Profinite groups, profinite completions and a conjecture of Moore. (Q2369426)

Let \(R\) be any ring, \(\Gamma\) a group and \(R\Gamma\) the corresponding group ring. Let \(H\) be a subgroup of \(\Gamma\) of finite index and let \(M\) be an \(R\Gamma\)-module, whose restriction to \(RH\) is projective. A conjecture of Moore states that \(M\) is projective as an \(R\Gamma\)-module provided that, for every nontrivial element \(x\) in \(\Gamma\), either \(\langle x\rangle\cap H\neq 1\) or the order of \(x\) is finite and invertible in \(R\). More generally, the conjecture can be formulated for a strongly graded ring \(R(\Gamma)\) and, as it is proved in the paper, it holds for a group \(\Gamma\) if it is true for every finitely generated subgroup. The author uses profinite completions to establish the conjecture for new families of groups, in particular for groups whose profinite completion is torsion free, and, more in general, for groups \(\Gamma\) in which for any element \(z\) of prime order in the profinite completion \(\widehat\Gamma\), there exists an element \(x\in\Gamma\) of the same order which is mapped to a conjugate of \(z\) in \(\widehat\Gamma\). The conjecture can be formulated for profinite modules \(M\) over complete groups rings \([\![R\Gamma]\!]\) where \(R\) is a profinite ring and \(\Gamma\) a profinite group. The author proves the conjecture for arbitrary profinite groups. This implies Serre's theorem on cohomological dimension of profinite groups.