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Infinite Groups
In recent times, group theory has found wider applications in various fields of algebra and math-
ematics in general. But in order to apply this or that result, you need to know about it, and such
results are often diffuse and difficult to locate, necessitating that readers construct an extended
search through multiple monographs, articles, and papers. Such readers must wade through the
morass of concepts and auxiliary statements that are needed to understand the desired results,
while it is initially unclear which of them are really needed and which ones can be dispensed
with. A further difficulty that one may encounter might be concerned with the form or language
in which a given result is presented. For example, if someone knows the basics of group theory,
but does not know the theory of representations, and a group theoretical result is formulated in
the language of representation theory, then that person is faced with the problem of translating
this result into the language with which they are familiar, etc.
Infinite Groups: A Roadmap to Selected Classical Areas seeks to overcome this challenge.
The book covers a broad swath of the theory of infinite groups, without giving proofs, but with
all the concepts and auxiliary results necessary for understanding such results. In other words,
this book is an extended directory, or a guide, to some of the more established areas of infinite
groups.
Features
• An excellent resource for a subject formerly lacking an accessible and in-depth reference
• Suitable for graduate students, PhD students, and researchers working in group theory
• Introduces the reader to the most important methods, ideas, approaches, and constructions
in infinite group theory.
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Infinite Groups
A Roadmap to Selected Classical Areas
Martyn R. Dixon
University of Alabama, United States of America
Leonid A. Kurdachenko
Oles Honchar Dnipro National
University, Ukraine
Igor Ya. Subbotin
National University, USA
First edition published 2023
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
and by CRC Press

4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
© 2023 Martyn R. Dixon, Leonid A. Kurdachenko, Igor Ya. Subbotin
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot as-
sume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have
attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for iden-
tification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-0-367-70262-5 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-70697-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-14757-2 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003147572
Typeset in Latin Modern

by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
To our families.
Taylor & Francis
Contents
Preface xi
Authors xvii
Chapter 1 Important Subgroups 1
1.1 SOME IMPORTANT SERIES IN GROUPS AND SUBGROUPS

DEFINED BY THESE SERIES 4
1.2 CLASSES OF GROUPS DEFINED BY SERIES OF SUBGROUPS 12
1.3 RADICABLE GROUPS 18
1.4 SOMETHING FROM THE THEORY OF MODULES 21
1.5 THE 0-RANK AND p-RANK OF ABELIAN GROUPS 22
1.6 THE FRATTINI SUBGROUP OF A GROUP 25
1.7 LINEAR GROUPS 28
1.8 RESIDUALLY X-GROUPS 33
References for Chapter 1 41
Chapter 2 Finitely Generated Groups 49
2.1 THE GENERALIZED BURNSIDE PROBLEM 51

2.2 THE BURNSIDE PROBLEM FOR GROUPS OF FINITE EXPONENT 52
2.3 THE RESTRICTED BURNSIDE PROBLEM 54
2.4 GROWTH FUNCTIONS ON FINITELY GENERATED GROUPS 55
2.5 FINITELY PRESENTED GROUPS 58
2.6 GROUPS WITH THE MAXIMAL CONDITION FOR ALL SUBGROUPS 61
Chapter 3 Finiteness Conditions 83
3.1 THE MINIMAL CONDITION ON CERTAIN SYSTEMS OF

SUBGROUPS 83
vii
viii Contents
3.2 THE MINIMAL CONDITION ON NORMAL SUBGROUPS 90

3.3 ARTINIAN AND RELATED MODULES OVER SOME GROUP RINGS 93
3.4 MINIMAX GROUPS 102
3.5 THE WEAK MINIMAL CONDITION 107
3.6 THE WEAK MAXIMAL CONDITION 114
Chapter 4 Ranks of Groups 127
4.1 FINITE SPECIAL RANK AND FINITE SECTION p-RANK 127

