Languages associated with saturated formations of groups (Q2343354)

We recall some basic definitions. Let \(\mathbf X\) be a class of finite algebraic structure of given type. We say that the class \(\mathbf X\) is a \textit{pseudovariety} (the authors use the term \textit{variety}) if \(\mathbf X\) satisfies the three conditions: (1) any subalgebra of an algebra of \(\mathbf X\) also belongs to \(\mathbf X\), (2) any quotient of an algebra of \(\mathbf X\) also belongs to \(\mathbf X\), (3) the direct product of any finite family of algebras of \(\mathbf X\) is also in \(\mathbf X\). If \(\mathbf X\) satisfies the two conditions (2) and (3) then \(\mathbf X\) is called a \textit{formation of algebras}. A language is a subset of a free monoid \(A^\ast\). The syntactic monoid of a language \(L\) of \(A^\ast\) is the quotient of \(A^\ast\) by the syntactic congruence of \(L\), defined on \(A^\ast\) as follows: \(u \sim_L v\) if and only if, for all \(x, y \in A^{\ast}\), \(xvy \in L \Leftrightarrow xuy \in L\). The natural morphism \(\eta : A^{\ast} \rightarrow A^{\ast}/_{\sim_L}\) is the syntactic morphism of \(L\). A language is regular (or recognizable) if it is recognized by a finite deterministic automaton. A class of regular languages \(\mathcal C\) associates with each finite alphabet \(A\) a set \({\mathcal C}(A^{\ast})\) of regular languages of \(A^{\ast}\). A \textit{formation of languages} is a class of regular languages \(\mathcal F\) satisfying the following conditions: \((F_1)\) for each alphabet \(A\), \({\mathcal F}(A^{\ast})\) is closed under Boolean operations and quotients, \((F_2)\) if \(L\) is a language of \({\mathcal F}(B^{\ast})\) and \(\eta: B^{\ast} \rightarrow M\) denotes its syntactic morphism, then for each monoid morphism \(\alpha : A^{\ast} \rightarrow B^{\ast}\) such that \(\eta \circ \alpha\) is surjective, the language \(\alpha^{-1}(L)\) belongs to \({\mathcal F}(A^{\ast})\). In a previous paper [Forum Math. 26, No. 6, 1737--1761 (2014; Zbl 1310.20054)], the authors have shown that Eilenberg's well-known correspondence theorem between pseudovarieties of finite monoids and pseudovarieties (streams) of regular languages can be extended to formations: there is a bijective correspondence between formations of finite monoids and the formations of languages. In this paper, the authors give a general method to describe the languages corresponding to saturated formations of groups, which are widely studied in group theory. They recover in this way a number of known results about the languages corresponding to the classes of nilpotent groups, soluble groups and supersoluble groups. Their method also applies to new examples, like the class of groups having a Sylow tower.