Subgroup properties of fully residually free groups

We prove that fully residually free groups have the Howson property, that is the intersection of any two finitely generated subgroups in such a group is again finitely generated. We also establish some commensurability properties for finitely generated fully residually free groups which are similar to those of free groups. Finally we prove that for a finitely generated fully residually free group the membership problem is solvable with respect to any finitely generated subgroup.

     

On groups with many almost normal subgroups

Summary An anti-FC-group is a group in which every subgroup either is finitely generated or has only a finite number of coniugates. In this article a classification is given of (generalized) soluble anti-FC-groups which neither are central-by-finite nor satisfy the maximal condition on subgroups. Moreover, groups in which every non-cyclic subgroup has only a finite number of coniugates are characterized.     

On Groups that are Isomorphic with Every Subgroup of Finite Index and their Topology

The main result is that a finitely generated group that is isomorphicto all of its finite index subgroups has free Abelian firsthomology, and that its commutator subgroup is a perfect group.A number of corollaries on the structure of such groups areobtained, including a method of constructing all such groupsfor which the commutator subgroup has a trivial centralizer.As an application, conditions are presented for the coveringspaces of compact manifolds that determine when the fundamentalgroups of the base spaces are free Abelian.     

Algebraically and verbally closed subgroups and retracts of finitely generated nilpotent groups

We study algebraically and verbally closed subgroups and retracts of finitely generated nilpotent groups. A special attention is paid to free nilpotent groups and the groups UT _n (Z) of unitriangular (n×n)-matrices over the ring Z of integers for arbitrary n. We observe that the sets of retracts of finitely generated nilpotent groups coincides with the sets of their algebraically closed subgroups. We give an example showing that a verbally closed subgroup in a finitely generated nilpotent group may fail to be a retract (in the case under consideration, equivalently, fail to be an algebraically closed subgroup). Another example shows that the intersection of retracts (algebraically closed subgroups) in a free nilpotent group may fail to be a retract (an algebraically closed subgroup) in this group. We establish necessary conditions fulfilled on retracts of arbitrary finitely generated nilpotent groups. We obtain sufficient conditions for the property of being a retract in a finitely generated nilpotent group. An algorithm is presented determining the property of being a retract for a subgroup in free nilpotent group of finite rank (a solution of a problem of Myasnikov). We also obtain a general result on existentially closed subgroups in finitely generated torsion-free nilpotent with cyclic center, which in particular implies that for each n the group UT _n (Z) has no proper existentially closed subgroups.     

Infinite index subgroups and finiteness properties of intersections of geometrically finite groups

We explore which types of finiteness properties are possible for intersections of geometrically finite groups of isometries in negatively curved symmetric rank one spaces. Our main tool is a twist construction which takes as input a geometrically finite group containing a normal subgroup of infinite index with given finiteness properties and infinite Abelian quotient, and produces a pair of geometrically finite groups whose intersection is isomorphic to the normal subgroup. We produce several examples of such intersections of geometrically finite groups including finitely generated but not finitely presented discrete subgroups.     

Diamond theorem for a finitely generated free profinite group

We extend Haran’s Diamond Theorem to closed subgroups of a finitely generated free profinite group. This gives an affirmative answer to Problem 25.4.9 of Fried and Jarden (in Field Arithmetic, 2nd edn, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, New York, 2005).     

On the Howson property of HNN-extensions with abelian base group and amalgamated free products of abelian groups

We give necessary and sufficient conditions under which an HNN-extension with abelian base group or an amalgamated free product of abelian groups is a Howson group (that is the intersection of any two finitely generated subgroups is finitely generated). We describe HNN-extensions and amalgamated free products which are Howson groups without satisfying the Burns–Cohen statements.     

Variations on polynomial subgroup growth

A groupG hasweak polynomial subgroup growth (wPSG) of degree ≤α if each finite quotient Ḡ ofG contains at most │Ḡ│ ^a subgroups. The main result is that wPSG of degree α implies polynomial subgroup growth (PSG) of degree at mostf(α). It follows that wPSG is equivalent to PSG. A corollary is that if, in a profinite groupG, thek-generator subgroups have positive “density” δ, thenG is finitely generated (the number of generators being bounded by a function ofk and δ).     

Subgroups of Free Groups: a Contribution to the Hanna Neumann Conjecture

We prove that the strengthened Hanna Neumann conjecture, on the rank of the inter-section of finitely generated subgroups of a free group, holds for a large class of groups characterized by geometric properties. One particular case of our result implies that the conjecture holds for all positively finitely generated subgroups of the free group F(A) (over the basis A), that is, for subgroups which admit a finite set of generators taken in the free monoid over A.     

Profinite Groups with Polynomial Subgroup Growth

We characterise the profinite groups with polynomial subgroupgrowth. We deduce that the property PSG is extension-closedin the category of all groups, and subgroup-closed in the categoryof finitely generated profinite groups.     