4.2 FINITE 0-RANK 130
4.3 THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS RANK
CONDITIONS I 133
4.4 FINITE SECTION RANK 134
4.5 BOUNDED SECTION RANK 138
4.6 THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE VARIOUS RANK
CONDITIONS II 139
4.7 FINITELY GENERATED GROUPS 143
4.8 SYSTEMS OF SUBGROUPS SATISFYING RANK CONDITIONS 146
4.9 SOME RESIDUAL SYSTEMS 149
Chapter 5 Conjugacy Classes 159
5.1 AROUND “SCHUR’S THEOREM”, CENTRAL-BY-FINITE GROUPS

AND RELATED TOPICS 160
5.2 BOUNDED CONJUGACY CLASSES, FINITE-BY-ABELIAN GROUPS
AND RELATED CLASSES 172
5.3 GROUPS WITH FINITE CLASSES OF CONJUGATE ELEMENTS 177
5.4 SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS 192
Chapter 6 Generalized Normal Subgroups and their Opposites 203
6.1 GROUPS WHOSE SUBGROUPS ARE NORMAL, PERMUTABLE OR

SUBNORMAL 204
6.2 GROUPS HAVING A LARGE FAMILY OF NORMAL SUBGROUPS 211
Contents ix
6.3 GROUPS HAVING A LARGE FAMILY OF SUBNORMAL

SUBGROUPS 218
6.4 PAIRS OF OPPOSITE SUBGROUPS 225
6.5 TRANSITIVELY NORMAL SUBGROUPS 234
6.6 THE NORM OF A GROUP, THE WIELANDT SUBGROUP AND
RELATED TOPICS 243
6.7 THE NORM OF A GROUP AND THE QUASICENTRALIZER
CONDITION 249
Chapter 7 Locally Finite Groups 269
7.1 PRELIMINARIES 269

7.2 LARGE LOCALLY FINITE GROUPS 272
7.3 SIMPLE LOCALLY FINITE GROUPS 275
7.4 EXISTENTIALLY CLOSED GROUPS 282
7.5 CENTRALIZERS IN LOCALLY FINITE GROUPS 284
7.6 SYLOW THEORY IN LOCALLY FINITE GROUPS 288
7.7 CONJUGACY OF SYLOW SUBGROUPS 290
7.8 UNCONVENTIONAL SYLOW THEORIES 294
7.9 SATURATED FORMATIONS AND FITTING CLASSES 297
7.10 BARELY TRANSITIVE GROUPS 301
Bibliography 315
Author Index 377
Symbol Index 381
Subject Index 385

Taylor & Francis
Preface
“Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics,

