Nilpotent-by-Finite Cofinitary Groups

Throughout this paper, D denotes a division ring (possibly commutative)and V a left vector space over D, usually, but not exclusively,infinite-dimensional. We consider irreducible subgroups G ofGL(V) and are particularly interested in such G that containan element g the fixed-point set C_V(g) of which is non-zerobut finite-dimensional (over D). We then use this to deriveconclusions about cofinitary groups, an element g of GL(V) beingcofinitary if dim_DC_V(g) is finite, and a subgroup of GL(V) beingcofinitary if all its non-identity elements are cofinitary. Suppose that G is a cofinitary subgroup of GL(V). There aretwo extreme cases. If dim_DV is finite the cofinitary conditionis vacuous. At the other extreme, if G acts fixed-point freelyon V then the fixed-point sets C_V(g) for gG\1 are as small aspossible, namely {0}. Work of Blichfeldt and his successorsshows that certain irreducible linear groups G of dimensionat least 2 over, for example, the complexes are always imprimitive.This is the case if G is nilpotent, or supersoluble, or metabelian.Apart from the two extreme cases, the same is frequently truefor irreducible cofinitary subgroups G of GL(V). For example,this is the case if G is finitely generated nilpotent [9, 1.2]or more generally if G is supersoluble [10, 1.1], but not ingeneral if G is metabelian [10, 7.1] or parasoluble (a groupG is parasoluble if it has a normal series of finite lengthsuch that every subgroup of each of its factors is Abelian andnormalised by G) (see [10, 7.2]). Further, it is also the caseif G is Abelian-by-finite [10, 3.4], and every supersolublegroup is finitely generated and nilpotent-by-finite. Collectively,these results suggest that one should consider nilpotent-by-finitegroups.     

On Cyclic Groups of Automorphisms of Riemann Surfaces

The question of extendability of the action of a cyclic groupof automorphisms of a compact Riemann surface is considered.Particular attention is paid to those cases corresponding toSingerman's list of Fuchsian groups which are not finitely-maximal,and more generally to cases involving a Fuchsian triangle group.The results provide partial answers to the question of whichcyclic groups are the full automorphism group of some Riemannsurface of given genus g>1.     

p-Divided Lie Rings and p-Groups

In the Kourovka Notebook [7] Khukhro posed a conjecture on thestructure of finite p-groups admitting an automorphism of orderp.     

Set Theory is Interpretable in the Automorphism Group of an Infinitely Generated Free Group

In [6] S. Shelah showed that in the endomorphism semi-groupof an infinitely generated algebra which is free in a varietyone can interpret some set theory. It follows from his resultsthat, for an algebra F which is free of infinite rank in avariety of algebras in a language L, if > |L|, then thefirst-order theory of the endomorphism semi-group of F, Th(End(F)),syntactically interprets Th(,L₂), the second-order theory ofthe cardinal . This means that for any second-order sentence of empty language there exists *, a first-order sentence ofsemi-group language, such that for any infinite cardinal >|L|, Th(,L₂)*Th(End(F)) In his paper Shelah notes that it is natural to study a similarproblem for automorphism groups instead of endomorphism semi-groups;a priori the expressive power of the first-order logic for automorphismgroups is less than the one for endomorphism semi-groups. Forinstance, according to Shelah's results on permutation groups[4, 5], one cannot interpret set theory by means of first-orderlogic in the permutation group of an infinite set, the automorphismgroup of an algebra in empty language. On the other hand, onecan do this in the endomorphism semi-group of such an algebra. In [7, 8] the author found a solution for the case of the varietyof vector spaces over a fixed field. If V is a vector spaceof an infinite dimension over a division ring D, then the theoryTh(, L₂) is interpretable in the first-order theory of GL(V),the automorphism group of V. When a field D is countable anddefinable up to isomorphism by a second-order sentence, thenthe theories Th(GL(V)) and Th(, L₂) are mutually syntacticallyinterpretable. In the general case, the formulation is a bitmore complicated. The main result of this paper states that a similar result holdsfor the variety of all groups.     

