Functorial topologies and finite-index subgroups of abelian groups

In the general context of functorial topologies, we prove that in the lattice of all group topologies on an abelian group, the infimum between the Bohr topology and the natural topology is the profinite topology. The profinite topology and its connection to other functorial topologies is the main objective of the paper. We are particularly interested in the poset C(G) of all finite-index subgroups of an abelian group G, since it is a local base for the profinite topology of G. We describe various features of the poset C(G) (its cardinality, its cofinality, etc.) and we characterize the abelian groups G for which C(G)?{G} is cofinal in the poset of all subgroups of G ordered by inclusion. Finally, for pairs of functorial topologies T, S we define the equalizer E(T,S), which permits to describe relevant classes of abelian groups in terms of functorial topologies.     

Procyclic coverings of commutators in profinite groups

We consider profinite groups in which all commutators are contained in a union of finitely many procyclic subgroups. It is shown that if G is a profinite group in which all commutators are covered by m procyclic subgroups, then G possesses a finite characteristic subgroup M contained in G′ such that the order of M is m-bounded and G′/M is procyclic. If G is a pro-p group such that all commutators in G are covered by m procyclic subgroups, then G′ is either finite of m-bounded order or procyclic.     

On the space of subgroups of a compact group II

Let G be a compact group. Let S(G), C(G), N(G) be the spaces of closed subgroups, cosets of closed subgroups, normal closed subgroups (respectively) of G, with the Vietoris topology.Then: (1) S(G) and C(G) are never connected; (2) N(G) is always totally disconnected; (3) C(G) is totally disconnected if and only if G is totally disconnected; and (4) S(G) is totally disconnected if and only if G/Z(G) is totally disconnected.Further: for totally disconnected G (equivalently, profinite G) (5) S(G), C(G) and N(G) are κ-metrisable; (6) S(G), C(G) and N(G) are Dugundji compact if G has small weight; and (7) consequences for field extensions are derived.     

On a conjecture of E. Rapaport Strasser about knot-like groups and its pro-p version

A group G is knot-like if it is finitely presented of deficiency 1 and has abelianization G/G^′?Z. We prove the conjecture of E. Rapaport Strasser that if a knot-like group G has a finitely generated commutator subgroup G^′ then G^′ should be free in the special case when the commutator G^′ is residually finite. It is a corollary of a much more general result : if G is a discrete group of geometric dimension n with a finite K(G,1)-complex Y of dimension n, Y has Euler characteristics 0, N is a normal residually finite subgroup of G, N is of homological type FP_n-1 and G/N?Z then N is of homological type FP_n and hence G/N has finite virtual cohomological dimension vcd(G/N)=cd(G)-cd(N). In particular either N has finite index in G or cd(N)?cd(G)-1.Furthermore we show a pro-p version of the above result with the weaker assumption that G/N is a pro-p group of finite rank. Consequently a pro-p version of Rapaport's conjecture holds.     

Profinite Groups Admitting Just Infinite Quotients

 A profinite group is said to be just infinite if each of its proper quotients is finite. We address the question which profinite groups admit just infinite quotients. It is proved that any profinite group whose order (as a supernatural number) is divisible only by finitely many primes admits just infinite quotients. It is shown that if a profinite group G possesses the property in question then so does every open subgroup and every finite extension of G. Received 20 July 2001     

Quasi-co-local subgroups of abelian groups

Let {0}≠K be a subgroup of the abelian group G. In [J. Buckner, M. Dugas, Co-local subgroups of abelian groups, in: Abelian Groups, Rings, Modules, and Homological Algebra, in: Lect. Notes Pure and Appl. Math., vol. 249, Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL, 2006, pp. 29-37], K was called a co-local (cl) subgroup of G if is naturally isomorphic to . We generalize this notion to the quasi-category of abelian groups and call the subgroup K≠{0} of G a quasi-co-local (qcl) subgroup of G if is naturally isomorphic to . We show that qcl subgroups behave quite differently from cl subgroups. For example, while cl subgroups K are pure in G, i.e. G/K is torsion-free if G is torsion-free, any reduced torsion group T can be the torsion subgroup t(G/K) of G/K where G is torsion-free and K is a qcl subgroup of G.     

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.     

The influence of $\pi$-quasinormality of some subgroups of a finite group

A subgroup H of G is said to be $\pi$-quasinormal in G if it permute with every Sylow subgroup of G. In this paper, we extend the study on the structure of a finite group under the assumption that some subgroups of G are $\pi$-quasinormal in G. The main result we proved in this paper is the following:Theorem 3.4. Let ${\cal F}$ be a saturated formation containing the supersolvable groups. Suppose that G is a group with a normal subgroup H such that $G/H \in {\cal F}$, and all maximal subgroups of any Sylow subgroup of $F^{*}(H)$ are $\pi$-quasinormal in G, then $G \in {\cal F}$. Received: 10 May 2002     

Morphic groups

A group G is called morphic if every endomorphism α:G→G for which Gα is normal in G satisfies G/Gα≅ker(α). This concept originated in a 1976 paper of Gertrude Ehrlich characterizing when the endomorphism ring of a module is unit regular. The concept has been extensively studied in module and ring theory, and this paper investigates the idea in the category of groups. After developing their basic properties, we characterize the morphic groups among the dihedral groups and the groups whose normal subgroups form a finite chain. We investigate when a direct product of morphic groups is again morphic, prove that a finite nilpotent group is morphic if and only if its Sylow subgroups are morphic, and present some results for the case where a p-group is morphic.     

