In this paper we study the set Γn of nth-powers in certain finitely generated groups Γ. We show that, if Γ is soluble or linear, and Γn contains a finite index subgroup, then Γ is nilpotent-by-finite. We also show that, if Γ is linear and Γn has finite index (i.e. Γ may be covered by finitely many translations of Γn), then Γ is soluble-by-finite. The proof applies invariant measures on amenable...

A graph monoid is a commutative monoid for which there is a particularly simple presentation, given in terms of a quiver. Such monoids are known to satisfy various nonstable K-theoretical representability properties for either von Neumann regular rings or C*-algebras. We give a characterization of graph monoids within finitely generated antisymmetric refinement monoids. This characterization is...