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For every natural number n, let:

  • Gn be the number of distinct group structures with at most n elements;

  • An be the number of distinct abelian group structures wit at most n elements;

  • Sn be the number of distinct solvable group structures with at most n elements.

Question 1: Is there a known limit for the quotient An/Gn ?

Question 2: Is there a known limit for the quotient Sn/Gn ?

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2 Answers 2

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The number of abelian groups of order at most $n$ is $O(n)$, whereas if $n=2^k$, the number of class $2$ nilpotent groups of order $n$ is $2^{(2/27)k^3+O(k^{8/3})}=n^{\Omega(\log^2n)}$ by a result of Sims, hence the answer to question 1 is $0$. It is conjectured that the global asymptotic density of $2$-groups of nilpotent class $2$, and a fortiori of solvable groups, is $1$, but as far as I know, this has not been proved.

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(Edited following Emil Jerabek's coment below) From results of L. Pyber (and implicitly, C. Sims) it appears likely that $\frac{f(n)}{g(n)} \to 1$ as $n \to \infty,$ where $f(n)$ is the number of isomorphism types of nilpotent groups of order $n$ and $g(n)$ is the number of isomorphism types of all groups of order $n,$ so minor modifications should yield the same answer for question 2 (which is a cumulative version- note also that all nilpotent groups are solvable). Also, the asymptotic behaviour of the number of isomorphism types of Abelian groups of order $n$ and the number of isomorphism types of nilpotent groups of order $n$ are known: both are multiplicative, so it suffices to consider the case of $p$-groups. The number of isomorphism types of Abelian groups of order $p^{k}$ is $p(k),$ the number of partitions of $k,$ which behaves like $e^{c \sqrt{k}}$ for some (known!) constant $c.$ The number of isomorphism types of groups of order $p^{k}$ is asymptotically around $p^{\frac{2k^{3}}{27}}$ (proved by C. Sims and G. Higman). This suggests that the limit of question 1 should be zero, though again you ask for a cumulative version.

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    $\begingroup$ Pyber’s results give $(\log f(n))/(\log g(n))\to1$. He didn’t prove, but only conjectured, the stronger statement $f(n)/g(n)\to1$. $\endgroup$ Aug 16, 2014 at 10:46
  • $\begingroup$ OK, thanks, I've reworded my post. $\endgroup$ Aug 16, 2014 at 12:33

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