Confined Subgroups of Simple Locally Finite Groups and Ideals of their Group Rings

We are concerned in this paper with the ideal structure of grouprings of infinite simple locally finite groups over fields ofcharacteristic zero, and its relation with certain subgroupsof the groups, called confined subgroups. The systematic studyof the ideals in these group rings was initiated by the secondauthor in[15], although some results had been obtained previously(see [3, 1]). Let G be an infinite simple locally finite groupand K a field of characteristic zero. It is expected that inmost cases, the group ring KG will have the smallest possiblenumber of ideals, namely three, (KG itself, {0} and the augmentationideal), and this has been verified in some cases. In some interestingcases, however, the situation is different, and there are moreideals. We mention in particular the infinite alternating groups[3] and the stable special linear groups [9], in which the ideallattice has been completely determined. The second author hasconjectured that the presence of ideals in KG, other than thethree unavoidable ones, is synonymous with the presence in thegroup of proper confined subgroups. Here a subgroup H of a locallyfinite group G is called confined, if there exists a finitesubgroup F of G such that H^gF1 for all gG. This amounts to sayingthat F has no regular orbit in the permutation representationof G on the cosets of H.     

Locally Nilpotent p-Groups whose Proper Subgroups are Hypercentral or Nilpotent-by-Chernikov

Let G be a group and P be a property of groups. If every propersubgroup of G satisfies P but G itself does not satisfy it,then G is called a minimal non-P group. In this work we studylocally nilpotent minimal non-P groups, where P stands for ‘hypercentral’or ‘nilpotent-by-Chernikov’. In the first case weshow that if G is a minimal non-hypercentral Fitting group inwhich every proper subgroup is solvable, then G is solvable(see Theorem 1.1 below). This result generalizes [3, Theorem1]. In the second case we show that if every proper subgroupof G is nilpotent-by-Chernikov, then G is nilpotent-by-Chernikov(see Theorem 1.3 below). This settles a question which was consideredin [1–3, 10]. Recently in [9], the non-periodic case ofthe above question has been settled but the same work containsan assertion without proof about the periodic case. The main results of this paper are given below (see also [13]).     

The Ubiquity of Thompson's Group F in Groups of Piecewise Linear Homeomorphisms of the Unit Interval

In the 1960s, Richard J. Thompson introduced a triple of groupsF T G which, among them, supplied the first examples of infinite,finitely presented, simple groups [14] (see [6] for publisheddetails), a technique for constructing an elementary exampleof a finitely presented group with an unsolvable word problem[12], the universal obstruction to a problem in homotopy theory[8], and the first examples of torsion free groups of type FPand not of type FP [5]. In abstract measure theory, it has beensuggested by Geoghegan (see [3] or [9, Question 13]) that Fmight be a counterexample to the conjecture that any finitelypresented group with no non-cyclic free subgroup is amenable(admits a bounded, non-trivial, finitely additive measure onall subsets that is invariant under left multiplication). Recently,F has arisen in the theory of groups of diagrams over semigrouppresentations [10], and as the object of questions in the algebraof string rewriting systems [7]. For more extensive bibliographiesand more results on Thompson's groups and their generalizationssee [1, 4, 6]. A persistent peculiarity of Thompson's groups is their abilityto pop up in diverse areas of mathematics. This suggests thatthere might be something very natural about Thompson's groups.We support this idea by showing (Theorem 1.1 below) that PL_o(I),the group of piecewise linear (finitely many changes of slope),orientation-preserving, self-homeomorphisms of the unit interval,is riddled with copies of F: a very weak criterion implies thata subgroup of PL_o(I) must contain an isomorphic copy of F.     

Algebraic Cycles and Even Unimodular Lattices

The number (up to isomorphism) of positive-definite, even, unimodularlattices of rank 8r grows rapidly with r. However, Bannai [1]has shown that, when counted according to weight, those withnon-trivial automorphisms make up a fraction of the whole, whichgoes rapidly to zero as r. Therefore it is of some interestto produce families of positive-definite, even, unimodular latticeswith large automorphism groups and unbounded ranks. Suppose that G is a finite group and V is an irreducible Q[G]-modulesuch that VR is still irreducible. Then, as observed by Gross[8], the space of G-invariant symmetric bilinear forms on Vis one-dimensional and is necessarily generated by a positive-definiteform, unique up to scaling by non-zero positive rationals. Thompson[23] showed that, if V is also irreducible modp for all primesp, then it contains an invariant lattice (unique up to scaling)which is even and unimodular with appropriate scaling of thequadratic form. Examples arising in this manner are the E₈-latticeof rank 8, the Leech lattice of rank 24 and the Thompson–Smithlattice of rank 248. Gow [6] has also constructed some examplesassociated with the basic spin representations of 2A_n and 2S_n.     

