Universal epimorphic equivalences for group localizations (Q1568753)

The authors study certain properties of the localization with respect to a group homomorphism. A group \(G\) is said to be \(f\)-local with respect to a homomorphism \(f\colon A\to B\) if the function \(f^*\colon\Hom(B,G)\to\Hom(A,G)\), \(\varphi\mapsto\varphi\circ f\) is a bijection. For every group \(G\) there is an \(f\)-local group \(L_fG\) and a homomorphism \(l_G\colon G\to L_fG\) which is initial among all homomorphisms from \(G\) into \(f\)-local groups. \(L_f\) is called the localization functor with respect to \(f\). The localization homomorphism \(l_G\) is in general neither epimorphic, nor monomorphic. The first main result of the paper is that \(l_G\) is epimorphic for all groups \(G\) if, and only if \(L_f\) is naturally equivalent to a localization with respect to some epimorphism. An important special case of epimorphic localizations is with respect to maps with trivial target: \(f\colon A\to 1\). In this case \(L_f\) is also denoted \(P_A\), and is called the \(A\)-nullification. The authors show, among other characterizations, that an epimorphic localization \(L_f\) is a nullification if, and only if \(L_f(\text{Ker }l_G)\) is trivial for all groups \(G\). They also prove that epimorphic localizations and nullifications are respectively right exact and exact when applied to extensions of groups with local quotients. The second main result is the characterization of epimorphic localizations and nullifications in terms of properties of the class of local groups: \(L_f\) is an epimorphic localization if, and only if the class of \(f\)-local groups is closed under formation of subgroups; it is a nullification if, and only if it is also closed under formation of extensions. Finally they prove that for every localization there is the best possible approximation by a nullification and by an epimorphic localization. This in particular implies that \(G\to\text{Im }l_G\) is also a localization, and indeed an epimorphic localization.