On profinite groups with positive rank gradient

ON FREE PROFINITE GROUPS OF UNCOUNTABLE RANK∗ by

Rank gradient and torsion groups

We construct first examples of infinite finitely generated residually finite torsion groups with positive rank gradient. In particular, these groups are non-amenable. Some applications to problems about cost and L-Betti numbers are discussed.

Profinite Groups

γ = c0 + c1p+ c2p + · · · = (. . . c3c2c1c0)p, with ci ∈ Z, 0 ≤ ci ≤ p− 1, called the digits of γ. This ring has a topology given by a restriction of the product topology—we will see this below. The ring Zp can be viewed as Z/pZ for an ‘infinitely high’ power n. This is a useful idea, for example, in the study of Diophantine equations: if such an equation has a solution in the integers, then it...

Cohomology of Profinite Groups

A directed set I is a partially ordered set such that for all i, j ∈ I there exists a k ∈ I such that k ≥ i and k ≥ j. An inverse system of groups is a collection of groups {Gi} indexed by a directed set I together with group homomorphisms πij : Gi −→ Gj whenever i ≥ j such that πii = idGi and πjk ◦ πij = πik. Let H be a group. We call a family of homomorphisms {ψi : H −→ Gi : i ∈ I} compatible...

Cohomology of Profinite Groups

The aim of this thesis is to study profinite groups of type FPn. These are groups G which admit a projective resolution P of Ẑ as a ẐJGK-module such that P0, . . . , Pn are finitely generated, so this property can be studied using the tools of profinite group cohomology. In studying profinite groups it is often useful to consider their cohomology groups with profinite coefficients, but pre-exis...