Finite axiomatizability of the rank and the dimension of a pro-\pi group

Abstract: The Pr"ufer rank

m a t h r m r k (G)

of a profinite group

G

is the supremum, across all open subgroups

H

of

G

, of the minimal number of generators

m a t h r m d (H)

. It is known that, for any given prime

p

, a profinite group

G

admits the structure of a

p

-adic analytic group if and only if

G

is virtually a pro-

p

group of finite rank. The dimension

d i m G

of a

p

-adic analytic profinite group

G

is the analytic dimension of

G

as a

p

-adic manifold; it is known that

d i m G

coincides with the rank

m a t h r m r k (U)

of any uniformly powerful open pro-

p

subgroup

U

of

G

. Let

p i

be a finite set of primes, let

r i n m a t h b b N

and let

m a t h b f r = (r_{p})_{p i n p i}, m a t h b f d = (d_{p})_{p i n p i}

be tuples in

0, 1, l d o t s, r

. We show that there is a single sentence

s i g m a_{p i, r, m a t h b f r, m a t h b f d}

in the first-order language of groups such that for every pro-

p i

group

G

the following are equivalent: (i)

s i g m a_{p i, r, m a t h b f r, m a t h b f d}

holds true in the group

G

, that is,

G m o d e l s s i g m a_{p i, r, m a t h b f r, m a t h b f d}

; (ii)

G

has rank

r

and, for each

p i n p i

, the Sylow pro-

p

subgroups of

G

have rank

r_{p}

and dimension

d_{p}

. Loosely speaking, this shows that, for a pro-

p i

group

G

of bounded rank, the precise rank of

G

as well as the ranks and dimensions of the Sylow subgroups of

G

can be recognized by a single sentence in the first-order language of groups.

Recommendations

This page was built for publication: Finite axiomatizability of the rank and the dimension of a pro-$\pi$ group