Powerful \(p\)-groups. II: \(p\)-adic analytic groups (Q580492)

The definitions and theorems of the previous paper [see the review Zbl 0626.20010 above] on powerful \(p\)-groups carry over to pro-\(p\)-groups, where \(G'\), \(V_ 1(G)\), denote the closures of the corresponding subgroups of a discrete group, and a pro-\(p\)-group is powerful if and only if it is an inverse limit of powerful \(p\)-groups. It is a well-known theorem of Lazard that a finitely generated pro-\(p\)-group \(G\) is analytic if and only if it has a powerful subgroup of finite index. It is deduced that \(G\) is analytic if and only if \(\{d(H)\}\) is bounded above as \(H\) runs through the subgroups of \(G\) of finite index; here \(d(H)\) denotes the minimum number of (topological) generators of \(H\), which is the supremum of the numbers of generators of finite quotients of \(H\). This implies the theorem of Lazard which asserts that analytic pro-\(p\)-groups satisfy the maximum condition. In any finitely generated pro-\(p\)-group \(G\), the number \(r\), defined to be the limit of the \(d(A)\) as \(A\) runs through the normal open subgroups of \(G\), always exists; \(G\) is analytic if and only if \(r\) is finite. In any case \(r\) is \(\lim\sup d(A)\), where \(A\) runs through all open subgroups of \(G\). As for \(\lim\inf d(A)\) for open \(A\), in an analytic pro-\(p\)-group this is the number of generators of the Lie algebra of \(G\), and if \(\lim d(A)\) exists, \(G\) is metabelian-by-finite. Finally, returning to discrete groups, a dichotomy established by Humphreys and McCutcheon is clarified; in the class of soluble groups in which every subgroup is generated by \(n\) elements, there is no bound on the derived length of the \(p\)-groups but the derived length of the torsion-free groups is bounded by a function of \(n\).