An extension of a theorem by B. H. Neumann on groups with boundedly finite conjugacy classes. (Q1931674)

Recall that a group \(G\) is said to be a `BFC-group' if there is a positive integer \(b\) such that no element of \(G\) has more than \(b\) conjugates. BFC-groups form a very special class of FC-groups, i.e., of groups with finite conjugacy classes. A famous theorem of B. H. Neumann (1954) states that a group \(G\) is a BFC-group iff the commutator subgroup \(G'\) of \(G\) is finite. In the article under review the authors give a generalization of the quoted result. Recall that a group \(G\) is called a `Chernikov group' if its finite residual \(D\) is an Abelian subgroup satisfying the minimal condition on subgroups such that \(G/D\) is finite. The rank of \(D\) is called the `minimax rank' of \(G\) and is denoted by \(mm(G)\). Let \(r\) and \(b\) be integers such that \(r\geq 0\) and \(b\geq 1\). They define the class \(C(r,b)\) of groups \(G\) such that the normal closure \(\langle x\rangle^G\) of every element \(x\in G\) has a maximal divisible Chernikov \(G\)-invariant subgroup \(D_x\) such that \(mm(D_x)\leq r\) and the element \(xD_x\) has at most \(b\) conjugates in the factor group \(G/D_x\). Clearly, every BFC-group belongs to \(C(0,b)\) for some integer \(b\geq 1\). The main theorem proved in the article is the following. Theorem. If \(G\) is a \(C(r,b)\)-group, then the commutator subgroup \(G'\) of \(G\) is a Chernikov group and moreover there exist two functions \(\delta_1(r,b)\) and \(\delta_2(r,b)\) depending on \(r\) and \(b\) only such that \(mm(G')\leq\delta_1(r,b)\) and \(|G'/D(G')|\leq\delta_2(r,b)\) (here \(D(G')\) is the finite residual of \(G'\)). In particular, \(G\) is a Chernikov-by-Abelian group.