A note on the finite images of profinite groups. (Q1409633)

Given a profinite group \(G\), let \({\mathcal F}_o(G)\) denote the family of quotient groups of \(G\) modulo open normal subgroups and \({\mathcal F}_a(G)\) the family of quotients modulo arbitrary normal subgroups of finite index. In this paper the author investigates the relationship between \({\mathcal F}_o(G)\) and \({\mathcal F}_a(G)\), in particular he proves the following: if the non-Abelian composition factors of the groups in \({\mathcal F}_o(G)\) fall into finitely many isomorphism classes then so do the non-Abelian composition factors of the groups in \({\mathcal F}_a(G)\). The author comments that if Serre's conjecture, that in a finitely-generated profinite group every subgroup of finite index is open, were proved then it would follow that each group in \({\mathcal F}_a(G)\) is an epimorphic image of a subgroup of a group in \({\mathcal F}_o(G)\). We note that \textit{N. Nikolov} and \textit{D. Segal} have recently announced a proof of Serre's conjecture [C. R., Math., Acad. Sci. Paris 337, No. 5, 303-308 (2003; see the preceding review Zbl 1033.20029)].