Q-admissibility of certain nonsolvable groups

A finite groupG is calledQ-admissible if there exists a finite dimensional central division algebra overQ, containing a maximal subfield which is a Galois extension ofQ with Galois group isomorphic toG. It is proved thatS ₅ ⁻ , one of the two nontrivial central extensions ofS ₅ byZ/2Z, isQ-admissible. As a consequence of that result and previous results of Sonn and Stern, every finite Sylow-metacyclic group, havingA ₅ as a composition factor, isQ-admissible. This paper is part of a M.Sc. thesis written at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, under the supervision of Professor J. Sonn, whom the author wishes to thank for his valuable guidance.     

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.     

Dichotomies of the set of test measures of a Haar-null set

We prove that ifX is a Polish space andF a face ofP(X) with the Baire property, thenF is either a meager or a co-meager subset ofP(X). As a consequence we show that for every abelian Polish groupX and every analytic Haar-null set Λ⊆X, the set of test measuresT(Λ) of Λ is either meager or co-meager. We characterize the non-locally-compact groups as the ones for which there exists a closed Haar-null setF⊆X withT(F) meager, Moreover, we answer negatively a question of J. Mycielski by showing that for every non-locally-compact abelian Polish group and every σ-compact subgroupG ofX there exists aG-invariantF _σ subset ofX which is neither prevalent nor Haar-null. Research supported by a grant of EPEAEK program “Pythagoras”.     

Conjecture of Li and Praeger concerning the isomorphisms of Cayley graphs of A5

LetG be a finite group, andS a subset ofG \ |1| withS =S ⁻¹. We useX = Cay(G,S) to denote the Cayley graph ofG with respect toS. We callS a Cl-subset ofG, if for any isomorphism Cay(G,S) ≈ Cay(G,T) there is an α∈ Aut(G) such thatS ^α =T. Assume that m is a positive integer.G is called anm-Cl-group if every subsetS ofG withS =S ⁻¹ and | S | ≤m is Cl. In this paper we prove that the alternating groupA ₅ is a 4-Cl-group, which was a conjecture posed by Li and Praeger.     

Gruppi Policiclici Dotati di un Automorfismo Uniforme di Ordinepq

An automorphismϕ of a groupG is said to be uniform il for everyg ∈G there exists anh ∈G such thatG=h ⁻¹ h ^ρ . It is a well-known fact that ifG is finite, an automorphism ofG is uniform if and only if it is fixed-point-free. In [7] Zappa proved that if a polycyclic groupG admits an uniform automorphism of prime orderp thenG is a finite (nilpotent)p′-group. In this paper we continue Zappa’s work considering uniform automorphism of orderpg (p andq distinct prime numbers). In particular we prove that there exists a constantμ (depending only onp andq) such that every torsion-free polycyclic groupG admitting an uniform automorphism of orderpq is nilpotent of class at mostμ. As a consequence we prove that if a polycyclic groupG admits an uniform automorphism of orderpq thenZ _μ (G) has finite index inG.

Al professore Guido Zappa per il suo 90⁰ compleanno     

On the abelianizations of congruence subgroups of Aut(<Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>)

Let F _n be the free group of rank n, and let Aut⁺(F _n ) be its special automorphism group. For an epimorphism π : F _n → G of the free group F _n onto a finite group G we call the standard congruence subgroup of Aut⁺(F _n ) associated to G and π. In the case n = 2 we fully describe the abelianization of Γ⁺(G, π) for finite abelian groups G. Moreover, we show that if G is a finite non-perfect group, then Γ⁺(G, π) ≤ Aut⁺(F ₂) has infinite abelianization.     

The chromatic connectivity of graphs

A graphG ischromatically k-connected if every vertex cutset induces a subgraph with chromatic number at leastk. This concept arose in some work, involving the third author, on Ramsey Theory. (For the reference, see the text.) Here we begin the study of chromatic connectivity for its own sake. We show thatG is chromaticallyk-connected iff every homomorphic image of it isk-connected. IfG has no triangles then it is at most chromatically 1-connected, but we prove that the Kneser graphs provide examples ofK ₄-free graphs with arbitrarily large chromatic connectivity. We also verify thatK ₄-free planar graphs are at most chromatically 2-connected.This work was supported by grants from NSERC of Canada.     

Irreducible Algebraic Sets in Metabelian Groups

We present the construction for a u-product G₁ ○ G₂ of two u-groups G₁ and G₂, and prove that G₁ ○ G₂ is also a u-group and that every u-group, which contains G₁ and G₂ as subgroups and is generated by these, is a homomorphic image of G₁ ○ G₂. It is stated that if G is a u-group then the coordinate group of an affine space Gⁿ is equal to G ○ F_n, where F_n is a free metabelian group of rank n. Irreducible algebraic sets in G are treated for the case where G is a free metabelian group or wreath product of two free Abelian groups of finite ranks. __________ Translated from Algebra i Logika, Vol. 44, No. 5, pp. 601–621, September–October, 2005. Supported by RFBR grant No. 05-01-00292, by FP “Universities of Russia” grant No. 04.01.053, and by RF Ministry of Education grant No. E00-1.0-12.     

