Parasurface groups. (Q600654)

A group \(G\) is `weakly parafree' if all of its lower central series quotients \(G/\gamma_i(G)\) match those of a nontrivial free group; it is `parafree' if, in addition, it is residually nilpotent. The author introduces the concepts of `weakly parasurface' and `parasurface' groups by replacing ``free group'' with ``surface group'' in the above definition. A characterization of free groups due to Magnus states that weakly parafree groups of rank~\(k\) are free of rank~\(k\). Theorem~1 shows that the statement is false if the words ``weakly parafree'' and ``free'' are replaced by ``parasurface'' and ``surface''. Magnus' ``conjugacy theorem for groups with one defining relator'' states that if \(s,t\) are elements of the free group \(F_k\) of rank \(k\) with isomorphic normal closures in \(F_k\) then \(s\) is conjugate to \(t^{\pm 1}\). Theorem~3 shows that the statement is false (for some \(i\)) if \(F_k\) is replaced by \(F_k/\gamma_i(F_k)\), the free rank~\(k\), \(i\)-step nilpotent quotient. The final main result requires some terminology. Elements \(g,h\) in a group \(G\) are `nilpotent-conjugacy-equivalent' if their images in all nilpotent quotients of \(G\) are conjugate. They are `automorphism equivalent' if there exists some \(\varphi\in\Aut(G)\) with \(\varphi(g)=h\); they are `nilpotent-automorphism equivalent' if their images in all nilpotent quotients of \(G\) are automorphism equivalent. A group \(G\) is `conjugacy-nilpotent-separable' if any pair of nilpotent-conjugacy equivalent elements is conjugate; it is `automorphism-nilpotent-separable' if any pair of nilpotent-automorphism equivalent elements is automorphism equivalent. Free groups are known to be conjugacy-nilpotent-separable. Theorem~2 shows that, in partial contrast to this, free groups of even rank are not automorphism-nilpotent-separable.