Related papers: A generalization of a question asked by B. H. Neum…

If w is a word in d>1 letters and G is a finite group, evaluation of w on a uniformly randomly chosen d-tuple in G gives a random variable with values in G, which may or may not be uniform. It is known that if G ranges over finite simple…

Given a group-word w and a group G, the verbal subgroup w(G) is the one generated by all w-values in G. The word w is called concise if w(G) is finite whenever the set of w-values in G is finite. It is an open question whether every word is…

We study the impact of certain identities and probabilistic identities on the structure of finite groups. More specifically, let $w$ be a nontrivial word in $d$ distinct variables and let $G$ be a finite group for which the word map…

Let $m,n$ be positive integers. Suppose that $G$ is a residually finite group in which for every element $x \in G$ there exists a positive integer $q=q(x) \leqslant m$ such that $x^q$ is $n$-Engel. We show that $G$ is locally virtually…

We show that, for a finitely generated residually finite group $\Gamma$, the word $[x_1, \ldots, x_k]$ is a probabilistic identity of $\Gamma$ if and only if $\Gamma$ is virtually nilpotent of class less than $k$. Related results,…

Consider a group word w in n letters. For a compact group G, w induces a map G^n \rightarrow G$ and thus a pushforward measure {\mu}_w on G from the Haar measure on G^n. We associate to each word w a 2-dimensional cell complex X(w) and…

Given a finite group $G$, we denote by $\nu(G)$ the probability that two randomly chosen elements of $G$ generate a nilpotent subgroup. We prove that if $\nu(G)>1/12,$ then $G$ is solvable.

We show that there is a positive constant $\delta < 1$ such that the probability of satisfying either the $2$-Engel identity $[X_1, X_2, X_2] = 1$ or the metabelian identity $[[X_1, X_2], [X_3, X_4]] = 1$ in a finite group is either $1$ or…

In 1968, John Thompson proved that a finite group $G$ is solvable if and only if every $2$-generator subgroup of $G$ is solvable. In this paper, we prove that solvability of a finite group $G$ is guaranteed by a seemingly weaker condition:…

Let $g$ be an element of a group $G$. For a positive integer $n$, let $E_n(g)$ be the subgroup generated by all commutators $[...[[x,g],g],\dots ,g]$ over $x\in G$, where $g$ is repeated $n$ times. We prove that if $G$ is a profinite group…

Let F_m be a free group of a finite rank m > 1 and X_i, Y_j be elements in F_m. A non-empty word w(x_1,..., x_n) is called a C-test word in n letters for F_m if, whenever w(X_1,..., X_n)=w(Y_1,..., Y_n) not equal to 1, the two n-tuples…

Let $w = w(x_1,..., x_n)$ be a word, i.e. an element of the free group $F =<x_1,...,x_n>$ on $n$ generators $x_1,..., x_n$. The verbal subgroup $w(G)$ of a group $G$ is the subgroup generated by the set $\{w (g_1,...,g_n)^{\pm 1} | g_i \in…

The main result of the paper is the following theorem. Let $q$ be a prime, $n$ a positive integer and $A$ an elementary abelian group of order $q^2$. Suppose that $A$ acts coprimely on a finite group $G$ and assume that for each $a\in…

The word $w=[x_{i_1},x_{i_2},\dots,x_{i_k}]$ is a simple commutator word if $k\geq 2, i_1\neq i_2$ and $i_j\in \{1,\dots,m\}$, for some $m>1$. For a finite group $G$, we prove that if $i_{1} \neq i_j$ for every $j\neq 1$, then the verbal…

Let $G$ be a finite simple group. By a theorem of Guralnick and Kantor, $G$ contains a conjugacy class $C$ such that for each non-identity element $x \in G$, there exists $y \in C$ with $G = \langle x,y\rangle$. Building on this deep…

Given a group-word w and a group G, the verbal subgroup w(G) is the one generated by all w-values in G. The word w is said to be concise if w(G) is finite whenever the set of w-values in G is finite. In the sixties P. Hall asked whether…

Let w be a group word. It is conjectured that if w has only countably many values in a profinite group G, then the verbal subgroup w(G) is finite. In the present paper we confirm the conjecture in the cases where w is a multilinear…

Given an action by a finite quantum group $\mathbb{G}$ on a von Neumann algebra $M$, we prove that a number of familiar $W^*$ properties are equivalent for $M$ and the fixed-point algebra $M^{\mathbb{G}}$ (i.e. hold or not simultaneously…

Let $G$ be a finite simple group. In this paper we consider the existence of small subsets $A$ of $G$ with the property that, if $y \in G$ is chosen uniformly at random, then with high probability $y$ invariably generates $G$ together with…

Let $K$ be a subgroup of a finite group $G$. The probability that an element of $G$ commutes with an element of $K$ is denoted by $Pr(K,G)$. Assume that $Pr(K,G)\geq\epsilon$ for some fixed $\epsilon>0$. We show that there is a normal…