Residual properties of free groups,II

In this paper we prove that if X is an infinite class of flnite simple classical groups, then F₂, the free group of rank 2, is residually X. This solves a special case of a question of W.Magnus. He conjectures that F₂ is residually X for any infinite class X of finite non-abelian simple groups.     

Theories of linear order

LetT be a complete theory of linear order; the language ofT may contain a finite or a countable set of unary predicates. We prove the following results. (i) The number of nonisomorphic countable models ofT is either finite or 2^ω. (ii) If the language ofT is finite then the number of nonisomorphic countable models ofT is either 1 or 2^ω. (iii) IfS ₁(T) is countable then so isS _n(T) for everyn. (iv) In caseS ₁(T) is countable we find a relation between the Cantor Bendixon rank ofS ₁(T) and the Cantor Bendixon rank ofS _n(T). (v) We define a class of modelsL, and show thatS ₁(T) is finite iff the models ofT belong toL. We conclude that ifS ₁(T) is finite thenT is finitely axiomatizable. (vi) We prove some theorems concerning the existence and the structure of saturated models. Most of the results in this paper appeared in the author’s Master of Science thesis which was prepared at the Hebrew University under the supervision of Professor H. Gaifman.     

A new result on Davenport constant

Let G be a finite abelian group of order n and Davenport constant D(G). Let S=⁰h(S)_∏g∈Ggvg(S)∈F(G) be a sequence with a maximal multiplicity h(S) attained by 0 and t=|S|?n+D(G)−1. Then 0∈k_∑(S) for every 1?k?t+1−D(G). This is a refinement of the fundamental result of Gao [W.D. Gao, A combinatorial problem on finite abelian groups, J. Number Theory 58 (1996) 100-103].     

Locally Finite Groups with All Subgroups Normal-by-(Finite Rank)

A group is said to have finite (special) rank ≤ sif all of its finitely generated subgroups can be generated byselements. LetGbe a locally finite group and suppose thatH/H_Ghas finite rank for all subgroupsHofG, whereH_Gdenotes the normal core ofHinG. We prove that thenGhas an abelian normal subgroup whose quotient is of finite rank (Theorem 5). If, in addition, there is a finite numberrbounding all of the ranks ofH/H_G, thenGhas an abelian subgroup whose quotient is of finite rank bounded in terms ofronly (Theorem 4). These results are based on analogous theorems on locally finitep-groups, in which case the groupGis also abelian-by-finite (Theorems 2 and 3).     

An infinite family of simply connected flag-transitive tilde geometries

We consider tilde-geometries (orT-geometries), which are geometries belonging to diagrams of the following shape: Here the rightmost edge stands for the famous triple cover of the classical generalized quadrangle related to the group Sp₄(2). The automorphism group of the cover is the nonsplit extension 3·Sp₄(2) – 3 ·S ₆. Five examples of flag-transitiveT-geometries were known. These are rank 3 geometries related to the groupsM ₂₄ (the Mathieu group),He (the Held group) and and 3⁷·Sp₆(2) (a nonsplit extension); a rank 4 geometry related to the Conway groupCo ₁ and a rank 5 geometry related to the Fischer-Griess Monster groupF ₁. In the present paper we construct an infinite family of flag-transitiveT-geometries and prove that all the new geometries are simply connected. The automorphism group of the rankn geometry in the family is a nonsplit extension of a 3-group by the symplectic group Sp_2n (2). The rank of the 3-group is equal to the number of 2-dimensional subspaces in ann-dimensional vector space over GF(2).     

Relatively Free Nilpotent Torsion-Free Groups and Their Lie Algebras

Let K be a field of characteristic zero. For a torsion-free finitely generated nilpotent group G, we naturally associate four finite dimensional nilpotent Lie algebras over K, ? _K (G), grad^(?)(? _K (G)), grad^(g)(exp ? _K (G)), and L _K (G). Let 𝔗 _c be a torsion-free variety of nilpotent groups of class at most c. For a positive integer n, with n ≥ 2, let F _n (𝔗 _c ) be the relatively free group of rank n in 𝔗 _c . We prove that ? _K (F _n (𝔗 _c )) is relatively free in some variety of nilpotent Lie algebras, and ? _K (F _n (𝔗 _c )) ? L _K (F _n (𝔗 _c )) ? grad^(?)(? _K (F _n (𝔗 _c ))) ? grad^(g)(exp ? _K (F _n (𝔗 _c ))) as Lie algebras in a natural way. Furthermore, F _n (𝔗 _c ) is a Magnus nilpotent group. Let G ₁ and G ₂ be torsion-free finitely generated nilpotent groups which are quasi-isometric. We prove that if G ₁ and G ₂ are relatively free of finite rank, then they are isomorphic. Let L be a relatively free nilpotent Lie algebra over ? of finite rank freely generated by a set X. Give on L the structure of a group R, say, by means of the Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff formula, and let H be the subgroup of R generated by the set X. We show that H is relatively free in some variety of nilpotent groups; freely generated by the set X, H is Magnus and L ? ?_?(H) ? L _?(H) as Lie algebras. For relatively free residually torsion-free nilpotent groups, we prove that ? _K and L _K are isomorphic as Lie algebras. We also give an example of a finitely generated Magnus nilpotent group G, not relatively free, such that ?_?(G) is not isomorphic to L _?(G) as Lie algebras.     

