The classification of certain Butler groups (Q1320140)

The certain Butler groups of the title are groups of the form \(\text{Ker}(A_ 1 \oplus A_ 2 \oplus \dots \oplus A_ n \to Q)\), where \(A_ 1, \dots, A_ n\) are subgroups of the additive rationals \(Q\) and the map is induced by the embedding of each \(A_ i\) in \(Q\). The strongly indecomposable groups of this form are called Richman-Butler groups. The authors approach the classification of these groups from an ``equivalence theorem'' viewpoint. Equivalence theorems deal with isomorphisms between subgroups that are induced by automorphisms of the containing group. If such an isomorphism exists, the subgroups are called equivalent. Equivalence has been used repeatedly by Hill and Megibben as an effective tool in the study of abelian groups. In the first part of the paper the authors establish their paradigm. A pure subgroup \(H\) of a torsion-free group \(G\) is said to be weakly *-pure provided \(H \cap [G (s^*) + pG(s)] = H \cap G(s^*) + pH(s)\) for all heights \(s\) and all primes \(p\). Here \(G(s) = \{x \in G \mid \text{height} (x) \geq s\}\), and \(G(s^*)\) is the subgroup generated by \(\{x \in G \mid \text{height} (x) > s\}\). The equivalence theorem is Theorem 1.5. Suppose that \(H\) and \(H'\) are weakly *-pure subgroups of the completely decomposable torsion-free groups \(G\) and \(G'\), respectively. Then there is an isomorphism \(\psi : G \to G'\) such that \(\psi (H) = H'\) if and only if the following two conditions are satisfied: (1) there is an isomorphism \(\varphi: G/H \to G'/H'\) that respects heights, (2) for all types \(\sigma\), \(\text{rank}(H (\sigma) / (H \cap G(\sigma^*)) = \text{rank}(H' (\sigma) / (H' \cap G'(\sigma^*))\). The relevant application of the theorem is Theorem 2.1. Two pure subgroups \(G\) and \(G'\) of a finite rank completely decomposable group \(A\), with incomparable homogeneous components, are equivalent if and only if there exists an isomorphism \(\varphi : A/G \to A/G'\) between the corresponding quotients that respect heights. The main classification work occurs in Chapter 3. To each Richman-Butler group \(G\) is associated a vector of subgroups of \(Q\). The entries of the vector include the groups \(A_ 1, \dots, A_ n\) appearing in the definition of the group \(G\) as a kernel. The set of all rational multiples of this vector is the extended type vector of \(G\); and \(\Delta(G) = \{\tau \mid G/G[\tau]\) is a rank-one group of type \(\tau\}\) is the set of types of the entries in the extended type vector. Theorem 3.11. Let \(G\) and \(G'\) be Richman-Butler groups of the same rank. Then \(G\) and \(G'\) are isomorphic if and only if they have the same extended type vector and \(\text{rank} \bigcap_{\tau \in M} G[\tau] = \text{rank} \bigcap_{\tau \cap M} G'[\tau]\) for all subsets \(M\) of \(\Delta(G) = \Delta(G')\). A brief discussion of dual results is given in Section 4. This paper is an excellent, self-contained treatment of an important result in the theory of torsion-free abelian groups.