Profinite groups with complemented closed subgroups (Q6907725)

A group \(G\) is said to be a \(\mathcal{C}\)-group if every subgroup \(H \leq G\) has a permutable complement \(K\), that is \(G=HK\) and \(H \cap K=1\). Finite \(\mathcal{C}\)-groups were studied by \textit{P. Hall} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 12, 201--204 (1937; Zbl 0016.39301)], who characterized them as the groups that are isomorphic to a subgroup of the direct product of two groups of square-free order.\N\NIn the theory of profinite groups, closed subgroups play a crucial role. A profinite group \(G\) is defined to be profinite-\(\mathcal{C}\) if every closed subgroup has a closed permutable complement. Theorem A gives several equivalent formulations of this property, including that \(G\) is an inverse limit of finite \(\mathcal{C}\)-groups.\N\NTheorem B describes the structure of profinite-\(\mathcal{C}\) groups. Indeed, they are semidirect products \(G = B \rtimes A\), where \(B = \prod_{j \in J} \langle b_j \rangle\) and \(A = \prod_{i \in I} \langle a_i \rangle\) are Cartesian products of cyclic groups of prime order, where each \(\langle a_i \rangle\) normal in \(G\) and \(A\) can be chosen as the topological closure of \(G'\).\N\NFinally, Theorem C characterizes when a profinite-\(\mathcal{C}\) group is a \(\mathcal{C}\)-group: Namely, this occurs if and only if the group is torsion and \(|G : Z(G)G'| < \infty\), equivalently, if it is torsion and virtually abelian.