Groups whose proper quotients are finite-by-nilpotent (Q5919269)

A group \(G\) is said to be an \(FN_ c\)-group if the \((c+1)\)-st term \(\gamma_{c+1}G\) of its lower central series is finite. A group \(G\) is called a \(JNFN_ c\)-group if all its proper quotients are FN\(_ c\)-groups, but \(G\) itself is not. The structure of JNFA-groups \((JNFN_ c\)-groups with \(c=1)\) has been described by \textit{D. J. S. Robinson} and the author [J. Algebra 118, No. 2, 346-368 (1988; Zbl 0658.20019)]. In this paper we study JNFN\(_ c\)-groups with non-trivial Fitting subgroup for arbitrary \(c\) which are naturally divided into two classes. It turns out that \(JNFN_ c\)-groups with non-trivial centre are just the torsion-free nilpotent groups \(G\) of class \(c+1\) such that \(\gamma_{c+1}G\) is infinite cyclic and \(Z(G)\) is a subgroup of the rationals. Next, we deal with \(JNFN_ c\)-groups with trivial centre and non-trivial Fitting subgroup \(A\). It is shown that \(A\) is abelian and then \(A\) is a faithful just infinite module for the non-trivial \(FN_ c\)-group \(Q=:G/A\). The investigation also shows that it is significantly harder to describe \(JNFN_ c\)-groups with \(c\geq 2\) than is the case \(c=1\); some interesting but complicated problems about groups, modules and cohomology and many new techniques are involved. In the final section we consider faithful just infinite modules over nilpotent \(FN_ c\)-groups. For this purpose a well-known theorem of \textit{P. Hall} [Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 52, 611-616 (1956; Zbl 0072.25801)] is extended in the following form: If \(G\) is an \(FN_ c\)-group, then \(G/C_ G(\gamma_ cG)\) is residually finite and of finite exponent. Moreover, \(G/Z_{2c-2}(G)\) is of finite exponent, provided \(c\geq 2\). By using this proposition, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for a nontrivial nilpotent \(FN_ c\)-group \(Q\) to have a faithful just infinite module, where the crux of the matter is the following theorem on modules: Let \(Q\) be a nilpotent group with centre \(K\). If \(Q\) has infinite torsion-free rank and the torsion subgroup of \(K\) is a locally cyclic \(p'\)-group (\(p\geq 0\)), then \(Q\) has a faithful just infinite module of characteristic \(p\) that is simple. These results are markedly different from those in the case \(c=1\).