any polynomial mappingG→F to a nilpotent groupF splits into a homomorphismG→G’ to a nilpotent groupG’ and a polynomial mappingG’→F. We apply the obtained results to prove the existence of the compact/weak mixing decomposition of a Hilbert space under a unitary polynomial action of a finitely generated nilpotent group. This work was supported by NSF, Grants DMS-9706057 and 0070566.     

Operator norm localization property of relative hyperbolic group and graph of groups

In this article we study the spaces which have operator norm localization property. We prove that a finitely generated group Γ which is strongly hyperbolic with respect to a collection of finitely generated subgroups {H₁,…,Hn} has operator norm localization property if and only if each Hi, i=1,2,…,n, has operator norm localization property. Furthermore we prove the following result. Let π be the fundamental group of a connected finite graph of groups with finitely generated vertex groups GP. If GP has operator norm localization property for all vertices P then π has operator norm localization property.     

Polycyclic group admitting an almost regular automorphism of prime order

A well-known result due to Thompson states that if a finite group G has a fixed-point-free automorphism of prime order, then G is nilpotent. In this note, giving a counterpart of Thompson's result in the context of polycyclic groups, we prove: if a polycyclic group G has an automorphism of prime order with finitely many fixed points, then G is nilpotent-by-finite.     

Dominions in finitely generated nilpotent groups

In the first part, we prove that the dominion (in the sense of Isbell) of a subgroup of a finitely generated nilpotent group is trivial in the category of all nilpotent groups. In the second part, we show that the dominion of a subgroup of a finitely generated nilpotent group of class two is trivial in the category of all metabelian nilpotent groups.     

SUBGROUP DISTORTIONS IN NILPOTENT GROUPS

The explicit formula for the distortion function of a connected Lie subgroup in a connected simply connected nilpotent Lie group is obtained. In particular, we prove that a function f: N → R can be realized (up to equivalence) as the distortion function of a connected Lie subgroup in a connected simply connected nilpotent Lie group if and only if f ～ n^r for some nonnegative r ∈ Q. Considering lattices in Lie groups, we establish the analogous results for finitely generated nilpotent groups.     

Connectivity of intersection graphs of finite groups

The intersection graph of a group G is an undirected graph without loops and multiple edges defined as follows: the vertex set is the set of all proper non-trivial subgroups of G, and there is an edge between two distinct vertices H and K if and only if H∩K≠1 where 1 denotes the trivial subgroup of G. In this paper, we classify finite solvable groups whose intersection graphs are not 2-connected and finite nilpotent groups whose intersection graphs are not 3-connected. Our methods are elementary.     

Howson's Property for Semidirect Products of Semilattices by Groups

An inverse semigroup S is a Howson inverse semigroup if the intersection of finitely generated inverse subsemigroups of S is finitely generated. Given a locally finite action θ of a group G on a semilattice E, it is proved that E*_θG is a Howson inverse semigroup if and only if G is a Howson group. It is also shown that this equivalence fails for arbitrary actions.     

Central Automorphisms and Inner Automorphisms in Finitely Generated Groups

Let G be a group and Aut_c(G) be the group of all central automorphisms of G. We know that in a finite p-group G, Aut_c(G) = Inn(G) if and only if Z(G) = G′ and Z(G) is cyclic. But we shown that we cannot extend this result for infinite groups. In fact, there exist finitely generated nilpotent groups of class 2 in which G′ =Z(G) is infinite cyclic and Inn(G) < C* = Aut_c(G). In this article, we characterize all finitely generated groups G for which the equality Aut_c(G) = Inn(G) holds.     

G-Identities of Nilpotent Groups. II

The structure of a group V _n,red (G) of reduced G-identities is described subject to the condition that G is a nilpotent group of class 3. We prove the criterion for a G-variety G-var(G) to be finitely based for such G.     

Equations and algebraic geometry over profinite groups

The notion of an equation over a profinite group is defined, as well as the concepts of an algebraic set and of a coordinate group. We show how to represent the coordinate group as a projective limit of coordinate groups of finite groups. It is proved that if the set π(G) of prime divisors of the profinite period of a group G is infinite, then such a group is not Noetherian, even with respect to one-variable equations. For the case of Abelian groups, the finiteness of a set π(G) gives rise to equational Noetherianness. The concept of a standard linear pro-p-group is introduced, and we prove that such is always equationally Noetherian. As a consequence, it is stated that free nilpotent pro-p-groups and free metabelian pro-p-groups are equationally Noetherian. In addition, two examples of equationally non-Noetherian pro-p-groups are constructed. The concepts of a universal formula and of a universal theory over a profinite group are defined. For equationally Noetherian profinite groups, coordinate groups of irreducible algebraic sets are described using the language of universal theories and the notion of discriminability.