Malcev presentations for subsemigroups of direct products of coherent groups

The direct product of a free group and a polycyclic group is known to be coherent. This paper shows that every finitely generated subsemigroup of the direct product of a virtually free group and an abelian group admits a finite Malcev presentation. (A Malcev presentation is a presentation of a special type for a semigroup that embeds into a group. A group is virtually free if it contains a free subgroup of finite index.) By considering the direct product of two free semigroups, it is also shown that polycyclic groups, unlike nilpotent groups, can contain finitely generated subsemigroups that do not admit finite Malcev presentations.     

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.     

Infinite groups with large balls of torsion elements and small entropy

We exhibit infinite, solvable, virtually abelian groups with a fixed number of generators, having arbitrarily large balls consisting of torsion elements. We also provide a sequence of 3-generator non-virtually nilpotent polycyclic groups of algebraic entropy tending to zero. All these examples are obtained by taking appropriate quotients of finitely presented groups mapping onto the first Grigorchuk group. Received: 3 August 2005     

Generic muchnik reducibility and presentations of fields

We prove that the subgroup zeta function and the normal zeta function of a finitely generated virtually nilpotent group are finite sums of Euler products of cone integrals over Q and we deduce from this that they have rational abscissa of convergence and some meromorphic continuation. We also define Mal’cev completions of a finitely generated virtually nilpotent group and we prove that the subgroup growth and the normal subgroup growth of the latter are invariants of its Q-Mal’cev completion.     

关于图的基本群的正规子群的指数

本文主要研究图的基本群的正规子群的指数何时成为任意正整数的条件．主要讨论的群类有:有限生成的无扭幂零群、自由群、多重无限循环群等．     

The real cohomology of virtually nilpotent groups

In this paper we present a method to compute the real cohomology of any finitely generated virtually nilpotent group. The main ingredient in our setup consists of a polynomial crystallographic action of this group. As any finitely generated virtually nilpotent group admits such an action (which can be constructed quite easily), the approach we present applies to all these groups. Our main result is an algorithmic way of computing these cohomology spaces. As a first application, we prove a kind of Poincaré duality (also in the nontorsion free case) and we derive explicit formulas in the virtually abelian case.

     

On Primitive Representations of Minimax Nilpotent Groups

We show, in particular, that in the class of minimax two-step nilpotent groups only finitely generated groups can admit exact irreducible primitive representations over a finitely generated field of characteristic zero. We also suggest some approaches to studying induced representations of nilpotent groups of finite rank.     

Algebraically and verbally closed subgroups and retracts of finitely generated nilpotent groups

We study algebraically and verbally closed subgroups and retracts of finitely generated nilpotent groups. A special attention is paid to free nilpotent groups and the groups UT _n (Z) of unitriangular (n×n)-matrices over the ring Z of integers for arbitrary n. We observe that the sets of retracts of finitely generated nilpotent groups coincides with the sets of their algebraically closed subgroups. We give an example showing that a verbally closed subgroup in a finitely generated nilpotent group may fail to be a retract (in the case under consideration, equivalently, fail to be an algebraically closed subgroup). Another example shows that the intersection of retracts (algebraically closed subgroups) in a free nilpotent group may fail to be a retract (an algebraically closed subgroup) in this group. We establish necessary conditions fulfilled on retracts of arbitrary finitely generated nilpotent groups. We obtain sufficient conditions for the property of being a retract in a finitely generated nilpotent group. An algorithm is presented determining the property of being a retract for a subgroup in free nilpotent group of finite rank (a solution of a problem of Myasnikov). We also obtain a general result on existentially closed subgroups in finitely generated torsion-free nilpotent with cyclic center, which in particular implies that for each n the group UT _n (Z) has no proper existentially closed subgroups.     

Liouville property for groups and manifolds

We introduce a method to estimate the entropy of random walks on groups. We apply this method to exhibit the existence of compact manifolds with amenable fundamental groups such that the universal cover is not Liouville. We also use the criterion to prove that a finitely generated solvable group admits a symmetric measure with non-trivial Poisson boundary if and only if this group is not virtually nilpotent. This, in particular, shows that any polycyclic group admits a symmetric measure such that its boundary does not readily interprete in terms of the ambient Lie group. As another application we get a series of examples of amenable groups such that any finite entropy non-degenerate measure on them has non-trivial Poisson boundary. Since the groups in question are amenable, they do admit measures such that the corresponding random walks have trivial boundary; the above shows that such measures on these groups have infinite entropy. Mathematics Subject Classification (1991) 60B15, 60J50, 28D20, 20P05, 43A07, 60J65, 43A85, 20f16     

