On the Burnside problem for groups of even exponent (Q1126706)

This is a short survey based on the author's contribution to the ICM, 1998, Berlin. The author reminds the reader of the present state of the Burnside problem. The main discussion concentrates on the recent (negative) solution of the Burnside problem for large even exponents \(2^9k\geq 2^{48}\) in the author's work [Int. J. Algebra Comput. 4, No. 1-2, 1-308 (1994; Zbl 0822.20044)]. The author mentions also the work of \textit{I. G. Lysenok} [Izv. Ross. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Mat. 60, No. 3, 3-224 (1996)], where many similar results are obtained for exponents \(16k\geq 8000\). The author describes his method of constructing the infinite Burnside groups as based on the geometric techniques of van Kampen diagrams developed by \textit{A. Yu. Ol'shanskij} [see his book Geometry of defining relations in groups. Mathematics and Its Applications. Soviet Series 70. Dordrecht etc.: Kluwer (1991; Zbl 0732.20019)]. This technique found numerous applications in several works of A. Yu. Ol'shanskij and his pupils, including the author of the present article. Moreover, the author regards his proof as a further development of A. Yu. Ol'shanskij's geometric approach to constructing the Burnside groups of odd exponent \(>10^{10}\). (The latter were, of course, already known to be infinite from the Novikov-Adyan theorem; actually \textit{S. I. Adyan}'s book [The Burnside problem and identities in groups. Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete 95. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer (1979; Zbl 0417.20001)] contains the negative solution to the Burnside problem for odd exponents \(\geq 665\).) Many of the properties of the free Burnside groups of large even exponents resemble the properties of the Burnside groups of odd exponents \(\geq 665\), with the notable exception of the structure of the locally finite subgroups, which may well be non-cyclic in the even case. Analyzing the locally finite subgroups is an important part of the author's work cited above. A complete description of those subgroups was finished in the joint paper of the author and \textit{A. Yu. Ol'shanskij} [J. Algebra 195, No. 1, 241-284 (1997; see the following review Zbl 0918.20031)], using information on the centralizers of subgroups. The technique developed in dealing with the Burnside groups of large even exponent enabled the author and \textit{A. Yu. Ol'shanskij} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 348, No. 6, 2091-2138 (1996; Zbl 0876.20023)] to prove M. Gromov's conjecture on quotients of hyperbolic groups of bounded exponent.