the cultural world is one country”
David Hilbert
Group theory is a core algebraic discipline that emerged in the 19th century,
signalling a turning point in the history of algebra. Algebra became a completely
different subject, its tasks and goals changing dramatically. The abstract theory of
groups evolved slowly and the transition from the study of permutation groups and
transformation groups to the abstract concept of groups took several decades. With
the formation of the theory of finite groups, techniques for studying them began to
take shape. The description of groups of small order was a natural beginning. But as
the order increased, it became clear that the number of non-isomorphic groups of the
same order began to increase, significant differences in their structure became visi-
ble and reasonable questions about their classification began to arise. For example,
there are 267 non-isomorphic groups of order 64. It became clear that it would be
more effective to study the structure of a group by studying one or another system
of its subgroups. Important for the development of this approach were the works
of R. Dedekind, who determined the finite groups whose subgroups are normal, W.
Burnside, who described the finite p-groups having a cyclic maximal subgroup, G.
A. Miller, who studied the influence of cyclic subgroups on the structure of a finite
p–group, G. A. Miller and H. Moreno, who described the finite groups whose proper
subgroups are abelian, G. A. Miller, who described finite groups, whose proper sub-
groups are abelian or Dedekind and O. Yu. Schmidt, who described those finite groups
whose proper subgroups are nilpotent. The theorems of L. Sylow also demonstrated
their usefulness here.
The development of other mathematical disciplines, primarily geometry and
topology in the works of F. Klein, S. Lie, H. Poincaré and M. Dehn, required the
use of infinite groups and showed the need to create a theory of such groups. In doing
so, various approaches have been taken. By that time the theory of finite groups was
already quite established and it was reasonable to use the experience accumulated
there for the study of infinite groups. In this scenario, the study of infinite groups
was based on determining the influence of the properties of a particular system of
subgroups on the structure of the entire group. Aspects of this included the mutual
influence of these subgroups, the saturation of a group with certain subgroups, the
influence of the mutual arrangement of various types of subgroup, ways in which
subgroups were embedded, etc. The situations that arise here are much more diverse
than in finite groups. Often, the conditions that very rigidly determine the structure
xi
xii Preface
of a finite group become less important for infinite groups, although a similar effect
can be achieved by imposing other additional conditions, which, in turn, require fur-
ther analysis. Thus, in the case of torsion-free groups, for example, the situation is
completely different from finite groups.
An important role was also played here by the concurrent restructuring of algebra
carried out by E. Noether and her associates. One indicator of this was the signifi-
cant use of finiteness conditions (conditions that are automatically satisfied in finite
groups), whose use in the theory of rings and modules achieved spectacular success.
Finiteness conditions turned out to be just as useful, although not always so conclu-
sive, in group theory. Significant roles in the formulation of this approach were played
by the likes of P. Hall, R. Baer, O. Yu. Schmidt, A. G. Kurosh, H. Wielandt, A. I.
Maltsev, S. N. Chernikov, K. A. Hirsch, B. I. Plotkin, S. A. Chunikhin, B. H. Neu-
mann, M. Curzio and others.The key concepts of finiteness conditions were pushed
further by the next generation of algebraists; among them were B. A. F. Wehrfritz, J.
E. Roseblade, S. E. Stonehewer, R. E. Phillips, D. J. S. Robinson, J. Wiegold, J. C.
Lennox, M. J. Tomkinson, L. A. Kaluzhnin, B. Huppert, H. Heineken, O. H. Kegel,
W. Gaschütz, V. S. Charin, M. I. Kargapolov, V. M. Glushkov, Yu. I. Gorchakov, L.
A. Shemetkov, D. I. Zaitsev, V. P. Shunkov and B. Hartley. Their work was continued
not only by their students, but also by many other algebraists. The result of these
efforts was the creation of an important and extensive field of group theory, often
called “classical group theory” by some experts. One reason for this is that it was
created by people who themselves became classics of group theory. Its problems are
connected with the classical problems of group theory related to the description of
the structure of groups, and in this sense the subject matter is internal to the field.
This does not mean that its results do not find applications. A wide variety of meth-
ods and results from other disciplines such as the theory of rings and modules, linear
groups and non-associative rings and algebras are used, not just purely group theo-
retic techniques. Evidence of this comes, for example, from the methods incorporated
to solve the well-known long-standing problems of Burnside. Among the examples of
infinite finitely generated periodic groups, only the example of V. I. Sushchanskii was
constructed using a purely group theoretical technique. Among many other examples,
the intricate example of R. I. Grigorchuk can be distinguished by its elegance and
clarity of construction; many details concerning its structure are still emerging. The
examples constructed by A. Yu. Olshanskii use a very specific technique, showing how
complex and varied the situation with periodic groups can be. The positive solution
of the restricted Burnside problem obtained by E. I. Zelmanov was achieved using
the results he obtained for non-associative algebras.
The number of people working in group theory has skyrocketed. The number of
publications has also increased rapidly. On the other hand, the theory of groups,
unlike, for example, calculus, has practically no common methods. Thus, often its
branches, even in some areas close to each other, have a different methodology and
ideology. All the observations above are especially true for infinite group theory.
There is a large array of textbooks on group theory concerned with some of its
more important components; we provide details of such textbooks (understandably
incomplete) in the bibliography. Some of these textbooks, such as those of A. G.
Preface xiii
Kurosh, M. Hall, J. J. Rotman, H. Zassenhaus, W. R. Scott and others, are already

