Permutable subgroups in \(\mathrm{GL}_n (D)\) and applications to locally finite group algebras (Q6159685)

The authors study the problem of existence of free non-abelian subgroups in certain subgroups of general linear groups over division algebras. For a division algebra \(D\) and \(N\) a non-central permutable subgroup of \(\operatorname{GL}_n(D)\), they show that \(N\) contains a non-abelian free group, if either \(n \geq 2\) and \(D\) is not an algebraic extension of a finite prime field or \(n=1\) and \(D\) is non-commutative weakly locally finite. Here a division algebra \(D\) with center \(F\) is called weakly locally finite, if the division algebra generated by any finite subset of \(D\) over \(F\) is finite-dimensional over its center. In the case of \(n\geq 2\) this follows from the observation that, with the typical exceptions of \(\operatorname{GL}_2(2)\) and \(\operatorname{GL}_2(3)\), non-central permutable subgroups are in fact normal and the case \(n=1\) relies on the results in [\textit{B. X. Hai} and \textit{N. K. Ngoc}, Arch. Math. 101, No. 5, 437--443 (2013; Zbl 1291.16031)]. These results are then applied to study the existence of free non-abelian subgroups in a non-abelian permutable subgroup \(N\) of the unit group of a group algebra \(FG\). For \(G\) locally finite and \(F\) a field of characteristic \(0\) they show the existence of such subgroups. For \(F\) of positive characteristic \(p\) and under the additional assumptions that \(N\) contains \(G\) and the units of \(F\), they show the existence of a free non-abelian subgroup in \(N\) when the derived subgroup \(G'\) is not a \(p\)-group and the non-existence of free non-abelian subgroups when \(G'\) is a \(p\)-group.