The congruence subgroup problem for finitely generated nilpotent groups

Let \(G\) be a group of automorphisms of the group \(\Gamma\). Define, for every characteristic subgroup \(M\) of finite index of \(\Gamma\), the \textit{principal congruence subgroup} \(G(M)\) of \(G\) as the kernel of the natural map \(G\rightarrow\operatorname{Aut}(\Gamma/M)\). A \textit{congruence subgroup} of \(G\) is a finite index subgroup of \(G\) containing some principal congruence subgroup. The \textit{congruence subgroup problem} (\textit{CSP}\,) for the pair \((G,\Gamma)\) asks whether every finite index subgroup of \(G\) is a congruence subgroup. In case \(\Gamma\) is finitely generated, the CSP is equivalent to asking if the kernel \(C(G,\Gamma)\) of the map \[ \hat{G}:=\underset{\leftarrow}{\lim}\, G/U \longrightarrow \underset{\leftarrow}{\lim}\, G/G(M)\leq\operatorname{Aut}\big(\hat{\Gamma}\big), \] where \(\hat\Gamma=\underset{\leftarrow}{\lim}\, \Gamma/M_m\) and \(M_n\) is the intersection of all characteristic subgroups of index \(n\), is trivial. The aim of the paper under review is to prove that, if \(\Gamma\) is nilpotent and finitely generated, then \[ C(\Gamma):=C\big(\operatorname{Aut}(\Gamma),\Gamma\big)\simeq C\big(\operatorname{Aut}^\ast(\Gamma),\Gamma^\ast\big), \] where \(\Gamma^\ast\) is the factor group of the torsion part in the abelinization of \(\Gamma\), and \[ \operatorname{Aut}^\ast(\Gamma)=\operatorname{Im}\big(\operatorname{Aut}(\Gamma)\longrightarrow\operatorname{Aut}\big(\Gamma^\ast\big)\big) \] (see Theorem 1.1). This means that for such~\(\Gamma\)'s, the study of \(C(\Gamma)\) is reduced to the study of \(C\big(\mathbb{Z}^{(d)},X\big)\), where \(X\) is an arithmetic subgroups of \(\operatorname{GL}_d(\mathbb{Z})\). In particular, one has that \(C(\Gamma)\simeq C\big(\mathbb{Z}^{(n)}\big)\) when \(\Gamma\) is a free nilpotent group of class \(c\) on \(n\) elements (see Corollary 1.2). It should be noted that the authors sketch a direct proof of their main result in case of a finitely generated, free nilpotent group (see Section 4).

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