All Questions
43 questions
2
votes
0
answers
115
views
Test words in free profinite groups
Let $G$ be a group. An element $g \in G$ is said to be a test element if any endomorphism $\phi$ of $G$ such that $\phi(g) = g$ is an automorphism. The free group $F_2$ of rank $2$ is generated by $...
- 355
2
votes
1
answer
151
views
Nontrivial abelianization of torsion-free pro-$p$-group which contains a dense free subgroup is infinite?
Let $G$ be a topologically finitely generated pro-$p$-group. Assume that $G$ is torsion-free, it contains a dense free subgroup of infinite rank and the (topological) abelianization $G^{\text{ab}}$ of ...
- 667
1
vote
1
answer
127
views
Free partners in semi-direct products
Let $G = N \rtimes K$ be a semi-direct product of groups and suppose that $K$ is a finite group. Call the set $\mathcal{F} = \{ \alpha \in G \mid \langle \alpha, K \rangle = \langle \alpha \rangle \...
4
votes
2
answers
257
views
Why is every nilpotent-by-finite finitely generated pro-p-group always $p$-adic analytic
I'm studying the paper "On the verbal width of finitely generated pro-p groups" by Andrei Jaikin-Zapirain (link at ProjectEuclid) and I cannot see a claim made in a proof. I don't know if ...
- 329
5
votes
1
answer
255
views
Dense abstract free subgroups in a free profinite group
Let $\langle a, b \rangle = F_2$ be a two-generator free group and $\hat{F_2}$ be its profinite completion. Is there an element $c\in \hat{F_2}$ such that $\langle a, b, c\rangle \le \hat{F_2}$ is ...
- 53
2
votes
0
answers
86
views
Automorphisms of a free topological product
Let $G$, $G_1$, $G_2$ be Hausdorff topological groups. I am mainly interested in the case when those groups are profinite.
Let $G$ act continuously on $G_1$ and $G_2$ via continuous automorphisms, i.e....
- 381
5
votes
0
answers
117
views
Do the "Nielsen" IA-automorphisms of a profinite free group $\widehat{F}$ of rank 2 form a normal subgroup of $\mathrm{Aut}(\widehat{F})$?
Let $F$ be the discrete free group of rank 2, and let $\widehat{F}$ be its profinite completion, equipped with an embedding
$$i : F\hookrightarrow\widehat{F}$$
By a result of Asada, this embedding ...
- 10.7k
3
votes
1
answer
295
views
Wild automorphisms of profinite groups
Is there a profinite group $G$, a continuous automorphism $\alpha$ of
$G$ and a topologically finitely generated closed subgroup $H \leq G$
such that $\alpha(H) \lneq H$ ?
Note that if an example ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
0
answers
90
views
Fully residually free groups and completion
Let $G$ be a fully residually free group with a finitely generated profinite completion. Is $G$ necessarily finitely generated?
- 11.3k
6
votes
0
answers
245
views
Wild automorphisms of a free group
Let $F_X$ be a free group on a countably infinite set $X$. Let $\alpha$ be an automorphism of $F_X$ and $H$ a closed subgroup of $F_X$ in the profinite topology.
Is it possible that $\alpha(H) \...
- 11.3k
2
votes
0
answers
124
views
Salvaging Howson's theorem for free profinite groups
This is an attempt to find a correct version of Do free profinite groups satisfy Howson's theorem?
Let $F$ be a free profinite group, and let $A,B \leq F$ be closed finitely generated subgroups ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
0
answers
216
views
pro-p dense subgroup in the free group
Let $G_p$ be pseudovariety of all finite $p$-group. The pro-$p$ topology on a group $G$ is the unique group topology such that the set of normal subgroups $N$ with $G/N$ in $G_p$ is a fundamental ...
- 421
0
votes
1
answer
193
views
Must a group of defficiency > 1 be nonabelian?
Let $F$ be a free group of finite rank $n > 2$, and let $S \subseteq F$ be a subset of cardinality at most $n-2$. Denote by $S^F$ the normal subgroup of $F$ generated by $S$. Must $F/S^F$ be ...
- 11.3k
6
votes
1
answer
431
views
Do free profinite groups satisfy Howson's theorem?
Let $F$ be a free profinite group, and let $A,B \leq F$ be finitely generated closed subgroups. Must $A \cap B$ be finitely generated?
