On affine crystallographic groups (Q1345150)

The aim of the paper is to characterize in a proper way a generalization of the space groups (also called Bieberbach groups). It is then natural to consider the Euclidean group \(E(V)\) as subgroup of the affine group \(\text{Aff} (V)\) for \(V\) a finite dimensional real vector space. An affine crystallographic group (ACG) is defined as a properly discontinuous subgroup \(\Gamma\) of \(\text{Aff} (V)\) such that the quotient space \(\Gamma\setminus V\) is compact. If \(\Gamma\) is a subgroup of \(E(V)\), then \(\Gamma\) is a space group. Important for analyzing the structure of an ACG is the concept of a polycyclic group, which is a group possessing a subnormal series with cyclic factors. It is good to know, as proved by Auslander, that every polycyclic group is isomorphic to a matrix group over the integers. In the paper, only ACG's are considered which are `virtually polycyclic', i.e. which have a polycyclic subgroup of finite index. This property is conjectured to be true for every ACG, but it is proved in a number of cases only. The authors look for an appropriate subgroup (denoted as `standard') playing for the ACG an analogous role as the group of all translations in a space group, the lattice group thus, which is the unique maximal abelian normal subgroup. One first observes that each virtually polycyclic group \(\Theta\) has a unique maximal nilpotent subgroup, its Fitting subgroup. Putting \(W = V \oplus \mathbb{R}\), the group \(\text{Aff}(V)\) appears as a subgroup of \(\text{Gl}(W)\). A subgroup \(\Gamma\) of \(\text{Gl} (W)\) is standard if and only if \(\Gamma\) is discrete and polycyclic. The difficulty is that \(\Theta\) need not to have a unique maximal standard subgroup. For arriving at that property topological considerations are needed and formulated in terms of the Zariski topology. A full understanding of the paper requires an appropriate technical knowledge. In the introduction, however, the conceptual background, the aims and the relevant results are given in a clear way before entering in to the technical treatment. At the end of the paper an example is presented in detail allowing a further insight in the interplay between concepts and properties.