Polycyclic groups admitting a regular automorphism of order four

Let G be a polycyclic group and α a regular automorphism of order four of G. If the map φ: G→ G defined by g~φ= [g, α] is surjective, then the second derived group of G is contained in the centre of G. Abandoning the condition on surjectivity, we prove that C_G(α~2) and G/[G, α~2] are both abelian-by-finite.     

Polycyclic groups with automorphisms of order four

n this paper, we study the structure of polycyclic groups admitting an automorphism of order four on the basis of Neumann’s result, and prove that if α is an automorphism of order four of a polycyclic group G and the map φ: G → G defined by g^φ = [g,α] is surjective, then G contains a characteristic subgroup H of finite index such that the second derived subgroup H″ is included in the centre of H and C_H(α²) is abelian, both C_G(α²) and G/[G, α²] are abelian-by-finite. These results extend recent and classical results in the literature.     

On the residual finiteness of descending HNN-extensions of groups

Let G be a group of finite generic rank, φ an injective endomorphism of the group G, and G(φ) the descending HNN-extension of G corresponding to the endomorphism φ. Let the index of the subgroup Gφ in G be finite and equal to n. It is proved that, if the group G is almost residually π-finite for some set π of primes coprime to n, then the group G(φ) is residually finite. This generalizes a series of known results, including the Wise-Hsu theorem on the residual finiteness of an arbitrary descending HNN-extension of any almost polycyclic group.     

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).     

Quasirecognition by prime graph of <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript>10</Subscript>(2)

Let G be a finite group. The prime graph of G is denoted by Γ(G). The main result we prove is as follows: If G is a finite group such that Γ(G) = Γ(L ₁₀(2)) then G/O ₂(G) is isomorphic to L ₁₀(2). In fact we obtain the first example of a finite group with the connected prime graph which is quasirecognizable by its prime graph. As a consequence of this result we can give a new proof for the fact that the simple group L ₁₀(2) is uniquely determined by the set of its element orders.     

Finite Abelian actions on surfaces

Edmonds showed that two free orientation preserving smooth actions φ₁ and φ₂ of a finite Abelian group G on a closed connected oriented smooth surface M are equivalent by an equivariant orientation preserving diffeomorphism iff they have the same bordism class [M,φ₁]=[M,φ₂] in the oriented bordism group Ω₂(G) of the group G. In this paper, we compute the bordism class [M,φ] for any such action of G on M and we determine for a given M, the bordism classes in Ω₂(G) that are representable by such actions of G on M. This will enable us to obtain a formula for the number of inequivalent such actions of G on M. We also determine the “weak” equivalence classes of such actions of G on M when all the p-Sylow subgroups of G are homocyclic (i.e. of the form n(Z/pαZ)).     

Multiplicative mappings at some points on matrix algebras

Let M_n be the algebra of all n×n matrices, and let φ:M_n→M_n be a linear mapping. We say that φ is a multiplicative mapping at G if φ(ST)=φ(S)φ(T) for any S,T∈M_n with ST=G. Fix G∈M_n, we say that G is an all-multiplicative point if every multiplicative linear bijection φ at G with φ(I_n)=I_n is a multiplicative mapping in M_n, where I_n is the unit matrix in M_n. We mainly show in this paper the following two results: (1) If G∈M_n with detG=0, then G is an all-multiplicative point in M_n; (2) If φ is an multiplicative mapping at I_n, then there exists an invertible matrix P∈M_n such that either φ(S)=PSP^-1 for any S∈M_n or φ(T)=PT^trP^-1 for any T∈M_n.     

On profinite groups in which commutators are covered by finitely many subgroups

For a family of group words w we show that if G is a profinite group in which all w-values are contained in a union of finitely many subgroups with a prescribed property, then the verbal subgroup w(G) has the same property as well. In particular, we show this in the case where the subgroups are periodic or of finite rank. If G contains finitely many subgroups G ₁, G ₂, . . . , G _s of finite exponent e whose union contains all γ _k -values in G, it is shown that γ _k (G) has finite (e, k, s)-bounded exponent. If G contains finitely many subgroups G ₁, G ₂, . . . , G _s of finite rank r whose union contains all γ _k -values, it is shown that γ _k (G) has finite (k, r, s)-bounded rank.     

Quasirecognition by prime graph of the simple group <Superscript>2</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>)

Let G be a finite group. The main result of this paper is as follows: If G is a finite group, such that Γ(G) = Γ(²G₂(q)), where q = 3²ⁿ⁺¹ for some n ≥ 1, then G has a (unique) nonabelian composition factor isomorphic to ² G ₂(q). We infer that if G is a finite group satisfying |G| = |² G ₂(q)| and Γ(G) = Γ (² G ₂(q)) then G ? = ² G ₂(q). This enables us to give new proofs for some theorems; e.g., a conjecture of W. Shi and J. Bi. Some applications of this result are also considered to the problem of recognition by element orders of finite groups.     

On the definability of verbal subgroups

We show that if G is a group of finite Morley rank, then the verbal subgroup <w(G)> is of finite width, where w is a concise word. As a byproduct, we show that if G is any abelian-by-finite group, then G ⁿ =<x ⁿ (G)> is definable. Received: 15 March 1996 / Published online: 18 July 2001     

Complete cohomological functors on groups

If Λ is a ring and A is a Λ-module, then a terminal completion of Ext^1_Λ(A, ) is shown to exist if, and only if, Ext^j_Λ(A, P)=0 for all projective Λ-modules P and all sufficiently large j. Such a terminal completion exists for every A if, and only if, the supremum of the injective lengths of all projective Λ-modules, silp Λ, is finite. Analogous results hold for Ext^1_Λ(,A) and involve spli Λ, the supremum of the projective lengths of the injective Λ-modules. When Λ is an integral group ring $\text{Z}$G, spli$\text{Z}$G is finite implies silp $\text{Z}$G is finite. Also the finiteness of spli is preserved under group extensions. If G is a countable soluble group, the spli $\text{Z}$G is finite if, and only if, the Hirsch number of G is finite.     

