The finite and solvable genus of finitely generated free and surface groups (Q6076982)

A non-empty class of groups \(\mathcal{C}\) is a pseudovariety if it is closed under subgroups, homomorphic images and finite direct products. Let \(\Gamma\) be either a finitely generated free group or a surface group, the \(\mathcal{C}\)-genus of \(\Gamma\), denoted by \(\mathcal{G_{C}}(\Gamma)\), consists of the isomorphism classes of finitely generated residually-\(\mathcal{C}\) groups \(G\) having the same quotients in \(\mathcal{C}\) as \(\Gamma\). In the paper under review, the author considers the case in which \(\mathcal{C}\) is the pseudovariety of all finite groups or of all finite solvable groups. He proves that the groups from \(\mathcal{G_{C}}(\Gamma)\) are residually-\(p\) for all primes \(p\). This answers a question proposed by \textit{G. Baumslag} [Prog. Math. 248, 1--14 (2005; Zbl 1114.20017), Problem 5] and shows that the groups in the genus are residually finite rationally solvable groups. This leads to a positive solution of particular case of a question of \textit{A. Grothendieck} [Manuscr. Math. 2, 375--396 (1970; Zbl 0239.20065)]: if \(F\) is a free group, \(G\) is a finitely generated residually-\(\mathcal{C}\) group and \(u : F \rightarrow G\) is a homomorphism such that the induced map of pro-\(\mathcal{C}\) completions \(u_{\widehat{\mathcal{C}}}: F_{\widehat{\mathcal{C}}} \rightarrow G_{\widehat{\mathcal{C}}}\) is an isomorphism, then \(u\) is an isomorphism (see Theorem 1.3). The case where \(\mathcal{C}\) is the variety of all finite groups can already be obtained from Grothendieck's results in [loc. cit.].