Equations over solvable groups (Q6087808)

Let \(G\) be a group, \(X\) a set disjoint of \(G\) and let \(F(X)\) be the free group on \(X\). A system of equations \(\{w_{i} = 1 \mid i \in I \}\) with coefficients in \(G\), where \(w_{i}\) are words in the alphabet \(G \sqcup X^{\pm 1}\) is solvable over \(G\), if there exists a group \(\widetilde{G}\) containing \(G\) as a subgroup and a retraction of the free product \(\widetilde{G} \ast F(X)\) onto \(\widetilde{G}\) onto \(\widetilde{G}\) containing all elements \(w_{i}\) in its kernel. If the solution group \(G\) can be chosen from a class \(\mathcal{K}\), then we say that the system is solvable in \(\mathcal{K}\). A system of equations (possibly infinite and with possibly infinitely many unknowns) over a group is nonsingular if the rows composed of the exponent-sums of unknowns in each equation are linearly independent over \(\mathbb{Q}\). If these rows are linearly independent over \(\mathbb{F}_{p}\) for each prime \(p\), then the system of equations is unimodular. In particular, one equation with one unknown is (a) nonsingular if the exponent sum of the unknown in this equation is nonzero, (b) unimodular if this sum is \(\pm 1\). Unimodular equations behave better than arbitrary nonsingular ones: the first author proved in [Commun. Algebra 21, No. 7, 2555--2575 (1993; Zbl 0788.20017)] that any unimodular equation over a torsion-free group is solvable over this group. Section 1 of this paper contains examples showing that there exists a unimodular equation with one unknown over a metabelian group (that can be chosen finite or, on the contrary, torsion-free), which is not solvable in any larger metabelian group. In [\textit{J. Howie}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 324, 165--174 (1981; Zbl 0447.20032)], the following conjecture was proposed: Any nonsingular system of equations over any group is solvable over this group. In this paper, the authors call a class \(\mathcal{K}\) of groups a Howie class if any nonsingular system of equations over each group from \(\mathcal{K}\) has a solution in a larger group from \(\mathcal{K}\). The quasivariety generated by a Howie class is a Howie class too (see Section 2). The main result of the paper under review establishes that the class consisting of all extensions of groups from a Howie quasivariety by abelian torsion-free groups is a Howie quasivariety too. Since abelian groups form an Howie quasivariety, the authors obtain as a corollary that for each positive integer \(n\), the class of groups \(G\) admitting a subnormal series \(G= G \triangleright G_{1} \triangleright \dots \triangleright G_{n}=\{1\}\) whose quotients \(G_{i}/G_{i+1}\) are abelian and all, except maybe the last one, are torsion-free is a Howie quasivariety. The authors point out that the minimum length of such a series can be larger than the derived length.