Characterizing Automorphism Groups of Ordered Abelian Groups

A proof is given of the following theorem, which characterizesfull automorphism groups of ordered abelian groups: a groupH is the automorphism group of some ordered abelian group ifand only if H is right-orderable. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification20K15, 20K20, 20F60, 20K30 (primary); 03E05 (secondary).     

The finite images of finitely generated groups

Given any sequence of non-abelian finite simple primitive permutationgroups S_n, we construct a finitely generated group G whose profinitecompletion is the infinite permutational wreath product ...S_n S_n–1 ... S₀. It follows that the upper compositionfactors of G are exactly the groups S_n. By suitably choosingthe sequence S_n we can arrange that G has any one of a continuousrange of slow, non-polynomial subgroup growth types. We alsoconstruct a 61-generator perfect group that has every non-abelianfinite simple group as a quotient. 2000 Mathematics SubjectClassification: 20E07, 20E08, 20E18, 20E32.     

Bounded Generation and Subgroup Growth

The author proves in this paper that every profinite group Gwith polynomial subgroup growth is boundedly generated; thatis, it is a product of finitely many procyclic subgroups. Thisanswers a question of P. Zalesskii. By contrast, if G is a boundedlygenerated group, then the subgroup growth of G is at most n^clogn.As a byproduct, a short, elementary proof demonstrates thatAut(F_r) (for r 2) and many other related groups are not boundedlygenerated. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 20E07 (primary),20E22 (secondary).     

Modular Subgroup Arithmetic and a Theorem of Philip Hall

A surprising relationship is established in this paper, betweenthe behaviour modulo a prime p of the number S_n G of index nsubgroups in a group G, and that of the corresponding subgroupnumbers for a normal subgroup in G normal subgroup in p-powerorder. The proof relies, among other things, on a twisted versiondue to Philip Hall of Frobenius' theorem concerning the equationx^m=1 in finite groups. One of the applications of this result,presented here, concerns the explicit determination modulo pof S_n G in the case when G is the fundamental group of a treeof groups all of whose vertex groups are cyclic of p-power order.Furthermore, a criterion is established (by a different technique)for the function S_n G to be periodic modulo p. 2000 MathematicsSubject Classification 20E06, 20F99 (primary); 05A15, 05E99(secondary).     

On Growth of Groups with Few Relators

Let G be a group that has a presentation with n generators andm relators, where m < n, and let S be an arbitrary generatingset for G. Then some subset of n-m elements of S freely generatesa free subgroup of G. This leads to the proof of a conjectureof Gromov on growth of groups. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification20F05, 20E18.     

Ubiquity of Free Subgroups

Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for a Polish topologicalgroup to be ‘almost free’. It is deduced that theexistence of one free subgroup of a Polish group can lead tothe existence of many free subgroups of maximal rank. Applicationsare given to permutation groups, profinite groups, Lie groupsand unitary groups. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification22F50, 20E05, 54H05 (primary), 12F10, 20B27, 20B30, 20E18 (secondary).     

Projective Limits of Finite-Dimensional Lie Groups

For a topological group G we define N to be the set of all normalsubgroups modulo which G is a finite-dimensional Lie group.Call G a pro-Lie group if, firstly, G is complete, secondly,N is a filter basis, and thirdly, every identity neighborhoodof G contains some member of N. It is easy to see that everypro-Lie group G is a projective limit of the projective systemof all quotients of G modulo subgroups from N. The converseimplication emerges as a difficult proposition, but it is shownhere that any projective limit of finite-dimensional Lie groupsis a pro-Lie group. It is also shown that a closed subgroupof a pro-Lie group is a pro-Lie group, and that for any closednormal subgroup N of a pro-Lie group G, for any one parametersubgroup Y : R G/N there is a one parameter subgroup X : R G such that X(t) N = Y(t) for any real number t. The categoryof all pro-Lie groups and continuous group homomorphisms betweenthem is closed under the formation of all limits in the categoryof topological groups and the Lie algebra functor on the categoryof pro-Lie groups preserves all limits and quotients. 2000 MathematicsSubject Classification 22E65, 22D05, 22E20, 22A05, 54B35.     

On the Homeomorphism Groups of Cantor's Discontinuum and the Spaces of Rational and Irrational Numbers

The paper shows that the homeomorphism groups of, respectively,Cantor's discontinuum, the rationals and the irrationals haveuncountable cofinality. It is well known that the homeomorphismgroup of Cantor's discontinuum is isomorphic to the automorphismgroup Aut B of the countable, atomless boolean algebra B. Soalso Aut B has uncountable cofinality, which answers a questionposed earlier by the first author and H. D. Macpherson. Thecofinality of a group G is the cardinality of the length ofa shortest chain of proper subgroups terminating at G. 2000Mathematics Subject Classification 20B22, 20E15.     

Locally Finite Finitary Skew Linear Groups

Let V be a vector space over the division ring D of infinitedimension. We study locally finite, primitive groups G of finitarylinear automorphisms of V. We show that the derived group G'of G is infinite, simple, and lies in every non-trivial normalsubgroup of G, and that G' G Aut G'. Moreover if char D =0, then G is either the finitary symmetric group or the alternatinggroup on some infinite set. If D is commutative, that is, ifD is a field, then all these results are known and are the consequenceof the collective work of a number of people: in particular(in alphabetical order) V. V. Belyaev, J. I. Hall, F. Leinen,U. Meierfrankenfeld, R. E. Phillips, O. Puglisi, A. Radfordand quite probably others. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification:20H25, 20H20, 20F50.     

