Related papers: A new construction for the shortest non-trivial el…

We provide upper and lower bounds on the length of the shortest non-trivial element in the derived series and lower central series in the free group on two generators. The techniques are used to provide new estimates on the nilpotent…

Every finite group $G$ has a normal series each of whose factors is either a solvable group or a direct product of non-abelian simple groups. The minimum number of nonsolvable factors, attained on all possible such series in $G$, is called…

Every finite group $G$ has a normal series each of whose factors is either a solvable group or a direct product of nonabelian simple groups. The minimum number of nonsolvable factors attained on all possible such series is called the…

For surface groups and right-angled Artin groups, we prove lower bounds on the shortest word in the generators representing a nontrivial element of the kth term of the lower central series.

We provide new bounds for the divisibility function of the free group F_2 and construct short laws for the symmetric groups Sym(n). The construction is random and relies on the classification of the finite simple groups. We also give bounds…

We prove that for every $n \in \mathbb{N}$ and $\delta>0$ there exists a word $w_n \in F_2$ of length $n^{2/3} \log(n)^{3+\delta}$ which is a law for every finite group of order at most $n$. This improves upon the main result of [A. Thom,…

For a finitely generated lawless group $\Gamma$ and $n \in \mathbb{N}$, let $\mathcal{A}_{\Gamma} (n)$ be the minimal positive integer $M_n$ such that for all nontrivial reduced words $w$ of length at most $n$ in the free group of fixed…

Let G be a finite solvable group, and let h(G) denote its Fitting height, namely the length of a shortest normal series in G with nilpotent factors. We show, that any law in G has length at least h(G). This result is then used to improve a…

Every finite group $G$ has a normal series each of whose factors either is soluble or is a direct product of nonabelian simple groups. We define the nonsoluble length $\lambda (G)$ as the minimum number of nonsoluble factors in a series of…

The normal covering number $\gamma(G)$ of a finite, non-cyclic group $G$ is the minimum number of proper subgroups such that each element of $G$ lies in some conjugate of one of these subgroups. We find lower bounds linear in $n$ for…

Given an infinite linear group with a finite set of generators, we show that the shortest word length of an element of infinite order has an upper bound that depends only on the number of generators and the degree. This provides a…

We study the following question: under what conditions extension of one residually nilpotent group by another residually nilpotent group is residually nilpotent? We prove some sufficient conditions under which this extension is residually…

We give various estimates of the minimal number of self-intersections of a nontrivial element of the kth term of the lower central series and derived series of the fundamental group of a surface. As an application, we obtain a new…

Let $G$ be a finite group of order $n$, and denote by $\rho(G)$ the product of element orders of $G$. The aim of this work is to provide some upper bounds for $\rho(G)$ depending only on $n$ and on its least prime divisor, when $G$ belongs…

The normal covering number $\gamma(G)$ of a finite, non-cyclic group $G$ is the least number of proper subgroups such that each element of $G$ lies in some conjugate of one of these subgroups. We prove that there is a positive constant $c$…

We show that the minimum number of vertices of a simplicial complex with fundamental group $\mathbb{Z}^{n}$ is at most $O(n)$ and at least $\Omega(n^{3/4})$. For the upper bound, we use a result on orthogonal 1-factorizations of $K_{2n}$.…

We produce new short laws in two variables valid in finite groups of Lie type. Our result improves upon results of Kozma and the second named author, and is sharp up to logarithmic factors, for all families except possibly the Suzuki…

Let $\gamma(S_n)$ be the minimum number of proper subgroups $H_i$ of the symmetric group $S_n$ such that each element in $S_n$ lies in some conjugate of one of the $H_i.$ In this paper we conjecture that…

We show that Thompson's group F does not satisfy Cannon's almost convexity condition AC(n) for any integer n in the standard finite two generator presentation. To accomplish this, we construct a family of pairs of elements at distance n…

For a non-cyclic finite group $G$, let $\gamma(G)$ denote the smallest number of conjugacy classes of proper subgroups of $G$ needed to cover $G$. Bubboloni, Praeger and Spiga, motivated by questions in number theory, have recently…