Rigid metabelian pro-\(p\)-groups. (Q2342303)

A soluble group \(G\) is said to be rigid if there is a normal series \(G=G_1>G_2>\cdots>G_n>1\), such that each of the factors \(G_i/G_{i+1}\) is abelian and torsion-free as a right \(\mathbb Z[G/G_i]\)-module. For instance, free soluble groups are rigid. The second author of the paper under review and his collaborators have extensively studied rigid groups, and the geometry over them. In this paper, the case of metabelian pro-\(p\) groups is considered. A metabelian pro-\(p\) groups is said to be rigid if it has a normal series \(G=G_1\geq G_2\geq 1\) such that \(G/G_2\) is torsion-free abelian, and \(G_2\) is torsion-free as a \(\mathbb Z_p[[G/G_2]]\)-module. If \(G\) is non-abelian, \(G_2\) is uniquely determined as the centraliser of any non-trivial commutator. Free metabelian pro-\(p\) groups are rigid. The second author has proved [Algebra Logika 38, No. 5, 598-612 (1999); translation in Algebra Logic 38, No. 5, 326-334 (1999; Zbl 0943.20020)] that the abstract metabelian, rigid groups are exactly the groups that are universally equivalent to a free metabelian group. This result is extended here to show that all rigid metabelian soluble pro-\(p\) groups are mutually universally equivalent; in this case, it is not known whether a pro-\(p\) group which is universally equivalent to a rigid metabelian pro-\(p\) group has to be rigid itself. The concept of \(2\)-graded group [\textit{N. S. Romanovskiĭ}, Algebra Logic 49, No. 6, 539-550 (2011); translation from Algebra Logika 49, No. 6, 803-818 (2010; Zbl 1236.20039)] comes into play.