Polar actions on Hilbert space

An isometricH-action on a Riemannian manifoldX is calledpolar if there exists a closed submanifoldS ofX that meets everyH-orbit and always meets orbits orthogonally (S is called a section). LetG be a compact Lie group equipped with a biinvariant metric,H a closed subgroup ofG ×G, and letH act onG isometrically by (h ₁,h ₂) ·x = h ₁ xh ₂ ⁻¹ · LetP(G, H) denote the group ofH ¹-pathsg: [0, 1] →G such that (g(0),g (1)) ∈H, and letP(G, H) act on the Hilbert spaceV = H ⁰([0, 1], g) isometrically byg * u = gug ⁻¹ −g′g ⁻¹. We prove that if the action ofH onG is polar with a flat section then the action ofP(G, H) onV is polar. Principal orbits of polar actions onV are isoparametric submanifolds ofV and are infinite-dimensional generalized real or complex flag manifolds. We also note that the adjoint actions of affine Kac-Moody groups and the isotropy action corresponding to an involution of an affine Kac-Moody group are special examples ofP(G, H)-actions for suitable choice ofH andG. Work supported partially by NSF Grant DMS 8903237 and by The Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik in Bonn.     

Homology of free Lie powers and torsion in groups

LetG be a group that is given by a free presentationG=F/R, and let_γ4 R denote the fourth term of the lower central series of R. We show that ifG has no elements of order 2, then the torsion subgroup of the free central extensionF/[_γ4 R,F] can be identified with the homology groupR _γ6(G, ℤ/2ℤ). This is a consequence of our main result which refers to the homology ofG with coefficients in Lie powers of relation modules.     

Funny rank-one weak mixing for nonsingular Abelian actions

We construct funny rank-one infinite measure preserving free actionsT of a countable Abelian groupG satisfying each of the following properties: (1)T _g1×…×T_gk is ergodic for each finite sequenceg ₁,…,g _k ofG-elements of infinite order, (2)T×T is nonconservative, (3)T×T is nonergodic but allk-fold Cartesian products are conservative, and theL ^∞-spectrum ofT is trivial, (4) for eachg of infinite order, allk-fold Cartesian products ofT _g are ergodic, butT _2g×T_g is nonconservative. A topological version of this theorem holds. Moreover, given an AT-flowW, we construct nonsingularG-actionsT with similar properties and such that the associated flow ofT isW. Orbit theory is used in an essential way here. The work was supported in part by INTAS 97-1843 and CRDF grant UM1-2092.     

On Isomorphisms of Finite Cayley Graphs

A Cayley graph Cay(G,S) of a groupGis called a CI-graph if wheneverTis another subset ofGfor which Cay(G,S) Cay(G,T), there exists an automorphism σ ofGsuch thatS^σ = T. For a positive integerm, the groupGis said to have them-CI property if all Cayley graphs ofGof valencymare CI-graphs; further, ifGhas thek-CI property for allk ≤ m, thenGis called anm-CI-group, and a |G|-CI-groupGis called a CI-group. In this paper, we prove that Ais not a 5-CI-group, that SL(2,5) is not a 6-CI-group, and that all finite 6-CI-groups are soluble. Then we show that a nonabelian simple group has the 4-CI property if and only if it is A₅, and that no nonabelian simple group has the 5-CI property. Also we give nine new examples of CI-groups of small order, which were found to be CI-groups with the assistance of a computer.     

The residual finiteness of negatively curved polygons of finite groups

A subgroup M⊂G is almost malnormal provided that for each g∈G−M, the intersection M ^g ∩M is finite. It is proven that the free product of two virtually free groups amalgamating a finitely generated almost malnormal subgroup, is residually finite. A consequence of a generalization of this result is that an acute-angled n-gon of finite groups is residually finite if n≥4. Another consequence is that if G acts properly discontinuously and cocompactly on a 2-dimensional hyperbolic building whose chambers have acute angles and at least 4 sides, then G is residually finite. Oblatum 17-VII-2000 & 13-II-2002?Published online: 29 April 2002