In this paper we initiate a systematic study of the abstract commensurators of profinite groups. The abstract commensurator of a profinite group G is a group Comm(G) which depends only on the commensurability class of G. We study various properties of Comm(G); in particular, we find two natural ways to turn it into a topological group. We also use Comm(G) to study topological groups which contain G as an open subgroup (all such groups are totally disconnected and locally compact). For instance, we construct a topologically simple group which contains the pro-2 completion of the Grigorchuk group as an open subgroup. On the other hand, we show that some profinite groups cannot be embedded as open subgroups of compactly generated topologically simple groups. Several celebrated rigidity theorems, such as Pink’s analogue of Mostow’s strong rigidity theorem for simple algebraic groups defined over local fields and the Neukirch-Uchida theorem, can be reformulated as structure theorems for the commensurators of certain profinite groups.

Barnea, Y., Ershov, M., Weigel, T. (2011). Abstract commensurators of profinite groups. TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY, 363(10), 5381-5417 [10.1090/S0002-9947-2011-05295-5].

Abstract commensurators of profinite groups

WEIGEL, THOMAS STEFAN
2011

Abstract

In this paper we initiate a systematic study of the abstract commensurators of profinite groups. The abstract commensurator of a profinite group G is a group Comm(G) which depends only on the commensurability class of G. We study various properties of Comm(G); in particular, we find two natural ways to turn it into a topological group. We also use Comm(G) to study topological groups which contain G as an open subgroup (all such groups are totally disconnected and locally compact). For instance, we construct a topologically simple group which contains the pro-2 completion of the Grigorchuk group as an open subgroup. On the other hand, we show that some profinite groups cannot be embedded as open subgroups of compactly generated topologically simple groups. Several celebrated rigidity theorems, such as Pink’s analogue of Mostow’s strong rigidity theorem for simple algebraic groups defined over local fields and the Neukirch-Uchida theorem, can be reformulated as structure theorems for the commensurators of certain profinite groups.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Commensurator; profinite groups, totally-disconnected locally compact groups
English
2011
363
10
5381
5417
none
Barnea, Y., Ershov, M., Weigel, T. (2011). Abstract commensurators of profinite groups. TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY, 363(10), 5381-5417 [10.1090/S0002-9947-2011-05295-5].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/44103
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