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Let $G$ be a finitely generated nilpotent group and let $A\le G$ be a finite-index subgroup. I have two questions about $A$:

  1. Is it true that the inclusion map $A \rightarrow G$ induces isomorphisms $H_k(A;\mathbb{Q}) \rightarrow H_k(G;\mathbb{Q})$ for all $k$, and thus that the Betti numbers of $A$ and $G$ are the same? This is true if $G$ is abelian and I suspect that it is true in general, but I can't seem to prove it or find an appropriate reference.

  2. Letting $\gamma_k$ denote the kth term of the lower central series, is it true that the abelian groups $\gamma_k(A)/\gamma_{k+1}(A)$ and $\gamma_k(G)/\gamma_{k+1}(G)$ have the same rank (i.e. become the same after tensoring with $\mathbb{Q}$) for all $k$?

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  • $\begingroup$ My recollection is that there are torsion-free f.g. nilpotent groups with torsion in their integral homology, among the finite index subgroups of the Heisenberg group. These may give counter examples to 1. $\endgroup$
    – Mark Grant
    Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 6:48
  • $\begingroup$ I think all this is true; there are indeed (2-step) nilpotent torsion-free nilpotent groups with non-torsion-free abelianization, but I don't think this is an issue. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 13:15
  • $\begingroup$ Question 2 seems to be an exact duplicate of your other question mathoverflow.net/questions/385052, so I'd suggest to erase it. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 13:16
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    $\begingroup$ @YCor: Huh? I have no idea what you mean by "exact duplicate". This question is about the usual lower central series (as opposed to the torsion-free one), the other question has nothing to do with finite-index subgroups. I thought when posting about making this a 3-part question, but decided the other one was of a somewhat different flavor, so including it as part 3 of this question would make things too unfocused. $\endgroup$
    – Irina
    Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 18:41
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    $\begingroup$ (in particular, I don't think an answer to either one (positive or negative) directly implies an answer to the other) $\endgroup$
    – Irina
    Commented Feb 27, 2021 at 20:28

1 Answer 1

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Both statements are true. To prove them, we will need the following lemma:

Lemma: Let $G$ be a finitely generated nilpotent group of class $k$ and let $H$ be a subgroup of $G$. Then $\gamma_k(H)$ is a finite-index subgroup of $\gamma_k(G)$.

Proof: Iterated $k$-fold commutators induce a surjective homomorphism $\phi\colon \wedge^k G^{\text{ab}} \rightarrow \gamma_k(G)$ of finitely generated abelian groups. Our hypotheses imply that the image of $\wedge^k H^{\text{ab}}$ in $\wedge^k G^{\text{ab}}$ is finite-index, so the image of the composition $$\wedge^k H^{\text{ab}} \rightarrow \wedge^k G^{\text{ab}} \stackrel{\phi}{\rightarrow} \gamma_k(G)$$ has finite-index. But this implies that $\gamma_k(H)$ is finite-index in $\gamma_k(G)$, as desired. $\square$

Here's the proof of 1:

Theorem: Let $G$ be a finitely generated nilpotent group and let $H < G$ be a finite-index subgroup. Then $H_n(H;\mathbb{Q}) \cong H_n(G;\mathbb{Q})$ for all $n$.

Proof: The proof will be by the degree $k$ of nilpotency of $G$. The base case $k=1$ means that $G$ is abelian, and the theorem is easy. Assume now that the theorem is true for some $(k-1)$, and we will prove it for $k$. Observe that $\gamma_k(H) < \gamma_k(G)$, and the lemma above says that the abelian group $\gamma_k(H)$ is a finite-index subgroup of the finitely generated abelian group $\gamma_k(G)$. Setting $\overline{H} = H / \gamma_k(H)$ and $\overline{G} = G/\gamma_k(G)$, we have a morphism between the central extensions $$1 \rightarrow \gamma_k(H) \rightarrow H \rightarrow \overline{H} \rightarrow 1$$ and $$1 \rightarrow \gamma_k(G) \rightarrow G \rightarrow \overline{G} \rightarrow 1.$$ We therefore get a morphism between the associated Hochschild-Serre spectral sequences. The map on the $E^2$ page is of the form $$H_p(\overline{H};H_q(\gamma_k(H);\mathbb{Q})) \rightarrow H_p(\overline{G};H_q(\gamma_k(G);\mathbb{Q})).$$ Since these are central extensions, this simplifies to a map $$H_p(\overline{H};\mathbb{Q}) \otimes H_q(\gamma_k(H);\mathbb{Q}) \rightarrow H_p(\overline{G};\mathbb{Q}) \otimes H_q(\gamma_k(G);\mathbb{Q}).$$ By our inductive hypothesis, this is a tensor product of isomorphisms, so we conclude that our two spectral sequences are the same and thus $H_n(H;\mathbb{Q}) \cong H_n(G;\mathbb{Q})$ for all $n$. $\square$

Here's the proof of 2:

Theorem: Let $G$ be a finitely generated nilpotent group and let $H < G$ be a finite-index subgroup. Then the abelian groups $\gamma_n(H) / \gamma_{n+1}(H)$ and $\gamma_n(G) / \gamma_{n+1}(G)$ have the same ranks for all $n$.

Proof: The proof will be by the degree $k$ of nilpotency of $G$. The base case $k=1$ means that $G$ is abelian, and the theorem is easy. Assume now that the theorem is true for some $(k-1)$, and we will prove it for $k$. Using our inductive hypothesis, it is enough to just deal with the bottom of the lower central series and prove that the ranks of $\gamma_k(H)$ and $\gamma_k(G)$ are the same. But the lemma above says that the abelian group $\gamma_k(H)$ is a finite-index subgroup of $\gamma_k(G)$, so their ranks are definitely the same. $\square$

By the way, I can't help but point out a connection between your two questions. In his beautiful paper

Stallings, John, Homology and central series of groups. J. Algebra 2 (1965), 170-181.

Stallings proves the following theorem. Let $\gamma_k^{tf}$ be the torsion-free lower central series you define in your other question.

Theorem (Stallings): Let $f\colon H \rightarrow G$ be a group homomorphism inducing an isomorphism on $H_1(-;\mathbb{Q})$ and a surjection on $H_2(-;\mathbb{Q})$. Then $f$ induces isomorphisms between $(\gamma^{tf}_k(H)/\gamma^{tf}_{k+1}(H)) \otimes \mathbb{Q}$ and $(\gamma^{tf}_k(G)/\gamma^{tf}_{k+1}(G)) \otimes \mathbb{Q}$ for all $k$. $\square$

This can be applied to the inclusion of a finite-index subgroup by the first theorem above, and together with the positive answer to your other question you can deduce a positive answer to your second one (but one that is obviously way over-powered!).

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the detailed answers to this and my other question! $\endgroup$
    – Irina
    Commented Mar 1, 2021 at 1:30

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