Group rings of polycyclic groups (Q1844919)

\textit{Phillip Hall} in 1959 proved that if \(G\) is a finitely generated nilpotent by finite group and \(V\) is an irreducible \(F[G]\) module where \(F\) is algebraic over its prime subfield and of characteristic \(p>0\), then \(V\) is finite dimensional over \(F\) [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 9, 592--622 (1959; Zbl 0091.02501)]. In that paper, Hall asked if the same is true if \(G\) is polycyclic by finite. In this very important paper, Hall's question is answered affirmatively. The proof involves a careful study of the structure of \(V\) as an \(F[A]\) module where \(A\) is an infinite abelian normal subgroup. This is a generalization of Hall's idea of studying the structure as an \(F[x,x^{-1}]\) module where \(x\) is central in \(G\). The proof relies on a theorem of \textit{G. M. Bergman} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 157, 459--469 (1971; Zbl 0197.17102)] at a critical point. Hall used his theorem to show that finitely generated abelian by nilpotent by finite groups are residually finite. The analogous theorem for finitely generated abelian by polycyclic by finite groups has been recently proved by \textit{A. V. Jategaonkar} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 4, 337--343 (1974; Zbl 0297.20013)].