The Pontryagin Rings of Moduli Spaces of Arbitrary Rank Holomorphic Bundles Over a Riemann Surface

The cohomology of M(n, d), the moduli space of stable holomorphicbundles of coprime rank n and degree d and fixed determinant,over a Riemann surface of genus g 2, has been widely studiedfrom a wide range of approaches. Narasimhan and Seshadri [17]originally showed that the topology of M(n, d) depends onlyon the genus g rather than the complex structure of . An inductivemethod to determine the Betti numbers of M(n, d) was first givenby Harder and Narasimhan [7] and subsequently by Atiyah andBott [1]. The integral cohomology of M(n, d) is known to haveno torsion [1] and a set of generators was found by Newstead[19] for n = 2, and by Atiyah and Bott [1] for arbitrary n.Much progress has been made recently in determining the relationsthat hold amongst these generators, particularly in the ranktwo, odd degree case which is now largely understood. A setof relations due to Mumford in the rational cohomology ringof M(2, 1) is now known to be complete [14]; recently severalauthors have found a minimal complete set of relations for the‘invariant’ subring of the rational cohomology ofM(2, 1) [2, 13, 20, 25]. Unless otherwise stated all cohomology in this paper will haverational coefficients.     

Simultaneous prime specializations of polynomials over finite fields

Recently the author proposed a uniform analogue of the Bateman–Hornconjectures for polynomials with coefficients from a finitefield (that is, for polynomials in F_q[T] rather than Z[T]).Here we use an explicit form of the Chebotarev density theoremover function fields to prove this conjecture in particularranges of the parameters. We give some applications includingthe solution of a problem posed by Hall.     

A New Lower Bound for the L1 Mean of the Exponential Sum with the MoBius Function

The L¹ means of various exponential sums with arithmeticallyinteresting coefficients have been investigated in many recentpapers. For example, Balog and Perelli proved in [1] that for a suitable positive number c.The method of proving the lower bound in [1] is rather flexibleand can work well with many multiplicative functions in placeof µ(n), the Möbius function, whose Dirichlet serieshave a suitable expression by the Riemann -function. In this short note we improve on the above lower bound. 1991Mathematics Subject Classification 11L03, 42A70.     

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).     

Quasi-Permutation Representations of p-Groups of Class 2

If G is a finite linear group of degree n, that is, a finitegroup of automorphisms of an n-dimensional complex vector space(or, equivalently, a finite group of non-singular matrices oforder n with complex coefficients), we shall say that G is aquasi-permutation group if the trace of every element of G isa non-negative rational integer. The reason for this terminologyis that, if G is a permutation group of degree n, its elements,considered as acting on the elements of a basis of an n-dimensionalcomplex vector space V, induce automorphisms of V forming agroup isomorphic to G. The trace of the automorphism correspondingto an element x of G is equal to the number of letters leftfixed by x, and so is a non-negative integer. Thus, a permutationgroup of degree n has a representation as a quasi-permutationgroup of degree n. See [8].     

A Generalised Skolem-Mahler-lech Theorem for Affine Varieties

The Skolem–Mahler–Lech theorem states that if f(n)is a sequence given by a linear recurrence over a field of characteristic0, then the set of m such that f(m) is equal to 0 is the unionof a finite number of arithmetic progressions in m 0 and afinite set. We prove that if X is a subvariety of an affinevariety Y over a field of characteristic 0 and q is a pointin Y, and is an automorphism of Y, then the set of m such that^m(q) lies in X is a union of a finite number of complete doubly-infinitearithmetic progressions and a finite set. We show that thisis a generalisation of the Skolem–Mahler–Lech theorem.     

The Riemann Hypothesis and Inverse Spectral Problems for Fractal Strings

Motivated in part by the first author's work [23] on the Weyl-Berryconjecture for the vibrations of ‘fractal drums’(that is, ‘drums with fractal boundary’), M. L.Lapidus and C. Pomerance [31] have studied a direct spectralproblem for the vibrations of ‘fractal strings’(that is, one-dimensional ‘fractal drums’) and establishedin the process some unexpected connections with the Riemannzeta-function = (s) in the ‘critical interval’0 < s < 1. In this paper we show, in particular, thatthe converse of their theorem (suitably interpreted as a naturalinverse spectral problem for fractal strings, with boundaryof Minkowski fractal dimension D (0,1)) is not true in the‘midfractal’ case when D = , but that it is true for all other D in the criticalinterval (0,1) if and only if the Riemann hypothesis is true.We thus obtain a new characterization of the Riemann hypothesisby means of an inverse spectral problem. (Actually, we provethe following stronger result: for a given D (0,1), the aboveinverse spectral problem is equivalent to the ‘partialRiemann hypothesis’ for D, according to which = (s)does not have any zero on the vertical line Re s = D.) Therefore,in some very precise sense, our work shows that the question(à la Marc Kac) "Can one hear the shape of a fractalstring?" – now interpreted as a suitable converse (namely,the above inverse problem) – is intimately connected withthe existence of zeros of = (s) in the critical strip 0 <Res < 1, and hence to the Riemann hypothesis.     

