A note on group extensions and proper 3-realizability (Q350214)

Recall that two locally-finite CW-complexes are said to be \textit{proper homotopy equivalent} if they are homotopy equivalent by means of proper homotopies, where a map is called \textit{proper} if the inverse image of a compact subset is also compact. The first three authors of this paper together with \textit{R. Ayala} have defined the notion of \textit{proper 3-realizability} (P3R) for finitely presented groups [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 133, No. 5, 1527--1535 (2005; Zbl. 1062.57001)], where such a group \(G\) is P3R if there exists a finite 2-complex \(X\) with \(G\) as fundamental group such that the universal covering space \(\widetilde X\) is proper homotopy equivalent to a 3-manifold (possibly with boundary). The aim of this note is to prove that if \(N \to G \to Q\) is a short exact sequence of infinite finitely presented groups, then \(G\) is P3R. This result slightly generalizes a previous theorem from [\textit{M. Cárdenas} et al., Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 70, No. 2, 199--205 (2004; Zbl. 1068.57002)], and it is obtained by combining in an appropriate way several results of [\textit{R. Geoghegan}, Topological methods in group theory. New York, NY: Springer (2008; Zbl. 1141.57001)]. As an easy consequence one obtains that the class of P3R groups contains the following groups: semidirect products of two infinite finitely presented groups; finitely presented groups containing an element of infinite order in the center; Artin groups of finite type; and polycyclic groups.