English

Almost Engel finite and profinite groups

Group Theory 2016-06-02 v2

Abstract

Let gg be an element of a group GG. For a positive integer nn, let En(g)E_n(g) be the subgroup generated by all commutators [...[[x,g],g],,g][...[[x,g],g],\dots ,g] over xGx\in G, where gg is repeated nn times. We prove that if GG is a profinite group such that for every gGg\in G there is n=n(g)n=n(g) such that En(g)E_n(g) is finite, then GG has a finite normal subgroup NN such that G/NG/N is locally nilpotent. The proof uses the Wilson--Zelmanov theorem saying that Engel profinite groups are locally nilpotent. In the case of a finite group GG, we prove that if, for some nn, En(g)m|E_n(g)|\leq m for all gGg\in G, then the order of the nilpotent residual γ(G)\gamma _{\infty}(G) is bounded in terms of mm.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.06097,
  title  = {Almost Engel finite and profinite groups},
  author = {E. I. Khukhro and P. Shumyatsky},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.06097},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

Minor corrections implemented

R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:13:40.014Z