English

The automorphism tower of a centerless group (mostly) without choice

Logic 2007-05-23 v1 Group Theory

Abstract

For a centerless group G, we can define its automorphism tower. We define G^{alpha} : G^0=G, G^{alpha +1}=Aut(G^alpha) and for limit ordinals G^delta=bigcup_{alpha < delta}G^alpha . Let tau_G be the ordinal when the sequence stabilizes. Thomas' celebrated theorem says tau_G<2^{|G|})^{+} and more. If we consider Thomas' proof too set theoretical, we have here a shorter proof with little set theory. However, set theoretically we get a parallel theorem without the axiom of choice. We attach to every element in G^alpha, the alpha-th member of the automorphism tower of G, a unique quantifier free type over G (whish is a set of words from G*< x>). This situation is generalized by defining ``(G,A) is a special pair''.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0606216,
  title  = {The automorphism tower of a centerless group (mostly) without choice},
  author = {Itay Kaplan and Saharon Shelah},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0606216},
  year   = {2007}
}