Series of commutants of the Jennings group \(\mathcal J(\mathbb Z_2)\). (Q2448756)

The Jennings group, \(\mathcal J(R)\), more commonly known as the Nottingham group, can be defined as the subset of \(R[[x]]\), that is formal powers over a commutative ring \(R\), of elements of form \(x(1+\sum_{i=1}^\infty\alpha_ix^i)\) under substitution. Often the ring is taken to be the finite field \(\mathbb F_p\) and in this case, with a natural topology, the Jennings group is a pro-\(p\) group. When \(p\) is odd the commutator structure of \(\mathcal J(\mathbb F_p)\) is well-understood, however when \(p=2\) the structure is more subtle. In this paper the authors determine the derived series of \(\mathcal J(\mathbb F_2)\) where subgroups are taken to be closed. Previously \textit{P. Hegedűs} considered \(\mathcal J=\mathcal J(\mathbb F_2)\) [J. Algebra 246, No. 1, 55-69 (2001; Zbl 0997.20035)] and introduced the notions of odd depth, even depth and mixed depth of an element. Let \(g=x(1+\sum_{i=1}^\infty\alpha_ix^i)\) then \(E_i(g)=\alpha_i\) and the skeleton of \(g\) is defined to be \(S(g)=\{i\geq 1:E_i(g)\neq 0\}\). The odd depth of \(g\) is given by the infimum of the odd \(i\in S(g)\), the even depth of \(g\) is defined analogously and the mixed depth is the infimum of the \(i\in S(g)\) such that \(i\equiv 2\bmod 4\). Bogataya and Bogatyy's version of these depths is summed up in their definitions of the subsets \(\mathcal J(a,b,c)\), \(\mathcal J_=(a,b,c)\) and \(\mathcal J_0(a,b,c)\). These carefully defined subsets describe the derived series of \(\mathcal J\), as is proved in Theorems 2.1 and 3.1. The starting point, that \(\mathcal J'=\mathcal J_=(3,4,6)\), had already been proved by \textit{C. R. Leedham-Green} and \textit{S. McKay}, [The structure of groups of prime power order. Lond. Math. Soc. Monogr. New Ser. 27. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2002; Zbl 1008.20001)]. The authors also provide the corresponding Abelianizing homomorphisms.