Nil algebras and unipotent groups of finite width (Q1970024)

\textit{R. I. Grigorchuk} constructed [Funct. Anal. Appl. 14, No. 1, 41-43 (1980); translation from Funkts. Anal. Prilozh. 14, No. 1, 53-54 (1980; Zbl 0595.20029)] a finitely generated infinite residually finite group that is a \(p\)-group with finite width for any prime \(p\). From this group one constructs a graded, finitely generated Lie algebra over a field of characteristic \(p\) with a natural number \(d\) such that each homogeneous component has dimension less than \(d\) and each homogeneous element is ad-nilpotent but the algebra is not locally nilpotent. The authors show that this can not happen at characteristic 0. Thus it is shown that a graded Lie algebra over a field of characteristic 0 with each homogeneous component of dimension less than \(d\) and with each homogeneous element being ad-nilpotent must be locally nilpotent. Therefore if it is finitely generated it must be residually nilpotent. A second theorem gives a similar result for finitely generated residually finite unipotent modules over a group whose Betti numbers are uniformly bounded.