Set-theoretic aspects of periodic FC-groups. -- Extraspecial p-groups and Kurepa trees

DOI10.1006/JABR.1993.1252MaRDI QIDQ1320181zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 4 December 1994

Published in Journal of Algebra (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9211201

\(FC\)-groups centre-by-finite groups consistency consistent Ehrenfeucht-Faber extraspecial groups finite-by-abelian groups finitely many conjugates Kurepa tree maximal abelian subgroups

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Consistency and independence results (03E35) Continuum hypothesis and Martin's axiom (03E50) Applications of logic to group theory (20A15) Subgroup theorems; subgroup growth (20E07) FC-groups and their generalizations (20F24) Periodic groups; locally finite groups (20F50)

Abstract: Given a group G, we let Z(G) denote its center, G' its commutator subgroup, and Phi (G) its Frattini subgroup (the intersection of all maximal proper subgroups of G). Given U leq G, we let N_G (U) stand for the normalizer of U in G. A group G is FC iff every element g in G has finitely many conjugates. A p-group E is called extraspecial iff Phi (E) = E' = Z(E) cong Z_p, the cyclic group with p elements. When generalizing a characterization of centre-by-finite groups due to B. H. Neumann, M. J. Tomkinson asked the following question. Is there an FC-group G with vert G / Z(G) vert = kappa but [G:N_G(U)] < kappa for all (abelian) subgroups U of G, where kappa is an uncountable cardinal. We consider this question for kappa = omega_1 and kappa = omega_2. It turns out that the answer is largely independent of ZFC, and that it differs greatly in the two cases. More explicitly, for kappa = omega_1, it is consistent with, and independent of, ZFC that there is a group G with vert G / Z(G) vert = omega_1 and [G:N_G (A)] leq omega for all abelian A leq G. We do not know whether the same statement is still consistent if we drop abelian. On the other hand, for kappa = omega_2, the non-existence of groups G with vert G / Z(G) vert = omega_2 and [G : N_G (A) ] leq omega_1 for all (abelian) A leq G is equiconsistent with the existence of an inaccessible cardinal. In particular, there is an extraspecial p-group with this property if there is a Kurepa tree.

Review text

Centre-by-finite groups were characterized by \textit{B. H. Neumann} [Math. Z. 63, 76-96 (1955; Zbl 0064.25201)] as those groups in which each (abelian) subgroup has finitely many conjugates. This is a theorem about FC-groups and one can ask whether the following are equivalent for an FC- group \(G\) and an infinite cardinal \(\alpha\): (1) \(|G/Z(G)|<\alpha\), (2) \(|G:N_ G(U)|<\alpha\), for all subgroups \(U\leq G\), (3) \(|G: N_ G(A)|<\alpha\), for all abelian subgroups \(A\) of \(G\). In this interesting article the cases \(\alpha = \omega_ 1\) and \(\omega_ 2\) are considered and rather different results are obtained for the two cases. For \(\omega_ 1\) we have Theorem A: Assuming CH, there is an FC-group \(G\) with \(|G/Z(G)|=\omega_ 1\) but \(|G:N_ G(A)|<\omega_ 1\), for all abelian \(A\leq G\). But Theorem B: It is consistent that there is no such example. For finite-by-abelian groups it is proved that (1), (2), (3) are equivalent for \(\alpha = \omega_ 1\) and this suggests a possible approach for proving the equivalence of (1) and (2). For \(\omega_ 2\) we have Theorem D: It is consistent that there is an extraspecial \(p\)-group \(G\) with \(|G|=\omega_ 2\) and \(|G:|<\omega_ 2\) for all maximal abelian subgroups \(M \leq G\) (and hence \(|G:N_ G(A)|<\omega_ 2\) for all abelian subgroups \(A \leq G\)). This example, which requires the existence of a Kurepa tree, can be thought of as dual to Ehrenfeucht-Faber extraspecial groups in which all abelian subgroups have cardinality less than \(|G|\). Theorem E: Assuming the consistency of ZFC + `there is an inaccessible cardinal' it is consistent that (1), (2), (3) are equivalent for \(\alpha = \omega_ 2\).

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