- 11.3k
1
vote
0
answers
120
views
Free profinite products
Let $F$ be a nonabelian finitely generated free profinite group, and let $x \in F$. Must there be some $1 \neq y \in F$ such that $\langle x,y \rangle$ is isomorphic to the free profinite product of $\...
- 11.3k
4
votes
0
answers
240
views
Is a finitely generated subgroup of a free profinite group virtually a retract?
Let $F$ be a nonabelian finitely generated free profinite group, and let $H \leq F$ be a finitely generated closed subgroup. Must there be some open subgroup $H \leq U \leq F$, and a closed normal ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
1
answer
260
views
Schreier's formula and supersolvable groups
A finitely generated profinite group $G$ is said to satisfy Schreier's formula if for every open subgroup $L \leq_o G$ we have $d(L) = (d(G)-1)[G:L] + 1$. Here $d$ stands for the smallest cardinality ...
- 11.3k
1
vote
0
answers
302
views
Can a profinite completion be free pro-p?
Is there a prime number $p$ and a finitely generated residually finite group whose profinite completion is a free pro-$p$ group on a nonempty finite set?
Thanks to YCor we see that we cannot take the ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
0
answers
209
views
Growth of the number of generators in hyperbolic groups
Let $G$ be an infinite hyperbolic group, and let us further assume that it is residually finite (or even LERF/GFERF) so that we have plenty of subgroups of finite index.
I would like to know if one ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
1
answer
189
views
Measuring products of finitely generated subgroups of free groups
Let $F$ be a finitely generated free group, $H_1, \dots, H_n$ finitely generated subgroups of infinite index in $F$, and $\epsilon > 0$. Must there be an epimorphism to a finite group $\phi \colon ...
- 11.3k
10
votes
2
answers
383
views
Can a positive measure subset of a free group be nowhere dense?
Let $F$ be a finitely generated free group and let $S \subseteq F$ be a subset for which there is some $\epsilon > 0$ such that for any epimorphism to a finite group $\phi \colon F \to G$ we have ...
- 11.3k
5
votes
0
answers
189
views
Is there a nontrivial profinite word which is trivial in any group with at most d generators?
Let $F$ be a free profinite group of rank $\aleph_0$, and let $d \in \mathbb{N}$.
Let $N_d \lhd_c F$ be the intersection of all open normal subgroups $L \lhd_o F$ for which $F/L$ can be generated by ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
0
answers
165
views
Exhausting a free pro-p group
Recall that for a profinite group $G$ we define the subgroup rank to be $$\sup \{d(H): H \leq_c G\}$$ where $d(H)$ stands for the minimal cardinality of a set of topological generators of $H$.
Let $p$...
- 11.3k
3
votes
0
answers
91
views
A Karrass-Solitar or Ivanov-Schupp for profinite groups
Let $F$ be a nonabelian free profinite group, $H \leq_c F$ finitely generated with $[F:H] = \infty$. Must there be some $\{1\} \neq N \lhd_c F$ such that $N \cap H = \{1\}$?
- 11.3k
2
votes
1
answer
306
views
An epimorphism into a profinite group
Let $p$ be an odd prime number, $G$ a finitely generated nonabelian profinite group, $L \lhd_o G$ a pro-$p$ group with $[G : L] = 2$. Suppose that there is a continuous surjection from $G$ onto a free ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
0
answers
126
views
Bases for free pro-p groups
Let $p$ be a prime number, $F$ a free nonabelian finitely generated pro-$p$ group, $L \lhd_o F$ and $Y$ a basis for $L$ with $y \in Y$. Is there a basis $X$ for $F$ such that $y$ is in the abstract ...
- 11.3k
1
vote
0
answers
134
views
Dense free subgroups
Let $F$ be a free pro-$p$ group (for a prime number $p$) on a finite set $X$, $\Phi$ the abstract subgroup generated by $X$, $\{1\} \neq N \lhd_c F$. Is it possible that $\Phi \cap N = \{1\}$?
- 11.3k
1
vote
0
answers
82
views
A bound on the size of the center
Let $p$ be a prime number, $F$ a free pro-$p$ group, $H \leq_c F$ of infinite index. Can it be that $$\sup_{N \lhd_o F} |Z((F/N)/C_{F/N}(HN/N))| < \infty ?$$
- 11.3k
2
votes
0
answers
276
views
Finite Cohomology and free groups
Let $F$ be a finitely generated nonabelian free profinite group, $p$ a prime number, $L \lhd_o F$ with $[F : L]$ coprime to $p$, $N \lhd_c^\infty F$ contained in $L$ with $L/N$ pro-$p$, and $N \leq H \...
