A residual property of certain free products (Q797687)

Let \({\mathcal A}\) be an infinite family of alternating groups, and let F be a non-trivial free product of residually finite groups (other than the infinite dihedral group). The main result of this paper is that F is residually \({\mathcal A}\). This generalizes results of \textit{R. Katz} and \textit{W. Magnus} [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 22, 1-13 (1969; Zbl 0157.052)] and \textit{J. Wiegold} [Arch. Math. 28, 337-339 (1977; Zbl 0367.20023)] for free groups. The proof reduces to the case when F is the free product of two finite groups A and B, and in this case the authors prove a somewhat stronger result: for every nontrivial element w of F, there are epimorphisms from F onto \(A_ n\) for all but finitely many n, such that: (i) A and B map isomorphically onto subgroups which intersect trivially; (ii) w maps to a nontrivial element.