The free groups in the dihedral variety (Q1061223)

In his seminal paper on group varieties, \textit{B. H. Neumann} [Math. Ann. 114, 506-525 (1937; Zbl 0016.35102)] showed that if G is a finite group and \(F_ n(Var(G))\) is the rank n free group in the variety generated by G then \(F_ n(Var(G))\) can be embedded in a direct product of \(| G|^ n\) copies of G. This establishes the bound \(F_ n(Var(G))\leq | G|^{| G|^ n}\). In the same paper Neumann points out that in specific cases this bound can be greatly improved. In the present paper this is done for the class of finite dihedral groups. In particular if m is a positive integer and \(D_ m\) is the dihedral group of order 2m then the rank n (n\(\geq 2)\) free group in \(Var(D_ m)\) is shown to have order dividing \(2^ nm^{(n-1)2^ n+1}\) if m is odd and order dividing \(2^ n(m/2)^{(n-1)2^ n+1}\) if m is even. Further if m is prime then the rank 2 free group is shown to have exact order \(4m^ 5\) and an explicit subgroup of \((D_ m)^ 5\) is exhibited which is isomorphic to the rank 2 free group. In order to do this some general results on a subclass of the metabelian variety are derived. In particular, Theorem. Let G be metabelian. Suppose the commutator subgroup G' has exponent n and for some integer m, \(G^ m\) the set of mth powers from G is contained in G'. Then for all positive integers \(k\geq 2\), the rank k free groups in Var(G) have orders dividing \(m^ kn^{(k-1)m^ k+1}\).