Homological dimension of elementary amenable groups (Q2195133)

The \textit{elementary amenable} groups comprise the smallest class that contains all finite and all abelian groups, and is closed under extensions and directed unions. Let \(G\) be an elementary amenable group. The \textit{Hirsch length} \(h(G)\) is defined to be \(n\) if \(G\) has a subnormal series of finite length whose factors are locally finite or cyclic, and precisely \(n\) factors are infinite cyclic; otherwise, \(h(G)=\infty\). Let \(k\) be a commutative ring. The \textit{homological dimension} \(\mathrm{hd}_k(G)\) is the least integer \(m\) such that \(H_{m+1}(G, M)=0\) for every \(kG\)-module \(M\); if no such \(m\) exists, then \(\mathrm{hd}_k(G)= \infty\). It is known that \(\mathrm{hd}_k(G)<\infty\) if and only if \(h(G)<\infty\) and the orders of all torsion elements of \(G\) are invertible in \(k\). \textit{U. Stammbach} [J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 2, 567--570 (1970; Zbl 0204.35302)] proved that \(\mathrm{hd}_k(G)=h(G)\) when \(G\) is solvable and \(k\) is a field of characteristic zero. Theorem~A is a substantial generalization: \(\mathrm{hd}_k(G)=h(G)\) for all \(k\) and elementary amenable \(G\) such that \(\mathrm{hd}_k(G)\) is finite. This latter result was conjectured previously by \textit{M. R. Bridson} and \textit{P. H. Kropholler} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 699, 217--243 (2015; Zbl 1368.20068)]. The methods range widely over the theory of infinite solvable groups. First, Theorem~A is established with an added hypothesis (that every finite subset of \(G\) lies in a subgroup of type FP\(_\infty\); Proposition~4.3). One other key fact used to prove the special case stated in Section~7 is that the equality between finite homological dimension and Hirsch length carries over to subnormal subgroups of \(G\) (Corollary~4.5).