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

Let $w=w(x_1,...,x_n)$ be a word, i.e. an element of the free group $F = \langle x_1,...,x_n \rangle$. The verbal subgroup $w(G)$ of a group $G$ is the subgroup generated by the set $\{ w(x_1,...,x_n) : x_1,...,x_n \in G \}$ of all…

For a family of group words $w$ we show that if $G$ is a profinite group in which all $w$-values are contained in a union of finitely many subgroups with a prescribed property, then $w(G)$ has the same property as well. In particular, we…

For $G$ a finite group, let $d_2(G)$ denote the proportion of triples $(x, y, z) \in G^3$ such that $[x, y, z] = 1$. We determine the structure of finite groups $G$ such that $d_2(G)$ is bounded away from zero: if $d_2(G) \geq \epsilon >…

Let $q$ be a prime and $A$ an elementary abelian group of order at least $q^3$ acting by automorphisms on a finite $q'$-group $G$. It is proved that if $|\gamma_{\infty}(C_{G}(a))|\leq m$ for any $a\in A^{\#}$, then the order of…

Let $G$ be a finite group of order $n$, and $Z_G=\mathbb{Z}\langle\zeta_{i,g}\mid g\in G,\ i=1,2,\dots,n\rangle$ be the free generic algebra, with canonical action of $G$ according to $(\zeta_{i,g})^x=\zeta_{i,x^{-1}g}$. It is proved that…

A conjecture of Rosenberger says that a group of the form $\langle x,y|x^p=y^q=W(x,y)^r=1\rangle$ (with $r>1$) is either virtually solvable or contains a non-abelian free subgroup. This note is an account of an attack on the conjecture in…

A subset $S$ of a group $G$ is called an Engel set if, for all $x,y\in S$, there is a non-negative integer $n=n(x,y)$ such that $[x,\,_n y]=1$. In this paper we are interested in finding conditions for a group generated by a finite Engel…

Let v and w be nontrivial words in two free groups. We prove that, for all sufficiently large finite non-abelian simple groups G, there exist subsets C of v(G) and D of w(G) of size such that every element of G can be realized in at least…

A group word $w$ is said to be strongly concise in a class $\mathscr C$ of profinite groups if, for any group $G$ in $\mathscr C$, either $w$ takes at least continuum values in $G$ or the verbal subgroup $w(G)$ is finite. It is conjectured…

In this short note we confirm a conjecture of James Wiegold. We prove that if $G$ is a finite $p$-group and $|G'|>p^{n(n-1)/2}$ for some non-negative integer $n$, then the group $G$ can be generated by the elements of breadth at least $n$.…

For a group G and an element a in G let |a|_k denote the cardinality of the set of commutators [a,x_1,...,x_k], where x_1,...,x_k range over G. The main result of the paper states that a group G is finite-by-nilpotent if and only if there…

Let $w$ be a word in $k$ variables. For a finite nilpotent group $G$, a conjecture of Amit states that $N_w(1) \ge |G|^{k-1}$, where $N_w(1)$ is the number of $k$-tuples $(g_1,...,g_k)\in G^{(k)}$ such that $w(g_1,...,g_k)=1$. Currently,…

Given a group word $w$ and a group $G$, the set of $w$-values in $G$ is denoted by $G_w$ and the verbal subgroup $w(G)$ is the one generated by $G_w$. In the present paper we consider profinite groups admitting a word $w$ such that the…

We prove that a random group, in Gromov's density model with $d < 1/16$ satisfies with overwhelming probability a universal-existential first-order sentence $\sigma$ (in the language of groups) if and only if $\sigma$ is true in a…

The probabilistic Waring problem for finite simple groups asks whether every word of the form $w_1w_2$, where $w_1$ and $w_2$ are non-trivial words in disjoint sets of variables, induces almost uniform distribution on finite simple groups…

A positive integer $m$ will be called a {\it finitistic order} for an element $\gamma$ of a group $\Gamma$ if there exist a finite group $G$ and a homomorphism $h:\Gamma\to G$ such that $h(\gamma)$ has order $m$ in $G$. It is shown that up…

A group $G$ is said to be $\frac{3}{2}$-generated if every nontrivial element belongs to a generating pair. It is easy to see that if $G$ has this property then every proper quotient of $G$ is cyclic. In this paper we prove that the…

Given a group-word $w$ and a group $G$, the set of $w$-values in $G$ is denoted by $G_w$ and the verbal subgroup $w(G)$ is the one generated by $G_w$. The word $w$ is concise if $w(G)$ is finite for all groups $G$ in which $G_w$ is finite.…

Let B be any Lp space for p in (1,infty) or any Banach space isomorphic to a Hilbert space, and k be a nonnegative integer. We show that if n is at least 4, then the universal lattice Gamma =SL_n (Z[x1,...,xk]) has property (F_B) in the…

For a finite group $G,$ we investigate the direct graph $\Gamma(G),$ whose vertices are the non-hypercentral elements of $G$ and where there is an edge $x\mapsto y$ if and only if $[x,_ny]=1$ for some $n \in \mathbb N.$ We prove that…