Answer to a conjecture of J.M. Cohen

The origin of Gelfand rings comes from [9] where the Jacobson topology and the weak topology are compared. The equivalence of these topologies defines a regular Banach algebra. One of the interests of these rings resides in the fact that we have an equivalence of categories between vector bundles over a compact manifold and finitely generated projective modules over C(M), the ring of continuous real functions on M [17].These rings have been studied by R. Bkouche (soft rings [3]) C.J. Mulvey (Gelfand rings [15]) and S. Teleman (harmonic rings [19]).Firstly we study these rings geometrically (by sheaves of modules (Theorem 2.5)) and then introduce the ?ech covering dimension of their maximal spectrums. This allows us to study the stable rank of such a ring A (Theorem 6.1), the nilpotence of the nilideal of K₀(A) - The Grothendieck group of the category of finitely generated projective A-modules - (Theorem 9.3), and an upper limit on the maximal number of generators of a finitely generated A-module as a function of the afore-mentioned dimension (Theorem 4.4).Moreover theorems of stability are established for the group K₀(A), depending on the stable rank (Theorems 8.1 and 8.2). They can be compared to those for vector bundles over a finite dimensional paracompact space [18].Thus there is an analogy between finitely generated projective modules over Gelfand rings and ?ech dimension, and finitely generated projective modules over noetherian rings and Krull dimension.     

Statistical properties of subgroups of free groups

The usual way to investigate the statistical properties of finitely generated subgroups of free groups, and of finite presentations of groups, is based on the so‐called word‐based distribution: subgroups are generated (finite presentations are determined) by randomly chosen k ‐tuples of reduced words, whose maximal length is allowed to tend to infinity. In this paper we adopt a different, though equally natural point of view: we investigate the statistical properties of the same objects, but with respect to the so‐called graph‐based distribution, recently introduced by Bassino, Nicaud and Weil. Here, subgroups (and finite presentations) are determined by randomly chosen Stallings graphs whose number of vertices tends to infinity. Our results show that these two distributions behave quite differently from each other, shedding a new light on which properties of finitely generated subgroups can be considered frequent or rare. For example, we show that malnormal subgroups of a free group are negligible in the graph‐based distribution, while they are exponentially generic in the word‐based distribution. Quite surprisingly, a random finite presentation generically presents the trivial group in this new distribution, while in the classical one it is known to generically present an infinite hyperbolic group. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2013     

Linear core conditions in residually finite groups

LetG be a residually finite or pro-finite group. We say thatG satisfies the linear core condition with constantc if all finite index (open) subgroups ofG contain a subgroup of index at mostc which is normal inG. Answering a question of L. Pyber we give a complete characterisation of finitely generated residually finite and pro-finite groups satisfying a linear core generated residually finite and pro-finite groups satisfying a linear core condition. In the case of infinitely generated groups we prove that such groups are abelian-by-finite. Research supported by the Hungarian National Research Foundation (OTKA), grant no. 16432 and F023436.     

Finitely generated groups of polynomial subgroup growth

We determine the structure of finitely generated residually finite groups in which the number of subgroups of each finite indexn is bounded by a fixed power ofn. To John Thompson, an inspiration to group theory, on his being awarded the Wolf Prize Partially supported by BSF and GIF grants. Partially supported by a BSF grant.     

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.     

Hall’s Theorem for Limit Groups

A celebrated theorem of Marshall Hall Jr. implies that finitely generated free groups are subgroup separable and that all of their finitely generated subgroups are retracts of finite-index subgroups. We use topological techniques inspired by the work of Stallings to prove that all limit groups share these two properties. This answers a question of Sela. Received: May 2006 Revision: May 2007 Accepted: May 2007     

Genus and cancellation

In [14] we established a relationship between genus and localization of finitely generated torsion-free abelian by finite groups aud grnus and localization integral representation theory. In this paper we strrcly the consequences of this relationship. We prove results about the genus of groups which are analogues to results in integral representaion theory. In particular we prove non-cancellation phenomena for finitely generated groups with finite commutator subgroups.     

Inverse subsemigroups of finite index in finitely generated inverse semigroups

We study some aspects of Schein’s theory of cosets for closed inverse subsemigroups of inverse semigroups. We establish an index formula for chains of subsemigroups, and an analogue of M. Hall’s Theorem on the number of cosets of a fixed finite index. We then investigate the relationships between the following properties of a closed inverse submonoid of an inverse monoid: having finite index; being a recognizable subset; being a rational subset; being finitely generated (as a closed inverse submonoid). A remarkable result of Margolis and Meakin shows that these properties are equivalent for a closed inverse submonoid of a free inverse monoid.     

Palindromic Width of Finitely Generated Solvable Groups

We investigate the palindromic width of finitely generated solvable groups. We prove that every finitely generated 3-step solvable group has finite palindromic width. More generally, we show the finiteness of the palindromic width for finitely generated abelian-by-nilpotent-by-nilpotent groups. For arbitrary solvable groups of step ≥3, we prove that if G is a finitely generated solvable group that is an extension of an abelian group by a group satisfying the maximal condition for normal subgroups, then the palindromic width of G is finite. We also prove that the palindromic width of ??? with respect to the set of standard generators is 3.     

On the Howson Property of HNN-Extensions with Nilpotent Base Group and Amalgamated Free Products of Nilpotent Groups

We give necessary and sufficient conditions under which an amalgamated free product of finitely generated nilpotent groups is a Howson group (that is the intersection of any two finitely generated subgroups is finitely generated). Also we prove that if G = ? t, K | t ^?1 At = B ?, where K is a finitely generated and infinite nilpotent group and A, B non-trivial infinite proper subgroups of K, then G is not a Howson group. The problem of deciding when an ascending HNN-extension of a finitely generated nilpotent group is a Howson group is still open.