Profinite groups with nonabelian crowns of bounded rank and their probabilistic zeta function

It has been conjectured by Mann that the infinite sum Σ _H μ(H,G)/|G:H| ^s , where H ranges over all open subgroups of a finitely generated profinite group G, converges absolutely in some half right plane if G is positively finitely generated. We prove that the conjecture is true if the nonabelian crowns of G have bounded rank. In particular Mann’s conjecture holds if G has polynomial subgroup growth or is an adelic profinite group.     

A characterization of the hypercyclically embedded subgroups of finite groups

A normal subgroup H of a finite group G is said to be hypercyclically embedded in G if every chief factor of G below H is cyclic. The major aim of the present paper is to characterize the normal hypercyclically embedded subgroups E of a group G by means of the embedding of the maximal and minimal subgroups of the Sylow subgroups of the generalized Fitting subgroup of E.     

Decomposition of the Witt-Burnside ring and Burnside ring of an abelian profinite group

Let G, H be abelian profinite groups whose orders are coprime and assume that q ranges over the set of integers. The aim of this paper is to establish an isomorphism of functors , where denotes the q-deformed Witt-Burnside ring functor of G introduced in [Y.-T. Oh, q-Deformation of Witt-Burnside rings, Math. Z. 207 (1) (2007) 151-191]. To do this, we first establish an isomorphism of functors , where denotes the q-deformed Burnside ring functor of G which was also introduced in [Y.-T. Oh, q-Deformation of Witt-Burnside rings, Math. Z. 207 (1) (2007) 151-191]. As an application, we derive a pseudo-multiplicative property of the q-Möbius function associated to the lattice of open subgroups of the direct sum of G and H.     

The influence of minimal subgroups of focal subgroups on the structure of finite groups

A subgroup H of a finite group G is said to be complemented in G if there exists a subgroup K of G such that G=HK and H∩K=1. In this paper, it is proved that a finite group G is p-nilpotent provided p is the smallest prime number dividing the order of G and every minimal subgroup of the p-focal subgroup of G is complemented in N_G(P), where P is a Sylow p-subgroup of G. As some applications, some interesting results related with complemented minimal subgroups of focal subgroups are obtained.     

Probability that the commutator of two group elements is equal to a given element

In this paper we study the probability that the commutator of two randomly chosen elements in a finite group is equal to a given element of that group. Explicit computations are obtained for groups G which |G^′| is prime and G^′≤Z(G) as well as for groups G which |G^′| is prime and G^′∩Z(G)=1. This paper extends results of Rusin [see D.J. Rusin, What is the probability that two elements of a finite group commute? Pacific J. Math. 82 (1) (1979) 237-247].     

On groups whose subgroups are closed in the profinite topology

A group is called extended residually finite (ERF) if every subgroup is closed in the profinite topology. The ERF-property is studied for nilpotent groups, soluble groups, locally finite groups and FC-groups. A complete characterization is given of FC-groups which are ERF.     

On the rank of compact <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-adic Lie groups

The rank of a profinite group G is the basic invariant \({{\rm rk}(G):={\rm sup}\{d(H) \mid H \leq G\}}\), where H ranges over all closed subgroups of G and d(H) denotes the minimal cardinality of a topological generating set for H. A compact topological group G admits the structure of a p-adic Lie group if and only if it contains an open pro-p subgroup of finite rank. For every compact p-adic Lie group G one has rk(G) ≥ dim(G), where dim(G) denotes the dimension of G as a p-adic manifold. In this paper we consider the converse problem, bounding rk(G) in terms of dim(G). Every profinite group G of finite rank admits a maximal finite normal subgroup, its periodic radical π(G). One of our main results is the following. Let G be a compact p-adic Lie group such that π(G) = 1, and suppose that p is odd. If \(\{g \in G \mid g^{p-1}=1 \}\) is equal to {1}, then rk(G) = dim(G).     

On semi cover-avoiding subgroups of finite groups

A subgroup H of a finite group G is said to have the semi cover-avoiding property in G if there is a normal series of G such that H covers or avoids every normal factor of the series. In this paper, some new results are obtained based on the assumption that some subgroups have the semi cover-avoiding property in the group.     

Farrell cohomology and Brown theorems for profinite groups

LetG be a profinite group which has an open subgroupH such that the cohomologicalp-dimensiond≔cd_p(H) is finite (p is a fixed prime). The main result of this paper expresses thep-primary part of high degree cohomology ofG in terms of the elementary abelianp-subgroups ofG: From the latter one constructs a natural profinite simplicial setA G, on whichG acts by conjugation. ThenH ⁿ(G,M)≅H _G ⁿ (AG,M) holds forn≧d+r and everyp-primary discreteG-moduleM (r≔p-rank ofG). If one uses profinite Farrell cohomology, which is introduced in this paper, the analogous fact holds in all degrees. These results are the profinite analogues of theorems by K.S. Brown for discrete groups.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis>-normal maximal and minimal subgroups of Sylow <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-subgroups of finite groups

A subgroup H of a finite group G is called c-normal in G if there exists a normal subgroup N of G such that G = HN and $H \cap N \leq H_{G} = {\rm core}_{G}(H)$. In this paper, we investigate the class of groups of which every maximal subgroup of its Sylow p-subgroup is c-normal and the class of groups of which some minimal subgroups of its Sylow p-subgroup is c-normal for some prime number p. Some interesting results are obtained and consequently, many known results related to p-nilpotent groups and p-supersolvable groups are generalized.