Skip to main content
1 of 3
Seirios
  • 2.4k
  • 22
  • 25

Is there a 0-1 law for the theory of groups?

Several months ago, Dominik asked the question Is there a 0-1 law for the theory of groups? on mathstackexchange, but although his question received attention there is still no answer. By asking the question here, I hope to find some result solving partially the problem or motivating a possible answer.

For convenience, I paste the complete question below.


For each first order sentence $\phi$ in the language of groups, define :

$$p_N(\phi)=\frac{\text{number of nonisomorphic groups $G$ of order} \le N\text{ such that } \phi \text{ is valid in } G}{\text{number of nonisomorphic groups of order} \le N}$$

Thus, $p_N(\phi)$ can be regarded as the probability that $\phi$ is valid in a randomly chosen group of order $\le N$.

Now define $$p(\phi)=\lim_{N \to \infty}p_N(\phi)$$ if this limit exists.

We say that the theory of groups fulfills a first order zero-one law if for every sentence $\phi$, $p(\phi)$ exists and equals either $0$ or $1$. I'm asking myself whether this 0-1 law holds indeed in group theory.

Since it is conjectured that "almost every group is a 2-group", statements like $\exists x: x\ne 1 \wedge x^2=1 \wedge \forall y:xy=yx$ (meaning $2|Z(G)$) or $\forall x: x^3=1 \to x=1$ (no element has order 3) should have probability $1$ and I don't see any possibility to construct any sentence with $p\not \in \{0,1\}$. Am I missing an obvious counterexample, or can you show (under the condition that almost every group is indeed a 2-group) that the theory of finite groups fulfills this 0-1 law?

Seirios
  • 2.4k
  • 22
  • 25