classics but have not lost any of their significance. They make it possible to obtain a
good background in group theory. There are other relatively new textbooks on group
theory, one of the best in our opinion being the text of D. J. S. Robinson. However,
textbooks themselves are limited to their main goal which is to give the basic ideas
of group theory. Even in recent textbooks, while the presentation of the material, the
order of presentation, approaches and methodology may vary, the range of the main
topics is basically the same. The breadth of the presentation and the size of the book
limit the depth of penetration into the results. Such a deep penetration is achieved
in monographs.
On one hand, there are few monographs devoted to special sections of group
theory in comparison with other fields of mathematics. On the other hand, each such
monograph is narrowly directed in many cases. In group theory, there are very few
methods and approaches that can be considered common. Maybe this is one of the
main sources of its beauty. Therefore, the presentation of the methodology, techniques
and constructions often occupies a significant number of such monographs. There are
also monographs devoted to the presentation of important constructions and the
description of their properties. Naturally, there are also results with proofs that are
cumbersome, and are divided into several technical lemmas. In a large array of results,
it is often impossible to single out the main ones, to determine their relationships,
and to realize the methodology for obtaining them. Such monographs are very useful
for people already working in this field, but this cools the ardor of many people who
do not work in this area. Researchers who work in another, perhaps closely related,
area sometimes cannot simply orient themselves in this neighboring region. Moreover,
they cannot always get to the results that could be useful to them. At the same time,
often simply using the results obtained in other areas, gives an opportunity for real
advancement in another particular area. Nevertheless, in order to use these results,
one must at least know about them. Over the course of our prolonged work in algebra,
especially with PhD-students and young mathematicians, we often observed that for
many of them, this was the point where the problems began. Another situation that
also occurs quite often is when a person works in one area, but then, for one reason
or another, decides to change research topics. This situation arises for many PhD-
students after defending their thesis and leaving their supervisor. To select the field
of research, we need to look at the overall picture of the results achieved in the area,
assess their significance, and see beyond them to determine the directions of possible
research.
In group theory, there is no recent book in which any interested person can find
a description of the surrounding landscape, with the chronological and semantic con-
nections with other results and ideas that are sufficiently detailed but not burdened
with evidence and constructions. Because of this the idea to try and write such a
book was born. Here, we give a form of survey. Each of us repeatedly had the oppor-
tunity to evaluate the usefulness of review articles, and this led us to choose exactly
this form of the book. We want to present the material from more or less general
positions. Thus, we want to convey to the reader not only a package of knowledge,
but also a certain well-proven ideology. This book only consists of definitions and
xiv Preface
theorems. We supply it with direct references to the articles, surveys and other books.
In some cases, we will not only show the final result but the main stages of its de-
velopment. As can be seen from our experience, some results, which are auxiliary,
but not very important, proved to be very significant in other studies, thus becoming
part of the general theory. We will try to exhibit such results. No proofs will be given
which makes it possible to provide a sufficiently deep penetration into the area, and
detailed references provide an opportunity, to those who need them, to find proofs
independently in the original articles.
It is clear that the range of topics under consideration will be limited. We have
no intention to make the entire theory of infinite groups the object of consideration.
The subject of this book is naturally limited to those areas of the theory of infinite
groups in which the authors are experts, and which interest them. Even so, some very
interesting topics have of necessity been left out.
Recently, group theory has found wider applications in various fields of algebra
and mathematics in general. But in order to apply this or that result, you need to
know about it. To find out about the result, you need to find an article in which
it is proved or a monograph in which it is cited. This can involve wading through
the gamut of concepts and auxiliary statements that are needed to understand the
desired result, while it is initially unclear which of them are really needed and which
ones can be dispensed with. Another difficulty that one may encounter is the form
in which the result is presented or the language in which it is presented. For ex-
ample, if a person knows the basics of group theory, but does not know the theory
of representations, and the group theoretical result is formulated in the language of
representation theory, then this person is faced with the problem of translating this
result into the language with which they are familiar, etc. The authors themselves
encountered similar circumstances at the beginning of their mathematical careers.
The idea to write a book covering a large area of infinite group theory in which the
results would be given without proof but with all the concepts and auxiliary results
necessary for understanding such results blossomed. In other words, we imagine some
form of an extended directory, a guide to the most developed areas of infinite groups.
As we can see, group theory, as any other mathematical theory, was developed by
many mathematicians from various countries from different parts of the world. The
current book again confirms the famous words of David Hilbert.
Acknowledgments
We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to The University of Alabama
(Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA) and National University (California, USA) for their
support of this work.
The authors would also like to thank their families for all their love and much
needed support while this work was in progress. An endeavor such as this is made
lighter by the joy that they bring. Finally, it is a pleasure to thank the staff of our
publishers for their co-operation and dedication. We would especially like to thank
Shashi Kumar for help with latex.
One of the authors of this book, L. A. Kurdachenko, is a professor at the National
University of Dnipro, Ukraine. During the final stages of writing this book, Russia
Preface xv
started its war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Some of the grandchildren
of L. A. Kurdachenko learned something that most people in the Western world
cannot imagine; they learned what air raids and cruise missile attacks are. L. A.
Kurdachenko was able to take his grandchildren to the United Kingdom. On the
way, his grandchildren had to spend 15 hours in a standard train carriage, where
there were more than 500 people. They were forced to freeze in the basement of
the Vinnitsa railway station during a massive bombardment by Russian hypersonic
missiles and to spend 8 hours on the Polish-Ukrainian border. L. A. Kurdachenko
wants to thank all the people in Ukraine, Poland, Great Britain, USA, Spain, Italy
and other countries who supported him during this difficult time and provided real
help. He also wants to thank the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of
Sciences, and especially Professor Piotr Nowak, for providing free accommodation in
Warsaw.
Martyn R. Dixon
Leonid A. Kurdachenko
Igor Ya. Subbotin
Taylor & Francis
Authors
Dr. Martyn R. Dixon is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Alabama.

