No Arabic abstract
We introduce and investigate a class of profinite groups defined via extensions of centralizers analogous to the extensively studied class of finitely generated fully residually free groups, that is, limit groups (in the sense of Z. Sela). From the fact that the profinite completion of limit groups belong to this class, results on their group-theoretical structure and homological properties are obtained.
The article deals with profinite groups in which the centralizers are pronilpotent (CN-groups). It is shown that such groups are virtually pronilpotent. More precisely, let G be a profinite CN-group, and let F be the maximal normal pronilpotent subgroup of G. It is shown that F is open and the structure of the finite quotient G/F is described in detail.
A group $G$ is said to have restricted centralizers if for each $g$ in $G$ the centralizer $C_G(g)$ either is finite or has finite index in $G$. Shalev showed that a profinite group with restricted centralizers is virtually abelian. Given a set of primes $pi$, we take interest in profinite groups with restricted centralizers of $pi$-elements. It is shown that such a profinite group has an open subgroup of the form $Ptimes Q$, where $P$ is an abelian pro-$pi$ subgroup and $Q$ is a pro-$pi$ subgroup. This significantly strengthens a result from our earlier paper.
The article deals with profinite groups in which the centralizers are abelian (CA-groups), that is, with profinite commutativity-transitive groups. It is shown that such groups are virtually pronilpotent. More precisely, let G be a profinite CA-group. It is shown that G has a normal open subgroup N which is either abelian or pro-p. Further, a rather detailed information about the finite quotient G/N is obtained.
The article deals with profinite groups in which centralizers are virtually procyclic. Suppose that G is a profinite group such that the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually torsion-free while the centralizer of every element of infinite order is virtually procyclic. We show that G is either virtually pro-p for some prime p or virtually torsion-free procyclic. The same conclusion holds for profinite groups in which the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually procyclic; moreover, if G is not pro-p, then G has finite rank.
Let $q$ be a prime, $n$ a positive integer and $A$ an elementary abelian group of order $q^r$ with $rgeq2$ acting on a finite $q$-group $G$. The following results are proved. We show that if all elements in $gamma_{r-1}(C_G(a))$ are $n$-Engel in $G$ for any $ain A^#$, then $gamma_{r-1}(G)$ is $k$-Engel for some ${n,q,r}$-bounded number $k$, and if, for some integer $d$ such that $2^dleq r-1$, all elements in the $d$th derived group of $C_G(a)$ are $n$-Engel in $G$ for any $ain A^#$, then the $d$th derived group $G^{(d)}$ is $k$-Engel for some ${n,q,r}$-bounded number $k$. Assuming $rgeq 3$ we prove that if all elements in $gamma_{r-2}(C_G(a))$ are $n$-Engel in $C_G(a)$ for any $ain A^#$, then $gamma_{r-2}(G)$ is $k$-Engel for some ${n,q,r}$-bounded number $k$, and if, for some integer $d$ such that $2^dleq r-2$, all elements in the $d$th derived group of $C_G(a)$ are $n$-Engel in $C_G(a)$ for any $ain A^#,$ then the $d$th derived group $G^{(d)}$ is $k$-Engel for some ${n,q,r}$-bounded number $k$. Analogue (non-quantitative) results for profinite groups are also obtained.