Closed normal subgroups (Q2765571)

The paper gives a new, shorter proof of an important theorem of Richard Kaye: closed normal subgroups of the automorphism group of a countable recursively saturated model of Peano Arithmetic are exactly the pointwise stabilizers of invariant initial segments which are closed under exponentiation [\textit{R. Kaye}, ``A Galois correspondence for countable recursively saturated models of Peano Arithmetic'', in: R. Kaye et al. (eds.), Automorphisms of first-order structures, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 293-312 (1994; Zbl 0824.03015)]. In the course of the proof, Schmerl improves upon one of the key ingredients of Kaye's proof. For \(f,g\in \text{ Aut}(M)\) let \(g^f=f^{-1}gf\) and let \(g^{-f}\) be \((g^{-1})^f\). The result is that if \(f\) is an automorphism of a countable recursively saturated model \(M\) of PA then either the closure of the set \(\{g^{-f_1}g^{f_2}:f_1,f_2\in\text{ Aut}(M)\}\) or the closure of the set \(\{g^{f_1}g^{-f_2}:f_1,f_2\in\text{ Aut}(M)\}\) is a normal subgroup.