Counterexamples to a rank analog of the Shepherd-Leedham-Green-McKay theorem on finite \(p\)-groups of maximal nilpotency class. (Q359351)

A finite group of order \(p^n\), where \(p\) is a prime and \(n\geq 2\), is said to be of maximal class if it has nilpotence class \(n-1\), so that the first term of the lower central series is elementary Abelian of order \(p^2\), and the other non-trivial ones are of order \(p\). It has been proved by Shepherd (in his 1971 PhD thesis at the University of Chicago) and \textit{C. R. Leedham-Green} and \textit{S. McKay} [Q. J. Math., Oxf. II. Ser. 27, 297-311 (1976; Zbl 0353.20020)] that such a group has a subgroup of nilpotence class at most \(2\), with index bounded in terms of \(p\). In the paper under review, examples are constructed to show that there is no rank analogue for this result. Suppose \(G\) is a \(2\)-generator \(p\)-group such that all factors of the lower central series, starting from the second, are cyclic. It is shown that there are no functions \(r(p)\) and \(l(p)\) such that any such group \(G\) has a normal subgroup of derived length at most \(l(p)\), with quotient of rank at most \(r(p)\). The examples are constructed by starting with a truncated Witt algebra, using the Mal'cev correspondence to construct torsion-free, divisible nilpotent groups, and then taking quotients of suitable \(2\)-generator subgroups of these.