Residually Finite Groups with all Subgroups Subnormal

The following result is established. THEOREM. Let G be a periodic, residually finite group with allsubgroups sub-normal. Then G is nilpotent. The well-known groups of Heineken and Mohamed [1] show thatthe hypothesis of residual finiteness cannot be omitted here,while examples in [5] show that a residually finite group withall subgroups subnormal need not be nilpotent. The proof ofthe Theorem will use the results of Möhres that a groupwith all subgroups subnormal is soluble [3] and that a periodichypercentral group with all subgroups subnormal is nilpotent[4]. Borrowing an idea from [2], the plan is to construct certainsubgroups H and K that intersect trivially, and to show thatthe subnormality of both leads to a contradiction. 1991 MathematicsSubject Classification 20E15.     

Embeddings of Sz(32) in E8(5)

We show that the Suzuki group Sz(32) is a subgroup of E₈(5),and so is its automorphism group. Both are unique up to conjugacyin E₈(F) for any field F of characteristic 5, and the automorphismgroup Sz(32):5 is maximal in E₈(5). 1991 Mathematics SubjectClassification 20E28.     

A Characterisation of p-Soluble Groups

If p is a prime, then a finite group is p-soluble if each ofits composition factors is either a p-group or has order coprimeto p. For example, soluble groups are p-soluble. However, thereare many insoluble groups that are p-soluble. We shall provethe following result. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification20D10.     

On a Problem of P. Hall about Groups Isomorphic to all their Non-Trivial Normal Subgroups

A scheme of construction of infinite groups, other than simplegroups, free groups of infinite rank and the infinite cyclicgroup, which are isomorphic to all their non-trivial normalsubgroups is presented. Some results about the automorphismgroups of simple infinite groups are also obtained. In particular,it is proved that there is an infinite group G of any sufficientlylarge prime exponent p (or which is torsion-free) all of whoseproper subgroups are cyclic, and such that the groups Aut Gand Out G are isomorphic. The proofs use the technique of gradeddiagrams developed by A. Yu. Ol'shanskii. 1991 Mathematics SubjectClassification: 20F05, 20F06.     

On Subgroups of Finite Index in Positively Finitely Generated Groups

This paper proves that a subgroup of finite index in a positivelyfinitely generated profinite group has maximal subgroup growthat most n^log(n). In particular such a subgroup cannot be free,answering a question by L. Pyber. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification20E28, 20P05.     

Seminormal Representations of Weyl Groups and Iwahori-Hecke Algebras

The purpose of this paper is to describe a general procedurefor computing analogues of Young's seminormal representationsof the symmetric groups. The method is to generalize the Jucys-Murphyelements in the group algebras of the symmetric groups to arbitraryWeyl groups and Iwahori-Hecke algebras. The combinatorics ofthese elements allows one to compute irreducible representationsexplicitly and often very easily. In this paper we do thesecomputations for Weyl groups and Iwahori-Hecke algebras of typesA_n, B_n, D_n, G₂. Although these computations are in reach fortypes F₄, E₆ and E₇, we shall postpone this to another work.1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: primary 20F55, 20C15;secondary 20C30, 20G05.     

The Tits Alternative for Cat(0) Cubical Complexes

A Tits alternative theorem is proved in this paper for groupsacting on CAT(0) cubical complexes. That is, a proof is givento show that if G is assumed to be a group for which there isa bound on the orders of its finite subgroups, and if G actsproperly on a finite-dimensional CAT(0) cubical complex, theneither G contains a free subgroup of rank 2, or G is finitelygenerated and virtually abelian. In particular, the above conclusionholds for any group G with a free action on a finite-dimensionalCAT(0) cubical complex. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification20F67, 20E08.     

Infinite Simple (2, 3, n)-Groups and Congruence Hulls in the Modular Group

We prove that if n > 66 and (n, 30) = 1, then there existuncountably many infinite simple (2, 3, n)- groups, that is,groups generated by a pair of elements x, y, say, where theorders of x, y and xy are 2, 3 and n, respectively. This extendsprevious results of Schupp and the authors. These results are used to prove the existence of subgroups ofthe modular group with special arithmetic properties. 1991 MathematicsSubject Classification 20F06.     

The Nielsen Method For Groups Acting on Trees

We use Nielsen methods to study generating sets of subgroupsof groups that act on simplicial trees and give several applications.In particular, we exhibit an explicit bound for the complexityof acylindrical splittings of a finitely generated group interms of its rank. This is applied to JSJ-splittings of word-hyperbolicgroups and 3-manifolds. As a last application we construct examplesof amalgamated products that show that there exists no non-trivialrank formula for amalgamated products. 2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: 20E06, 20E08, 57M27.     

Closed Subgroups of Profinite Groups

Theorem 1 asserts that in a finitely generated prosoluble group,every subgroup of finite index is open. This generalises anold result of Serre about pro-p groups. It follows by a standardargument from Theorem 2: in a d-generator finite soluble group,every element of the derived group is equal to a product of72d² + 46d commutators. This result about finite soluble groupsis proved by induction on the order of the group, and is elementarythough rather intricate. The essence of the proof lies in reducingthe problem to one about the number of solutions of quadraticequations over a finite field. Corollaries include the following.Let be a finitely generated prosoluble group. Then each termof the lower central series of and each power subgroup ⁿ isclosed. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: 20E18, 20D10.     

Dunkl Operators for Complex Reflection Groups

Dunkl operators for complex reflection groups are defined inthis paper. These commuting operators give rise to a parameterizedfamily of deformations of the polynomial De Rham complex. Thisleads to the study of the polynomial ring as a module over the‘rational Cherednik algebra’, and a natural contravariantform on this module. In the case of the imprimitive complexreflection groups G(m, p, N), the set of singular parametersin the parameterized family of these structures is describedexplicitly, using the theory of non-symmetric Jack polynomials.2000 Mathematical Subject Classification: 20F55 (primary), 52C35,05E05, 33C08 (secondary).