Cyclic regulating balanced Butler groups (Q1963828)

A torsion-free Abelian group \(X\) is called completely decomposable if it is isomorphic to a finite direct sum of subgroups of the additive rationals \(\mathbb{Q}\); and almost completely decomposable if it contains a completely decomposable group \(A\) as a subgroup of finite index. If the index \(|X/A|\) is minimal among all such, the group \(A\) is called a regulating subgroup of the acd group \(X\) and \(|X/A|\) is called the regulating index. If \(A\) can also be chosen so that \(X/A\) is a cyclic group, then \(X\) is called a cyclic regulating acd group. One important tool in the study of acd groups is the fact that the intersection of all regulating subgroups of \(X\) is again a completely decomposable group of finite index, called the regulator of \(X\) and denoted \(R(X)\). If \(\tau\) is a type (isomorphism class of subgroups of \(\mathbb{Q}\)), then \(X(\tau)=\{x\in X:\text{type}(x)\geq\tau\}\). The Burkhardt invariants for \(X\) are defined by \(\beta_\tau(X)=\text{exponent}[X(\tau)/R(X(\tau))]\) where \(\tau\) ranges over the typeset of \(X\). If \(S\) is a subset of the typeset, then \(\beta_S(X)=\text{lcm}\{\beta_\tau(X):\tau\in S\}\). Denote by \(K(0)\) the class of homomorphic images of completely decomposable groups. Then for \(n\geq 1\), let \(K(n)\) be the set of all groups \(G\) for which there is a short exact sequence \(0\to G\to C\to H\to 0\) with \(C\) completely decomposable and \(H\in K(n-1)\). The Kravchenko classes \(K(n)\) form a descending chain whose intersection is the class of completely decomposable groups. Theorem 2.5. Let \(X\) be a cyclic regulating acd group and \(A\) a regulating subgroup such that \(X/A\) is cyclic. Then, for \(n\geq 0\), \(X\in K(n)\) if and only if for every subset \(S\) of \(\text{typeset}(X)\) with \(|S|\leq n+1\), we have \(\beta_S(X)\) is the regulating index of the pure subgroup generated by \(\sum_{\tau\in S}X(\tau)\). Suppose \(X\) is a cyclic regulating acd group and \(A\) is a regulating subgroup so that \(X/A=\langle x+A\rangle\) for some \(x\in X\). Express \(A=\bigoplus A_\tau\) as a direct sum of homogeneous components. Then if \(m\) is the order of \(x+A\), we have \(mx\in A\) and can write \(mx=\bigoplus a_\tau\) with \(a_\tau\in A_\tau\). Denote by \(m_\tau\) the order of \(a_\tau+mA\) in \(X/mA\). Though not stated specifically in the paper, the \(m_\tau=m_\tau(X)\) are invariants of the group \(X\). The question arises as to what sets of invariants \(m_\tau\) may be ``realized'' by a cyclic regulating acd group \(X\). Given a finite set \(T\) of types and a set \(\{m_\tau:\tau\in T\}\) of positive integers, for each subset \(S\) of the meet closure of \(T\) in the lattice of types, define \[ \beta_S=\begin{cases}\text{lcm}\{m_\tau:\tau\in T\}=m_T\text{ if for each }\tau\in T\text{ there exists }\sigma\in S\text{ such that }\sigma\geq\tau;\\ \gcd\{m_T/m_\tau:\tau\ngeq\sigma\text{ for each }\sigma\in S\},\text{ otherwise}.\end{cases} \] The realization theorem is then Theorem 3.5. Given \(n\geq 0\), a finite anti-chain \(T\) of types, and a set \(\{m_\tau:\tau\in T\}\) of positive integers, there exists a cyclic regulating acd group \(X\in K(n)\), with critical typeset contained in \(T\) and \(m_\tau(X)=m_\tau\) if and only if the following conditions are satisfied: (1) If the prime \(p\) divides \(m_\tau\), then \(\tau\) is not \(p\)-divisible. (2) For any subset \(S\) of \(T\) with \(|S|\leq n+1\), \(\text{lcm}\{m_\tau:\tau\not\in S\}=\text{lcm}\{m_\tau:\tau\in T\}\). (3) For any subset \(S\) of the meet closure of \(T\) in the lattice of types with \(|S|\leq n+1\), we have \(\beta_S=\text{lcm}\{\beta_\tau:\tau\in S\}\). The author also proves a structure theorem for \(p\)-primary cyclic regulating acd groups \(X\) with no completely decomposable summands that belong to \(K(n)\) (Theorem 3.8). The structure invariants arise from writing \(X=A+\mathbb{Z} p^{-m}a\), where \(A\) is a regulating subgroup such that \(X/A\) is a cyclic \(p\)-group (\(p\) a prime) and \(a\in A\).