He did undergraduate work at the University of Manchester and obtained his Ph.
D. at the University of Warwick under the guidance of Dr. Stewart Stonehewer. His
main interests in group theory include ranks of groups, infinite dimensional linear
groups, permutable subgroups and locally finite groups. He has written several books
and numerous articles concerned with group theory. He has been a visiting profes-
sor at various institutions including the University of Kentucky, Bucknell University,
Università degli Studi di Trento, the University of Napoli, the University of Salerno,
the University of Valencia and the University of Zarogoza.
Dr. Leonid A. Kurdachenko is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of

Geometry and Algebra of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University. He is one of the
most productive group theorists. His list of publications consists of more than 250
journal articles published in major mathematics journals in many countries around
the globe. He is an author of more than a dozen books published by such presti-
gious publishers as John Wiley and Sons (USA), Birkhäuser (Swiss), Word Scientific
(United Kingdom), and others. He served as an invited speaker and visiting professor
at many international conferences and universities. His research activities have been
supported by several prestigious international grants.
Dr. Igor Ya. Subbotin is a Professor at National University, USA. His main area
of research is algebra. His list of publications includes more than 170 articles in alge-
bra published in major mathematics journals around the globe. He has also authored
more than 50 articles in mathematics education dedicated mostly to the theoretical
basis of some topics in high school and college mathematics. Among his publications
there are several books published by such major publishing companies as Wiley and
Sons, World Scientific, Birkhäuser, and others. His research in algebra has been sup-
ported by several international prestigious grants, including grants issued by FEDER
funds from European Union, The National Research Committee of Spain and Aragon,
Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung), and others.
xvii
Taylor & Francis
CHAPTER 1
Important Subgroups, Series

