The congruence subgroup problem for the free metabelian group on two generators (Q2630764)

This is a nice little paper. After the surprising positive answer to the (analogue of the) congruence subgroup problem for \(\mathrm{Aut}(F_2)\) by \textit{M. Asada} [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 159, No. 2--3, 123--147 (2001; Zbl 1045.14013)] and \textit{K.-U. Bux} et al. [Groups Geom. Dyn. 5, No. 2, 327--353 (2011; Zbl 1251.20035)], this paper proves again a surprising result that the congruence subgroup property does not hold for the automorphism group of the free metabelian group of rank \(2\). The author uses the Romanovskii embedding to identify the profinite completion of the free solvable group of rank \(2\) and derived length \(r>1\) explicitly. This enables him to show that for the automorphism group of the free metabelian group of rank \(2\), the congruence subgroup problem essentially reduces to that for \(\mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\). In particular, the property does not hold. In fact, although it is not explicitly mentioned in this paper, the author's proof shows that the congruence kernel is the free profinite group of countably infinite rank (as for \(\mathrm{GL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\)). In a follow-up work, the author has shown that the congruence subgroup problem has a negative answer for the automorphism group of a free metabelian group of rank \(3\); in this case also, the congruence kernel contains a free profinite group of countably infinite rank. Note that the problem is still open for \(\mathrm{Aut}(F_3)\) itself. However, in some recent developments, the author has shown that for the automorphism group of free metabelian group of rank at least \(4\), the congruence kernel is abelian. Therefore, there is a dichotomy between ranks \(2,3\) and the other higher ranks.