Euler Characteristics of Coxeter Groups, PL-Triangulations of Closed Manifolds, and Cohomology of Subgroups of Artin Groups

The motivation for the theory of Euler characteristics of groups,which was introduced by C. T. C. Wall [21], was topology, butit has interesting connections to other branches of mathematicssuch as group theory and number theory. This paper investigatesEuler characteristics of Coxeter groups and their applications.In his paper [20], J.-P. Serre obtained several fundamentalresults concerning the Euler characteristics of Coxeter groups.In particular, he obtained a recursive formula for the Eulercharacteristic of a Coxeter group, as well as its relation tothe Poincaré series (see 3). Later, I. M. Chiswell obtainedin [10] a formula expressing the Euler characteristic of a Coxetergroup in terms of orders of finite parabolic subgroups (Theorem1). These formulae enable us to compute Euler characteristicsof arbitrary Coxeter groups. On the other hand, the Euler characteristics of Coxeter groupsW happen to be intimately related to their associated complexesF_W, which are defined by means of the posets of nontrivial parabolicsubgroups of finite order (see 2.1 for the precise definition).In particular, it follows from the recent result of M. W. Davis[13] that if F_W is a product of a simplex and a generalizedhomology 2n-sphere, then the Euler characteristic of W is zero(Corollary 3.1). The first objective of this paper is to generalizethe previously mentioned result to the case when F_W is a PL-triangulationof a closed 2n-manifold which is not necessarily a homology2n-sphere. In other words (as given below in Theorem 3), ifW is a Coxeter group such that F_W is a PL-triangulation of aclosed 2n-manifold, then the Euler characteristic of W is equalto 1–(F_W)/2.     

Semisimple Modules for Finite Groups of Lie Type

Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic p >0, and let G be a connected, reductive algebraic group overk. In [8] and [11], conditions on the dimension of rationalG modules were seen to imply semisimplicity of these modules.In [8], certain of these conditions were extended to cover thefinite groups of Lie type. In this paper, we extend some ofthe results of [11] to cover these finite Lie type groups. Themain such extension is the following result.     

Weak Cayley Tables

In [1] Brauer puts forward a series of questions on group representationtheory in order to point out areas which were not well understood.One of these, which we denote by (B1), is the following: whatinformation in addition to the character table determines a(finite) group? In previous papers [5, 7–13], the originalwork of Frobenius on group characters has been re-examined andhas shed light on some of Brauer's questions, in particularan answer to (B1) has been given as follows. Frobenius defined for each character of a group G functions^(k):G^(k) C for k = 1, ..., deg with ⁽¹⁾ = . These functionsare called the k-characters (see [10] or [11] for their definition).The 1-, 2- and 3-characters of the irreducible representationsdetermine a group [7, 8] but the 1- and 2-characters do not[12]. Summaries of this work are given in [11] and [13].     

Belyi Uniformization of Elliptic Curves

Belyi's Theorem implies that a Riemann surface X representsa curve defined over a number field if and only if it can beexpressed as U/, where U is simply-connected and is a subgroupof finite index in a triangle group. We consider the case whenX has genus 1, and ask for which curves and number fields canbe chosen to be a lattice. As an application, we give examplesof Galois actions on Grothendieck dessins. 1991 MathematicsSubject Classification 30F10, 11G05.     

Automorphisms of Relatively Free Groups in the Variety N2A {wedge} AN2 {wedge} Nc

For positive integers n and c, with n 2, let G_{n, c} be a relativelyfree group of finite rank n in the variety N₂A AN₂ N_c. Itis shown that the subgroup of the automorphism group Aut(G_n,c) of G_{n, c} generated by the tame automorphisms and an explicitlydescribed finite set of IA-automorphisms of G_{n, c} has finiteindex in Aut(G_{n, c}). Furthermore, it is proved that there areno non-trivial elements of G_{n, c} fixed by every tame automorphismof G_{n, c}.