of Subgroups and Related
Classes of Groups
In this first chapter, we begin by establishing some notation and collecting some
well-known facts which will prove to be useful throughout.
Perhaps, the most important types of subgroups of a group are the ones associated
with the key concept of commutativity, one of the strongest properties in algebra.
Therefore, when passing to the study of non-commutative groups, it is reasonable
to study groups saturated with certain types of commutative objects (specifically
subgroups, factor groups and families, such as series, of specific subgroups and factor
groups). One of the first such specific subgroups that is met in group theory is the
center of a group.
As usual if G is a group, then we let ζ(G) denote the center of the group G.
The size of this normal subgroup is an indicator as to how close to being abelian
the group is and of course G is abelian if and only G = ζ(G). In particular, the
size of the factor group G/ζ(G) can be considered as an indicator of the degree of
non-commutativity in the group G.
A group G is called central-by-finite if G/ζ(G) is finite.
For arbitrary elements x, y ∈ G we denote the (simple) commutator of x and y,
−1 −1
x y xy, by [x, y] and clearly [x, y] = 1 if and only if xy = yx.
As usual we’ll write y −1 xy as xy so that [x, y] = x−1 xy . Furthermore, a commu-
tator of weight n > 2 is defined recursively by
[x1 , x2 , . . . , xn−1 , xn ] = [[x1 , . . . , xn−1 ], xn ].
When x1 = x and x2 = x3 = · · · = xn+1 = y we often write
[x1 , . . . , xn+1 ] = [x,n y].
DOI: 10.1201/9781003147572-1 1
2 Infinite Groups
The following well-known properties hold for commutators.
1.1 Let G be a group and let x, y, z ∈ G. Then
(i) [x, y]−1 = [y, x];
(ii) [xy, z] = [x, z]y [y, z] and [x, yz] = [x, z][x, y]z ;
−1 −1
(iii) [x, y −1 ] = ([x, y]y )−1 and [x−1 , y] = ([x, y]x )−1 ;
(iv) (Hall-Witt identity) [x, y −1 , z]y [y, z −1 , x]z [z, x−1 , y]x = 1.
If X, Y are non-empty subsets of a group G, then the normal closure X Y of X

in Y is the subgroup hxy |x ∈ X, y ∈ Y i generated by all conjugates of elements of X
by elements of Y .
If Y is a subgroup of G, then X Y is a normal subgroup of hX, Y i and clearly it
is the smallest normal subgroup of hX, Y i containing X. Furthermore, we then have
X Y = X hX,Y i .
The commutator subgroup of X with Y is
[X, Y ] = h[x, y]|x ∈ X, y ∈ Y i
and since [y, x] = [x, y]−1 it is clear that [X, Y ] = [Y, X].
The subgroup G0 = [G, G] is called the commutator subgroup (or derived subgroup)
of the group G.
The factor group G/G0 is clearly abelian and if H is a normal subgroup of G
such that G/H is abelian, then G0 ≤ H. Figuratively speaking, G0 is also a com-
mutativity controller for the group G: the smaller G0 is, the closer the group G is
to being abelian. A group G is called finite-by-abelian if the derived subgroup G0 is
finite.
Let n > 2 and suppose that X1 , . . . , Xn are subsets of G. We recursively define
[X1 , X2 , . . . , Xn ] = [[X1 , . . . Xn−1 ], Xn ]
and if X = X1 = X2 = · · · = Xn , then we let [Y,n X] = [Y, X1 , X2 , . . . , Xn ].

The following properties hold for normal closures and commutator subgroups.
1.2 Let G be a group and let X, Y be non-empty subsets of G. Then
(i) if 1 ∈ Y , then X Y = hX, [X, Y ]i;
(ii) if H is a subgroup of G, then [X, H]H = [X, H] and [X, H, H] ≤ [X, H];
(iii) if K = hY i, then [X, K] = [X, Y ]K ;
(iv) if L = hXi, K = hY i, then [L, K] = ([X, Y ]L )K = [X, Y ]LK .

