Covering groups of minimal exponent

DOI10.1093/QMATH/HAAF002MaRDI QIDQ6917970zbMATH OpenFDO

Publication date 10 October 2025

Published in The Quarterly Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1093/QMATH/HAAF002

central extension cohomology cover of a finite group homology Schur multiplier

Central extensions and Schur multipliers (19C09) Projective representations and multipliers (20C25) Subgroup theorems; subgroup growth (20E07) Geometric group theory (20F65) Fuchsian groups and their generalizations (group-theoretic aspects) (20H10) Cohomology of groups (20J06)

Review text

Let \(G\) be a finite group. A cover of \(G\) is a finite central group extension \N\[\N1\rightarrow A \rightarrow E \rightarrow G \rightarrow 1\N\]\Nwhich satisfies the following equivalent conditions:\N\begin{itemize}\N\item projective representations of \(G\) can be lifted to ordinary representations of \(E\),\N\item the standard map \(\eta: \mathrm{Hom}(A, \mathbb{C}^{\times})\rightarrow H^{2}(G,\mathbb{C}^{\times})\) is surjective and\N\item the subgroup \([E,E]\cap A\) is isomorphic to \(H^{2}(G,\mathbb{C}^{\times})\).\N\end{itemize}\NIf the standard map \(\eta\) is an isomorphism, that is \(\mathrm{Hom}(A, \mathbb{C}^{\times})\cong H^{2}(G,\mathbb{C}^{\times})\), then \(E\) is a Schur cover. Whenever \(E\) is a Schur cover, \(A\) is isomorphic to the Schur multiplier \(H^2(G)=H^{2}(G,\mathbb{C}^{\times})\).\N\NIn [J. Reine Angew. Math. 127, 20--50 (1904; JFM 35.0155.01); J. Reine Angew. Math. 132, 85--137 (1907; JFM 38.0174.02)], \textit{I. Schur} proves that for a finite group \(G\), a Schur cover always exists and describes a construction method whenever the Schur multiplier \(H^2(G)\) is known. Moreover, in the second paper, Schur proves that for any free presentation \(1\rightarrow R \rightarrow F \rightarrow G\rightarrow 1\), that is \(F\) is free, the Schur multiplier \(H^{2}(G)\) is isomorphic to \([F, F]\cap R/[R,F]\). This formula is commonly used for determining \(H^2(G)\), but it is hard to compute.\N\NIn this paper under review, the author mainly proves that if \N\[\N1\rightarrow R\rightarrow F\rightarrow G\rightarrow 1\N\]\Nis a presentation of \(G\) where \(F\) is a finite free product of finite cyclic groups, then \(E=F/[R,F]\) is a finite cover of \(G\). Moreover, the author proves that if \(\pi:F\rightarrow G\) preserves the order of the generators, then \(E\) has minimal exponent among the covers. For the proof of that result, the author proves an analogue of the Schur-Hopf formula:\N\NLet \(1\rightarrow R\rightarrow F \rightarrow G\rightarrow 1\) be a group presentation where \(F\) is a free product of cyclic groups. Then \(H_2(G,\mathbb{Z})\cong [F,F]\cap R/[R,F]\).\N\NThe author also gives some generalizations of some known results: If a finite group \(G\) has non-cyclic abelianization, then all its profinite periodic covers have infinite order.\N\NFor the second part of the paper, the author focuses on the underlying topology. In this part, the author considers elliptic presentations of a finite group and relates the subject to compact orientable surfaces.

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