A Tate cohomology sequence for generalized Burnside rings

We generalize the fundamental theorem for Burnside rings to the mark morphism of plus constructions defined by Boltje. The main observation is the following: If D is a restriction functor for a finite group G, then the mark morphism φ:D₊→D⁺ is the same as the norm map of the Tate cohomology sequence (over conjugation algebra for G) after composing with a suitable isomorphism of D⁺. As a consequence, we obtain an exact sequence of Mackey functors

     

On the groups of unitriangular automorphisms of relatively free groups

We describe the structure of the group U _n of unitriangular automorphisms of the relatively free group G _n of finite rank n in an arbitrary variety C of groups. This enables us to introduce an effective concept of normal form for the elements and present U _n by using generators and defining relations. The cases n = 1, 2 are obvious: U ₁ is trivial, and U ₂ is cyclic. For n ?? 3 we prove the following: If G _n?1 is a nilpotent group then so is U _n . If G _n?1 is a nilpotent-by-finite group then U _n admits a faithful matrix representation. But if the variety C is different from the variety of all groups and G _n?1 is not nilpotent-by-finite then U _n admits no faithful matrix representation over any field. Thus, we exhaustively classify linearity for the groups of unitriangular automorphisms of finite rank relatively free groups in proper varieties of groups, which complements the results of Olshanskii on the linearity of the full automorphism groups AutG _n . Moreover, we introduce the concept of length of an automorphism of an arbitrary relatively free group G _n and estimate the length of the inverse automorphism in the case that it is unitriangular.     

On soluble groups of module automorphisms of finite rank

Let R be a commutative ring, M an R-module and G a group of R-automorphisms of M, usually with some sort of rank restriction on G. We study the transfer of hypotheses between M/C _M (G) and [M,G] such as Noetherian or having finite composition length. In this we extend recent work of Dixon, Kurdachenko and Otal and of Kurdachenko, Subbotin and Chupordia. For example, suppose [M,G] is R-Noetherian. If G has finite rank, then M/C _M (G) also is R-Noetherian. Further, if [M,G] is R-Noetherian and if only certain abelian sections of G have finite rank, then G has finite rank and is soluble-by-finite. If M/C _M (G) is R-Noetherian and G has finite rank, then [M,G] need not be R-Noetherian.     

A characterization of the linear groups L 2(p)

Let G be a finite group and π _e (G) be the set of element orders of G. Let k ∈ π _e (G) and m _k be the number of elements of order k in G. Set nse(G):= {m _k : k ∈ π _e (G)}. In fact nse(G) is the set of sizes of elements with the same order in G. In this paper, by nse(G) and order, we give a new characterization of finite projective special linear groups L ₂(p) over a field with p elements, where p is prime. We prove the following theorem: If G is a group such that |G| = |L ₂(p)| and nse(G) consists of 1, p ² ? 1, p(p + ?)/2 and some numbers divisible by 2p, where p is a prime greater than 3 with p ≡ 1 modulo 4, then G ? L ₂(p).     

Hamiltonian circuits in Cayley graphs

The following result is proved: If either G is a finite abelian group or a semidirect product of a cyclic group of prime order by a finite abelian group of odd order, then every connected Cayley graph of G is hamiltonian.     

Almost fixed-point-free automorphisms of prime order

Let ϕ be an automorphism of prime order p of the group G with C _G (ϕ) finite of order n. We prove the following. If G is soluble of finite rank, then G has a nilpotent characteristic subgroup of finite index and class bounded in terms of p only. If G is a group with finite Hirsch number h, then G has a soluble characteristic subgroup of finite index in G with derived length bounded in terms of p and n only and a soluble characteristic subgroup of finite index in G whose index and derived length are bounded in terms of p, n and h only. Here a group has finite Hirsch number if it is poly (cyclic or locally finite). This is a stronger notion than that used in [Wehrfritz B.A.F., Almost fixed-point-free automorphisms of order 2, Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo (in press)], where the case p = 2 is discussed.     

Small, nm-stable compact G-groups

We prove that if (H, G) is a small, nm-stable compact G-group, then H is nilpotent-by-finite, and if additionally NM(H) < ω or NM(H) = ω ^α for some ordinal α, then H is abelian-by-finite. Both results are significant steps towards the proof of the conjecture that each small, nm-stable compact G-group is abelian-by-finite. We provide counter-examples to the NM-gap conjecture, that is we give examples of small, nm-stable compact G-groups of infinite ordinal NM-rank.     

Automorphism groups of finite posets

For any finite group G, we construct a finite poset (or equivalently, a finite T₀-space) X, whose group of automorphisms is isomorphic to G. If the order of the group is n and it has r generators, X has n(r+2) points. This construction improves previous results by G. Birkhoff and M.C. Thornton. The relationship between automorphisms and homotopy types is also analyzed.     

The Vietoris topology on rectifiable spaces

A topological space G is said to be a rectifiable space provided that there are a surjective homeomorphism φ:G×G→G×G and an element e∈G such that π ₁°φ=π ₁ and for every x∈G we have φ(x,x)=(x,e), where π ₁:G×G→G is the projection to the first coordinate. Let G be a rectifiable space and C(G) be the family of all non-empty compact subsets of G. In this paper, we study the Vietoris topology on C(G), and show that if G is a locally compact rectifiable space, then (C(G),?) together with the Vietoris topology is a topological semi-right loop.