Important Subgroups 3
We next mention Hall’s three subgroup lemma (see [Hal58b]).
1.3 Let G be a group and let H, K, L be three subgroups of G. If V is a normal

subgroup of G containing any two of the three subgroups [H, K, L], [K, L, H] and
[L, H, K], then V also contains the third subgroup.
The following assertion is also useful when studying commutators.
1.4 Let G be a group and let A be an abelian normal subgroup of G. Then

(i) [A, x] = {[a, x]|a ∈ A} for each x ∈ G;
(ii) [A, hxi] = [A, x] for all x ∈ G;
(iii) If M is a subset of G, then [A, hM i] is the product of all [A, x], where x ∈ M ;
(iv) If M is a subset of G such that G = hCG (A), M i, then [A, G] is the product of
all [A, x] where x ∈ M .
The subgroups G0 and ζ(G) are special cases of the more general concepts of
verbal and marginal subgroups, which we now discuss.
Let X = {xn |n ∈ N} be a countable set and let F be the free group, freely
generated by X. Let W be a non-empty subset of F and let G be an arbitrary group.
Let w = xk11 xk22 . . . xknn ∈ W , where ki ∈ Z for 1 ≤ i ≤ n. If g1 , . . . , gn are elements of
G, then let
w(g1 , . . . , gn ) = g1k1 g2k2 . . . gnkn and
w(G) = hw(g1 , . . . , gn )|(g1 , . . . , gn ) ∈ G
|
×G×
{z
· · · × G}i.
n
The subgroup w(G) is called the verbal subgroup of G determined by the word w.
Also let W (G) = hw(G)|w ∈ W i. The subgroup W (G) is called the verbal sub-
group of G determined by W .
Clearly if w = x−1 −1 0
1 x2 x1 x2 , then w(G) = G .
A normal subgroup H of G is called W -marginal in G if
w(g1 , . . . , gj−1 , gj h, gj+1 , . . . gn ) = w(g1 , . . . , gj−1 , gj , gj+1 , . . . gn )
for all elements g1 , . . . , gn ∈ G, h ∈ H and all words w ∈ W . This is equivalent to the
following assertion:
uj ∈ gj H for 1 ≤ j ≤ n always implies w(g1 , . . . , gn ) = w(u1 , . . . , un ).
It is easy to show that the subgroup generated by all W -marginal subgroups of
G is the largest W -marginal subgroup of G, a subgroup that we denote by W ∗ (G).
Clearly, W ∗ (G) is a normal subgroup of G.
For example, if w = x−1 −1
1 x2 x1 x2 and W = {w} we see that if g ∈ G, h ∈ W (G),
∗
then [g, h] = [g, 1h] = [g, 1] = 1 so that h ∈ ζ(G). Conversely, if z ∈ ζ(G), then
[g1 , g2 z] = [g1 , g2 ] from which it follows that z ∈ W ∗ (G). Thus, in this case W ∗ (G) =
ζ(G).
We note here the following property.
4 Infinite Groups
1.5 Let W be a non-empty set of words. If G is a group such that W (G) is trivial,
then W ∗ (G) = G. Conversely, if W ∗ (G) = G, then W (G) is trivial.
Next, we give a generalization of the center of a group.
Let G be a group and let X be a class of groups. Let
XC(G) = {g ∈ G|G/CG ({g x |x ∈ G}) ∈ X}.
We note that in general XC(G) is not a subgroup of G, but we now give some
examples of classes of groups X for which XC(G) is in fact a characteristic subgroup
of G.
A class of groups X is called a formation of groups if it satisfies the conditions:
(F1) if G ∈ X and H is a normal subgroup of G, then G/H ∈ X,
(F2) if A, B are normal subgroups of G such that G/A, G/B ∈ X, then G/(A∩B) ∈ X
also.
It is easy to see that if X is a formation, then XC(G) is a characteristic subgroup
of G, called the XC-center of the group G.
If X is the class of trivial groups, then XC(G) is the center of G and if X is
the class of finite groups, then XC(G) is called the FC-center of G. In this case, we
usually write F C(G) rather than FC(G).
1.1 SOME IMPORTANT SERIES IN GROUPS AND SUBGROUPS DEFINED

