The existence of certain pure dense subgroups of Abelian p-groups is not decidable in ZFC

\(p^{\omega +n}\)-projective p-groups \(V=L\)constructible universe determined by the \(p^ n\)-socle Direct sums of cyclic groups high subgroups Martin's axiom pure dense subgroup regular uncountable cardinal separable abelian p-group torsion-complete group undecidable in ZFC

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Consistency and independence results (03E35) Continuum hypothesis and Martin's axiom (03E50) Torsion groups, primary groups and generalized primary groups (20K10) Subgroups of abelian groups (20K27)

Review text

Every separable abelian p-group is imbedded as a pure dense subgroup in a torsion-complete group. It is therefore natural to fix a torsion-complete group \(\bar B\) and to study its pure dense subgroups. It was once hoped that the socle H[p] of a pure dense subgroup H of \(\bar B\) might determine H up to isomorphism. This was quickly disproved by Hill and Megibben in 1966. But there are positive results also. The \(p^ n\)-socle of a p-group G is defined to be \(G[p^ n]=\{x\in G:\) \(p^ nx=0\}\). Let \({\mathcal C}\) be a family of p-groups. The groups of \({\mathcal C}\) are said to be determined by their \(p^ n\)-socles if for every \(G,H\in {\mathcal C}\) the existence of a height-preserving isomorphism \(G[p^ n]\to H[p^ n]\), with heights computed in G and H, implies \(G\cong H\). Direct sums of cyclic groups and torsion-complete groups are determined by their p- socles, and the author (1987) showed that \(p^{\omega +n}\)-projective p- groups are determined by their \(p^{n+1}\)-socles. A p-group G is \(p^{\omega +n}\)-projective if there exists a subgroup H of \(G[p^ n]\) such that G/H is a direct sum of cyclic groups. The paper being reviewed shows that answers to the questions described above depend on set theory. Theorem 1.1: (V\(=L\)). Let n be a positive integer and \(\kappa\) a regular uncountable cardinal. Let G be a separable p-group and H a proper pure dense subgroup of G with a \(\kappa\)-filtration \(H=\cup_{\alpha \in \kappa}H_{\alpha}\) such that \(E=\{\alpha \in \kappa:\) \(p^{\omega +n}(H/H_{\alpha})\neq 0\}\) is stationary in \(\kappa\). Then there exist \(2^{\kappa}\) pairwise non-isomorphic subgroups K of G such that \(K[p^ n]=H[p^ n]\). The assumption that E is stationary prevents H from being \(p^{\omega +n}\)-projective, a necessary condition according to the author's result of 1987. Also note that G is not assumed to be torsion- complete. On the other hand it is shown (Theorem 2.1): \((MA+\neg CH)\). There exists an \(\omega_ 1\)-separable p-group G of cardinality \(\omega_ 1\) and a pure dense subgroup H of countable corank in G such that any pure subgroup K of G with \(K[p^ n]=H[p^ n]\) is isomorphic to H. This shows that it is not decidable in ZFC - ordinary set theory - whether separable p-groups are determined by their \(p^ n\)-socles. In a similar vein it is shown that it is undecidable in ZFC whether all high subgroups of a p-group are isomorphic or not. A high subgroup of A is a subgroup of A which is maximal disjoint from \(p^{\omega}A\).

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