Profinite groups in which centralizers are virtually procyclic (Q2049383)

The aim of this paper it to conclude information about the structure of a profinite group, from the structure of the centralizers of its nontrivial elements. Such methods have hardly applied in the development of the theories of finite and locally finite groups, but have barely studied so far regarding profinite groups. Let \(X\) be some property of a profinite group. We say that a profinite group is ``virtually \(X\)'' if it posses an open subgroup which having this property. The paper proves the following two main theorems: Theorem: Let \(G\) be a profinite group such that the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually torsion-free while the centralizer of every element of infinite order is virtually procyclic. Then \(G\) is either virtually pro-\(p\) for some prime \(p\) or virtually torsion-free procyclic Theorem: Let \(G\) be a profinite group in which the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually procyclic. Then \(G\) is either virtually pro-\(p\) for some prime \(p\) or virtually procyclic. The second theorem implies the following interesting corollary: Let \(G\) be a profinite group in which the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually procyclic and suppose that \(G\) is not a pro-\(p\) group. Then \(G\) has finite rank. Recall that the rank of a profinite group is defined to be: \(\operatorname{rank}(G)=\sup\{d(H):H\leq_cG\}\) where \(d(H)\) is the minimal cardinal of a set of topological generators of \(H\). Eventually, inspired by the above corollary, the authors present the following conjecture: Let \(G\) be a profinite group in which the centralizer of every nontrivial element has finite rank. Suppose that \(G\) is not a pro-\(p\) group. Then \(G\) has finite rank.