Countable existentially closed locally FC-groups (Q810634)

The class of locally FC-groups (LFC-groups) is inductive and so every LFC-group can be embedded in an existentially closed (e.c.) LFC-group of the same cardinality. Algebraic characterization of e.c. LFC-groups are given which are related to characterizations of e.c. abelian and e.c. locally finite groups. Using these characterizations the countable e.c. LFC-groups are classified as split extensions of U (the countable universal locally finite group) by \({\mathbb{Q}}^{(r)}\), where \(0<r\leq \omega\); there is precisely one group for each r. Hall's universal group U is the union of finite symmetric groups. A similar construction is given for the countable e.c. LFC-groups as the union of subgroups each isomorphic to the direct product of a finite symmetric group and a free abelian group. The second half of this paper contains a detailed discussion of the automorphism group of a countable e.c. LFC-group G. An automorphism \(\phi\) of G is nearly inner if there is a \(g\in G\) such that on each finite subset \(\phi\) coincides with conjugation by a power of g. The group of nearly inner automorphisms is denoted by Finn G and it is clear that \(1\leq Inn G\leq Finn G\leq Linn G\leq Aut G.\) It is shown that \(Finn G/Inn G\cong {\mathbb{R}},\) \(Aut G/Linn G\cong GL(r,{\mathbb{Q}})\) and \(| Linn G/Finn G| =2^{\aleph_ 0}.\)