Bianchi groups are conjugacy separable

We prove that non-uniform arithmetic lattices of SL₂(C) and consequently the Bianchi groups are conjugacy separable. The proof is based on recent deep results of Agol, Long, Reid and Minasyan. The conjugacy separability of groups commensurable with limit groups is also established.     

Residual finiteness of infinite amalgamated products of cyclic groups

We classify the residual finiteness of infinite amalgamated free products of infinite cyclic groups. As a side result we also classify residual finiteness and subgroup separability of the subgroups of (Q,+).     

On groups of odd order with exactly two non-central conjugacy classes of each size

The non-abelian group of order 21 is the only finite group of odd order with exactly two non-central conjugacy classes of each size. Received: 31 January 2005     

Varieties of finite supersolvable groups with the M. Hall property

The varieties in the title are shown to be precisely the product varieties G_p*Ab(d) for some prime p and some positive integer d dividing p−1. Here G_p denotes the variety of all finite p-groups and Ab(d) the variety of all finite Abelian groups of exponent dividing d. It turns out that these are exactly those varieties H of supersolvable groups for which all finitely generated free pro-H groups are freely indexed in the sense of Lubotzky and van den Dries. Several alternative characterizations of these varieties are presented. Some applications to formal language theory and finite monoid theory are also given. Among these is the determination of all supersolvable solutions H to the equations PH = J*H and J*H = J H which is, to the present date, the most complete solution to a problem raised by Pin. Another consequence of our results is that for each such variety H the monoid variety PH = J*H = J H has decidable membership. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of NSERC     

Automorphisms of groups

The survey presents classical assertions due to Nielsen, Whitehead, and others, well-known theorems on automorphisms included in monographs on group theory, and recent results in this area. Attention is focused on the progress in automorphism groups theory for free, solvable, modular, and profinite groups. New tools of investigation using graphs and geometrical ideas are also discussed.     

Classification and statistics of finite index subgroups in free products

The principal theme of this paper is the enumeration of finite index subgroups Δ in a free product Γ of finite groups under various restrictions on the isomorphism type of Δ. In particular, we completely resolve the realization, asymptotic, and distribution problems for free products Γ of cyclic groups of prime order (prior to this work, these questions were wide open even in the case of the classical modular group). This complex of problems, usually referred to as Poincaré-Klein Problem, originally arose around 1880 out of the work of Klein and Poincaré on automorphic functions and related number theory, but has also grown roots in geometric function theory and, more recently, in the theory of subgroup growth. Ideas and techniques from the theory of generalized permutation representations (an enumerative theory of wreath product representations recently developed by the first named author) play a fundamental role here. Other tools come from analytic number theory, combinatorics, and probability theory.     

Subgroup separability of the figure 8 knot group

It is shown that the fundamental groups of certain non-positively curved 2-complexes have the property that their quasiconvex subgroups are the intersections of finite index subgroups.As a consequence, every geometrically finite subgroup of the figure 8 knot group is the intersection of finite index subgroups. The same result holds for many other prime alternating link groups.     

Parabolic subgroups of positive modality

In this paper we prove a criterion for a parabolic subgroup P of a reductive algebraic group G to be of positive modality, i.e. to act with an infinite number of orbits on the unipotent radical. This condition is simply a lower bound on the length of the descending central series of the radical. We also show that in this situation we can always find a proper P-invariant linear subspace in the Lie algebra of the radical of P which admits an infinite number of P-orbits, unless P is maximal.This research was supported by ARC Grant # A69030627 (chief investigator: Prof. G. Lehrer).     

Groups with super-exponential subgroup growth

We show that, if the subgroup growth of a finitely generated (abstract or profinite) groupG is super-exponential, then every finite group occurs as a quotient of a finite index subgroup ofG. The proof involves techniques from finite permutation groups, and depends on the Classification of Finite Simple Groups.The first author was partially supported by the Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research, Grant No. T7441. The second author was partially supported by the Israeli National Science Foundation.     

Modular representations of profinite groups

Our aim is to transfer several foundational results from the modular representation theory of finite groups to the wider context of profinite groups. We are thus interested in profinite modules over the completed group algebra of a profinite group G, where k is a finite field of characteristic p.We define the concept of relative projectivity for a profinite -module. We prove a characterization of finitely generated relatively projective modules analogous to the finite case with additions of interest to the profinite theory. We introduce vertices and sources for indecomposable finitely generated -modules and show that the expected conjugacy properties hold—for sources this requires additional assumptions. Finally we prove a direct analogue of Green’s Indecomposability Theorem for finitely generated modules over a virtually pro-p group.     

Free subgroups of branch groups

A procedure is described for constructing branch groups on the binary tree, which yields in particular finitely generated branch groups with non-cyclic free subgroups.     

Subgroup distortion in wreath products of cyclic groups

We study the effects of subgroup distortion in the wreath products , where A is finitely generated abelian. We show that every finitely generated subgroup of has distortion function equivalent to some polynomial. Moreover, for A infinite, and for any polynomial l^k, there is a 2-generated subgroup of having distortion function equivalent to the given polynomial. Also, a formula for the length of elements in arbitrary wreath product easily shows that the group has distorted subgroups, while the lamplighter group has no distorted (finitely generated) subgroups. In the course of the proof, we introduce a notion of distortion for polynomials. We are able to compute the distortion of any polynomial in one variable over Z,R or C.     

Twisted conjugacy classes in nilpotent groups

Let N be a finitely generated nilpotent group. We show that there is an algorithm that for any automorphism φ∈Aut(N) computes its Reidemeister number R(φ). It is proved that any free nilpotent group N_rc of rank r and class c belongs to class R_∞ if any of the following conditions holds: r=2 and c≥4; r=3 and c≥12; r≥4 and c≥2r.     

On the residual finiteness of outer automorphisms of relatively hyperbolic groups

We show that every virtually torsion-free subgroup of the outer automorphism group of a conjugacy separable relatively hyperbolic group is residually finite. As a direct consequence, we obtain that the outer automorphism group of a limit group is residually finite.     

Ovoids with a pencil of translation ovals

We show that if an ovoid of PG(3, q), where q>2 is even, has a pencil of translation ovals and if the carrier of the pencil is not an axis of at least one of the ovals in the pencil, then the ovoid is a Tits ovoid. It follows, as a corollary of this and a result of Penttila and Praeger, that if an ovoid of PG(3, q), where q>2 is even, has a pencil of translation ovals then the ovoid is either an elliptic quadric or a Tits ovoid.     

Tubes in three–dimensional projective spaces

A partial tube in PG(3, q) is a pair , where is a collection of mutually disjoint lines of PG(3, q) with the property that for each plane π of PG(3, q) through L, the intersection of π with the lines of is an arc. Here, we generalize the notion of partial tube allowing the ground field to be any algebraically closed field. To a generalized partial tube we will associate an irreducible surface of degree d in providing upper bounds on d. The authors were partially supported by MIUR and GNSAGA of INdAM (Italy).     

More on b-injectors of sporadic groups +

A B-Injector in an arbitrary finite group G is defined as a maximal nilpo-tent subgroup of G, containing a subgroup A of G of maximal order satisfying class(A) ≥ 2. Among other results the B-Injectors of the sporadic groups J₁,J₂,J₄, M₂₄ are determined.