Inverse automata and profinite topologies on a free group (Q5957776)

The paper gives an elementary, self-contained proof that a finite product of finitely generated subgroups of a free group is closed in the profinite topology. Inverse automata and inverse monoid theory are used. The new result is that the product of two finitely generated subgroups of a free group is closed in the pro-\(\mathcal C\) topology, where \(\mathcal C\) is a class of finite groups closed for subgroups, quotients, finite direct products and extensions with Abelian kernel. An application to monoid theory is given.