Decompositions of finitely generated nilpotent groups of class 2

In this paper we prove that rational indecomposability is a genus property for finitely generated torsion-free nilpotent groups of class 2. We use this result to determine the genus of finitely generated torsion-free nilpotent groups of class 2 which decompose as a direct product of rationally indecomposable groups. Received: 3 November 2005     

Cohomology rings and formality properties of nilpotent groups

We analyze k-stage formality and relate resonance with this type of formality properties. For instance, we show that, for a finitely generated nilpotent group that is k-stage formal, the resonance varieties are trivial up to degree k. We also show that the cohomology ring, truncated up to degree k+1, of a finitely generated nilpotent, k-stage formal group is generated in degree 1; this criterion is necessary and sufficient for a finitely generated, 2-step nilpotent group to be k-stage formal. We compute resonance varieties for Heisenberg-type groups and deduce the degree of partial formality for this class of groups.     

Elementary equivalence of rings with finitely generated additive groups

We give algebraic characterizations of elementary equivalence between rings with finitely generated additive groups. They are similar to those previously obtained for finitely generated nilpotent groups. Here, the rings are not supposed associative, commutative or unitary.     

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.     

Semigroup actions, covering spaces and Schützenberger groups

We associate a 2-complex to the following data: a presentation of a semigroup S and a transitive action of S on a set V by partial transformations. The automorphism group of the action acts properly discontinuously on this 2-complex. A sufficient condition is given for the 2-complex to be simply connected. As a consequence we obtain simple topological proofs of results on presentations of Schützenberger groups. We also give a geometric proof that a finitely generated regular semigroup with finitely many idempotents has polynomial growth if and only if all its maximal subgroups are virtually nilpotent.     

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     

On the Residual Solvability of Generalized Free Products of Finitely Generated Nilpotent Groups

In this article we study the residual solvability of the generalized free product of finitely generated nilpotent groups. We show that these groups are often residually solvable.     

Polyhedra dominating finitely many different homotopy types

In 1968 K. Borsuk asked: Is it true that every finite polyhedron dominates only finitely many different shapes? In this question the notions of shape and shape domination can be replaced by the notions of homotopy type and homotopy domination.We obtained earlier a negative answer to the Borsuk question and next results that the examples of such polyhedra are not rare. In particular, there exist polyhedra with nilpotent fundamental groups dominating infinitely many different homotopy types. On the other hand, we proved that every polyhedron with finite fundamental group dominates only finitely many different homotopy types. Here we obtain next positive results that the same is true for some classes of polyhedra with Abelian fundamental groups and for nilpotent polyhedra. Therefore we also get that every finitely generated, nilpotent torsion-free group has only finitely many r-images up to isomorphism.     

On genus and embeddings of torsion-free nilpotent groups of class two

Summary We study embeddings between torsion-free nilpotent groups having isomorphic localizations. Firstly, we show that for finitely generated torsion-free nilpotent groups of nilpotency class 2, the property of having isomorphicP-localizations (whereP denotes any set of primes) is equivalent to the existence of mutual embeddings of finite index not divisible by any prime inP. We then focus on a certain family Γ of nilpotent groups whose Mislin genera can be identified with quotient sets of ideal class groups in quadratic fields. We show that the multiplication of equivalence classes of groups in Γ induced by the ideal class group structure can be described by means of certain pull-back diagrams reflecting the existence of enough embeddings between members of each Mislin genus. In this sense, the family Γ resembles the family N₀ of infinite, finitely generated nilpotent groups with finite commutator subgroup. We also show that, in further analogy with N₀, two groups in Γ with isomorphic localizations at every prime have isomorphic localizations at every finite set of primes. We supply counterexamples showing that this is not true in general, neither for finitely generated torsion-free nilpotent groups of class 2 nor for torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank. Supported by DGICYT grant PB94-0725 This article was processed by the author using the LAT_EX style filecljour1 from Springer-Verlag.     

Algebraic Entropy of Elementary Amenable Groups

We prove that any finitely generated elementary amenable group of zero (algebraic) entropy contains a nilpotent subgroup of finite index or, equivalently, any finitely generated elementary amenable group of exponential growth is of uniformly exponential growth. We also show that 0 is an accumulation point of the set of entropies of elementary amenable groups.