Frattini-resistant direct products of pro-\(p\) groups (Q2693351)

A pro-\(p\) group G is called \textit{Frattini-resistant} if the function \(H\mapsto\Phi(H)=[H,H]H^p\), from the poset of all closed subgroups of G into itself, is a poset embedding. It is \textit{locally Frattini-resistant} if this property holds for finitely generated subgroups. (The authors use ``strongly'' for the first notion and omit the ``locally'' from the second.) From previous work of the authors [J. Algebra 622, 351--365 (2023; Zbl 07665494)], quite a few examples of Frattini-resistant groups are known; in particular, free pro-\(p\) groups, Demushkin groups, and maximal Galois groups with prescribed ramification and containing \(p\)th roots of unity (so that Kummer theory applies). In this new article, the authors prove, on the other hand, that direct products are Frattini-resistant only in limited cases. Let us call a group \textit{absolutely torsion-free} if every closed subgroup has torsion-free abelianization. The authors' main result states: Theorem A. Let \(p\) be any prime, and let \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) be non-trivial pro-\(p\) groups. Then \(G_1\times G_2\) is [locally] Frattini-resistant if and only if one of the factors is torsion-free abelian and the other one is [locally] absolutely torsion-free. They reprove in this manner a result of \textit{J. Koenigsmann} [Int. Math. Res. Not. 2005, No. 24, 1465--1486 (2005; Zbl 1092.12004), Proposition 3.2]: Let \(\Bbbk\) be a field containing a primitive \(p\)th root of unity, let \(\Bbbk(p)\) denote its maximal separable \(p\)-extension, and let \(G_\Bbbk(p)\) denote its Galois group. Corollary 1.2. If \(G_\Bbbk(p)\) factors as a direct product, then one of the factors is torsion-free abelian and the other is absolutely torsion-free; in particular, \(G_\Bbbk(p)\) is absolutely torsion-free. They also give concrete examples of locally Frattini-resistant groups that are not Frattini-resistant (Corollary 1.4): fo r every \(n\), the direct product \(G_n\times\mathbb Z_p\) for \(G_n\) the Demushkin pro-\(p\) group with presentation \[ \langle x_1, x_2, \ldots \mid x_1^{p^n}[x_1, x_2][x_3, x_4]\cdots\rangle. \]