English

Convergent sequences in discrete groups

Group Theory 2019-08-15 v3 Functional Analysis

Abstract

We prove that a finitely generated group contains a sequence of non-trivial elements which converge to the identity in every compact homomorphic image if and only if the group is not virtually abelian.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1003.4093,
  title  = {Convergent sequences in discrete groups},
  author = {Andreas Thom},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.4093},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

10 pages, no figures; in v2 some material on Jordan's Theorem and Chu duality added; v3 updated version, to appear in the Canadian Math. Bulletin

R2 v1 2026-06-21T15:00:35.754Z