On the profinite rigidity of free and surface groups

arXiv2211.12390MaRDI QIDQ6418138FDOQ6418138

Authors: Ismael Morales 

Publication date: 22 November 2022

Abstract: Let $S$ be either a free group or the fundamental group of a closed hyperbolic surface. We show that if $G$ is a finitely generated residually-$p$ group with the same pro-$p$ completion as $S$, then two-generated subgroups of $G$ are free. This generalises (and gives a new proof of) the analogous result of Baumslag for parafree groups. Our argument relies on the following new ingredient: if $G$ is a residually-(torsion-free nilpotent) group and $HleqG$ is a virtually polycyclic subgroup, then $H$ is nilpotent and the pro-$p$ topology of $G$ induces on $H$ its full pro-$p$ topology. Then we study applications to profinite rigidity. Remeslennikov conjectured that a finitely generated residually finite $G$ with profinite completion $widehatGcongwidehatS$ is necessarily $GcongS$. We confirm this when $G$ belongs to a class of groups $mathcal{H}_{ab}$ that has a finite abelian hierarchy starting with finitely generated residually free groups. This strengthens a previous result of Wilton that relies on the hyperbolicity assumption. Lastly, we prove that the group $Simes{mathbbZ}^n$ is profinitely rigid within finitely generated residually free groups.

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Free products of groups, free products with amalgamation, Higman-Neumann-Neumann extensions, and generalizations (20E06) Limits, profinite groups (20E18) Residual properties and generalizations; residually finite groups (20E26) Geometric group theory (20F65) Nilpotent groups (20F18) Cohomology of groups (20J06) Galois cohomology (11R34)

This page was built for publication: On the profinite rigidity of free and surface groups

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q6418138)