Filtrations of free groups as intersections. (Q484174)

Let \(G\) be a group. Except the lower central filtration \(G^{(1)}=G\), \(G^{(i)}=[G,G^{(i-1)}]\) for \(i\geq 2\), there are defined the filtrations: For a prime number \(p\) let \(G_{(1,p)}=G\) and for \(i\geq 2\) let \[ G_{(i,p)}=(G_{([i/p],p)})^p\prod_{j+\ell=i}[G_{(j,p)},G_{(\ell,p)}]. \] Also let \(G^{(1,p)}=G\) and for \(i\geq 2\) let \(G^{(i,p)}=(G^{(i-1,p)})^p[G,G^{(i-1,p)}]\). In the present paper the author gives a general method of construction of filtrations for a free group \(S\), where each term of the filtrations is interpreted as the intersection of kernels of families of homomorphisms. Before stating the main result some notation and terminology is necessary. Let \(A\) be a (non empty) set and \(R\) be a unital commutative ring, then the Magnus algebra \(R\langle\langle X_A\rangle\rangle\) over \(R\) is the ring of all formal power series \(\sum_{I\in A^*}c_IX_I\) , where the ``indices'' \(I\) are finite sequences of elements of \(A\), \(c_I\in R\) and \(X_I\) denotes the formal product \(X_{a_1}X_{a_2}\cdots X_{a_t}\) for \(I=(a_1,a_2,\ldots,a_t)\). It is well known that if \(S\) is the free group on the finite basis \(A\), then the map \(\Lambda_{R,A}\colon S\to R\langle\langle X_A\rangle\rangle^\times\), defined by \(\Lambda_{R,A}(a)=1+X_a\) for \(a\in A\), is a monomorphism. Let \(\mathcal J=(J_k)^{n-1}_{k=0}\) be a sequence of ideals in \(R\) such that \(R=J_0\supseteq J_1\supseteq\cdots\supseteq J_{n-1}\) and \(J_kJ_l\subseteq J_{k+l}\) for every \(k,l\geq 0\) with \(k+l\leq n-1\). Let \(T_{n,1}(\mathcal J)\) be the set of all \(n\times n\) strictly upper triangular matrices with entries in \(J_1\) and let \(U_n(\mathcal L)=I_n+T_{n,1}(\mathcal J)\) the set of upper triangular matrices with 1 in the main diagonal. Let \(\theta\colon R_0\to R\) be a homomorphism of unital commutative rings. Let \(L_{\mathcal J}\) be the set of all power series \(\sum_Ic_IX_I\) in \(R_0\langle\langle X_A\rangle\rangle\) such that \(c_\emptyset=1\) and \(\theta(c_I)\in\text{Ann}_R(J_t)\), the annihilator of \(J_t\) in \(R\), for every sequence \(I\) of length \(1\leq t<n\). For two groups \(H,G\) let \(\mathrm{KerInt}(H,G)=\bigcap\{\mathrm{Ker}(\varphi)\mid\varphi\colon H\to G\text{ homomorphism}\}\). Theorem: Suppose that \(J_t=d^tR\), \(t=0,1,\ldots,n-1\), for some \(d\in R\). Then \(\Lambda^{-1}_{R_0,A}(L_{\mathcal J})=\mathrm{KerInt}(S,U_n(\mathcal J))\). The theorem above has many interesting applications which cover previously known results. Here are quoted some of them. Let \(S\) be a free (discrete) group on a finite set \(A\). 1. For \(R=R_0=\mathbb Z\) and \(\theta\) the identity map, it is obtained that \(S^{(n)}=\mathrm{KerInt}(S,U_n(\mathbb Z))\). 2. For \(R=R_0=\mathbb F_p\) and \(\theta\) the identity map, it is obtained that \(S_{(n,p)}=\mathrm{KerInt}(S,U_n(\mathbb F_p))\). 3. For \(R_0=\mathbb Z\), \(R=\mathbb Z/p^n\mathbb Z\), where \(p\) is a prime and \(\theta\colon\mathbb Z\to\mathbb Z/p^n\mathbb Z\) is the natural epimorphism, it is obtained that \(S^{(n,p)}=\mathrm{KerInt}(S,G(n,p))\), where \(G(n,p)\) is the group of all upper-triangular unipotent \(n\times n\) matrices \(a_{ij}\) over \(\mathbb Z/p^n\mathbb Z\) with \(a_{ij}\in p^{j-i}\mathbb Z/p^n\mathbb Z\) for every \(i\leq j\). Similar results are obtained in the environment of the free pro-\(\mathcal C\) groups, where \(\mathcal C\) is the formation of all finite \(\Pi\)-groups for a non-empty set \(\Pi\) of prime numbers.