A stronger form of Neumann's BFC-theorem (Q2040191)

Let \(G\) be a group and \(x \in G\), the conjugacy class of \(x\) is the set \(x^{G}=\{x^{g} \mid g \in G \}\). A group is called a BFC-group if its conjugacy classes are finite and have bounded size. A famous theorem of \textit{B. H. Neumann} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 29, 236--248 (1954; Zbl 0055.01604)] states that if \(G\) is a BFC-group, then \(G'\) is finite. It follows that if \(|x^{G}| \leq n\) for each \(x\in G\), then \(|G'|\) is bounded by a number depending only on \(n\). The main result obtained in the paper under review is the following variant of Neumann's theorem: Let \(n\) be a positive integer, \(G\) a group having a subgroup \(K\) such that \(|x^{G}| \leq n\) for each \(x \in K\), and let \(H = \langle K^{G} \rangle\) be the normal closure of \(K\) in \(G\). Then the order of \(H'\) is finite and bounded by a number depending only on \(n\). An interesting consequence of the previous result is Theorem 1.2: Let \(p\) be a prime and \(G\) a profinite group in which the centralizer of each \(p\)-element is either finite or open. Then \(G\) has a normal abelian pro-\(p\) subgroup \(N\) such that \(G/N\) is virtually pro-\(p\). The proof of Theorem 1.2 uses a celebrated theorem of \textit{E. Zelmanov} [Isr. J. Math. 77, No. 1--2, 83--95 (1992; Zbl 0786.22008)] which states that a torsion pro-\(p\) group is locally nilpotent.