- 11.3k
2
votes
0
answers
202
views
Accessible subgroups of free groups
Let $F$ be a nonabelian free finitely generated group, and $F = G_0 \rhd G_1 \rhd G_2 \dots$ a strictly descending subnormal chain of subgroups ($G_n \lhd G_{n-1}$ for each $n \in \mathbb{N}$) each ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
1
answer
286
views
Can a closure make the index finite?
Let $F$ be a free finitely generated group, $H \leq F$ of infinite index. Let $c : F \rightarrow \hat{F}$ be the embedding in the profinite completion. Denote by $\tilde{F}, \tilde{H}$ the closure of $...
- 11.3k
2
votes
1
answer
286
views
Making a profinite group free
Let $F$ be a free profinite group, $G$ a profinite group. Suppose that the free profinite product $F \amalg G$ is a free profinite group. Must $G$ be a free profinite group?
For abstract groups the ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
1
answer
739
views
Bases of free groups
Let $F$ be a free group on a finite set $X$. Let $A \subseteq X$ be a subset of $X$ contained in some $H \leq F$, a subgroup of finite index in $F$. Must there be a basis (free generating set) for $H$ ...
- 11.3k
4
votes
1
answer
455
views
Generators of Sylow subgroups
Is there a function $f : \mathbb{N} \rightarrow \mathbb{N}$ such that for each finite supersolvable group $G$, and a Sylow subgroup $S \leq G$ we have $d(S) \leq f(d(G))$?
Here $d(H)$ denotes the ...
- 11.3k
5
votes
0
answers
406
views
Profinite groups, completions, and Schreier's formula
Let $G$ be a finitely generated profinite group, and $H \leq_o G$. We say that $H$ satisfies Schreier's formula in $G$ if $d(H) - 1 = (d(G)-1)[G:H]$. We say that $G$ satisfies Schreier's formula if ...
- 11.3k
4
votes
0
answers
259
views
Schreier's formula and descending chains
For a group $G$ we denote by $d(G)$ the cardinality of a smallest set of generators.
A finitely generated group $G$ is said to satisfy Schreier's formula if for every subgroup $H \subseteq G$ of ...
- 11.3k
2
votes
0
answers
126
views
Free profinite completions
Let $m,n \in \mathbb{N}$. Which residually finite groups $G$ generated by $m$ elements, have the free profinite group on $n$ generators as their profinite completion?
- 11.3k
5
votes
1
answer
452
views
Normal Subgroup Growth
Let $F$ be a free group on $d$ generators.
Denote by $F_{k}$ the $k$-th term in $F$'s derived series. Put $G = F/F_k$. What is the normal subgroup growth of $G$?
Explicitly, for each natural number $...
- 11.3k
4
votes
2
answers
861
views
Schreier's index formula
A finitely generated group G is said to satisfy Schreier's index formula if for every subgroup H of index k in G we have: d(H) - 1 = k(d(G) - 1). For example, a finitely generated free group satisfies ...
- 11.3k
3
votes
1
answer
190
views
Intersection growth of free profinite groups
Let $F_n$ be a free profinite group of finite rank $n$ and let $V_k$ denote the intersection of all open subgroups of $F_n$ of rank at most $k$ ($k \in \mathbb{N}$).
My questions are:
Can I ...
- 33
16
votes
1
answer
2k
views
"Concretely" writing down elements in a free profinite group
Let $r$ be a natural number. The elements of the free group $F_r$ on $r$ generators have a nice concrete description as "words" in the $r$ generators (and their inverses). I'd like to know if there is ...
- 25.6k
4
votes
1
answer
332
views
How to determine free generators of a closed subgroup of a free pro-$p$-group ?
If $F$ is a free discrete group, then any subgroup $H$ of $F$ is free: this is the well-known theorem of Nielsen-Schreier. Moreover, there is a well-known algorithm, the Nielsen-Schreier
method that ...
- 26k
8
votes
2
answers
642
views
A metabelian quotient of a free group
I don't know much about free groups (excepted the very basics), and the following question may be trivial, although it isn't to me.
Let $F$ be a free group with $n$ generators $x_1,\dots,x_n$. ...
- 26k