Characterization of varietal covering and stem groups (Q4700489)

Let \(\mathcal V\) be a variety of groups defined by the set of laws \(V\), and let \(V(G)\) and \(V^*(G)\) denote the corresponding verbal and marginal subgroups of the group \(G\). If \(1\to R\to F\to G\) is a free presentation of \(G\), then \({\mathcal V}M(G)=(R\cap V(F))/[RV^*(F)]\), where \([RV^*(F)]\) is the least normal subgroup \(T\) of \(F\) contained in \(R\) such that \((R/T)\leq V^*(F/T)\). The extension \(1\to A\to H\to G\) is called a \(\mathcal V\)-marginal extension of \(G\) if \(A\leq V^*(H)\) and a \(\mathcal V\)-stem extension if \(A\leq V^*(H)\cap V(H)\). The latter is a \(\mathcal V\)-stem cover if \(A\cong{\mathcal V}M(G)\), and in this case \(H\) is called a \(\mathcal V\)-covering group of \(G\). A \(\mathcal V\)-stem group is a group \(T\) such that \(V^*(T)\leq V(T)\). In the second section of this paper it is proved that every group has an \({\mathcal A}_m\)-covering group, where, as usual, \({\mathcal A}_m\) denotes the variety of Abelian groups of exponent \(m\), and in the third part properties of \({\mathcal A}_m\)-stem groups are investigated.