BY THESE SERIES
Starting with the derived subgroup of a group G, we may construct the follow-
ing canonical series defined recursively by δ0 (G) = G, δ1 (G) = G0 , δα+1 (G) =
T
[δα (G), δα (G)], for ordinals α and δλ (G) = µ<λ δµ (G), for all limit ordinals λ. Thus,
we construct the lower derived series
G = δ0 (G) ≥ δ1 (G) ≥ . . . δα (G) ≥ δα+1 (G) ≥ . . . δτ (G) = D,

of the group G. Every term of this series is a characteristic subgroup of G and the
last term D of this series has the property that D = [D, D] = D0 .
A group G is said to be perfect if G = G0 .
Clearly, the factors δα (G)/δα+1 (G) are abelian for all α < γ. The length of this
series is called the derived length of the group G, which we denote by dl(G).
If the last term δγ (G) of the lower derived series of G is trivial, then G is called
hypoabelian. Furthermore, if in this case, the derived series of G is finite, then G is
called a soluble group. In this case the derived length is also called the solubility class
of the soluble group G. If dl(G) = 1, then G is abelian and when dl(G) = 2, then the
group G is called metabelian.
The commutator subgroup is also connected to a further canonical series of a
group G. Let γ1 (G) = G, γ2 (G) = [G, G] and recursively, γα+1 (G) = [γα (G), G], for
T
all ordinals α and γλ (G) = β<λ γβ (G), for all limit ordinals λ. The series
G = γ1 (G) ≥ γ2 (G) ≥ . . . γα (G) ≥ γα+1 (G) ≥ . . . γδ (G)
is called the lower central series of the group G. The terms of this series are called
hypocenters and they are again characteristic subgroups of G. The last term γδ (G) is
called the lower hypocenter and we have γδ (G) = [γδ (G), G].
We note that γα (G)/γα+1 (G) ≤ ζ(G/γα+ (G)).
Let H, K be normal subgroups of G such that H ≤ K. The factor group K/H
is called G-central if K/H ≤ ζ(G/H) (or CG (K/H) = G). Here CG (K/H) is the
preimage in G of CG/H (K/H). If CG (K/H) 6= G, then we say the factor K/H is
G-eccentric.
If the lower hypocenter of G is trivial, then the group G is called hypocentral.
Moreover, in this case if the lower central series of G is finite, then G is called
nilpotent. Then, the length of the lower central series is called the nilpotency class of
the group G, denoted by ncl (G). If ncl (G) = 1, then G is abelian.
We note the following properties of hypocenters, but begin by recalling that a
group G is called finitely generated if G contains a finite subset M such that the
subgroup generated by M coincides with G.
1.6 Let G be a group and let M be a subset of G such that G = hG0 , M i. Then
γn (G) = hγn+1 (G), [x1 , . . . , xn ]|xi ∈ M, for all ii,
for all natural numbers n. In particular, if G/G0 is finitely generated, then

γn (G)/γn+1 (G) is finitely generated for all natural numbers n.
A generalization of this result appears in a paper of D. J. S. Robinson [Rob68b].
1.7 Let X be a class of groups which contains every homomorphic image of the
tensor product of two abelian X-groups. If G is a group such that the factor group
G/G0 ∈ X, then γn (G)/γn+1 (G) ∈ X for each natural number n.
The following results are also well known.
1.8 Let G be a group. If j, k are natural numbers, then [γj (G), γk (G)] ≤ γj+k (G)
and γj (γk (G)) ≤ γjk (G).
1.9 Let G be a group and let K be a normal subgroup of G. Then [γn (G), K] ≤
[K, n G] for all natural numbers n. Furthermore, if H is a subgroup of G such that
G = HK, then γn+1 (G) = γn+1 (H)[K, n G], for all natural numbers n.
The following important, frequently used result was obtained in a paper of P.

Hall [Hal58b].
1.10 Let G be a group and let K be a normal subgroup of G. If K and G/K 0 are
nilpotent, then G is nilpotent. Moreover,
! !
ncl (K) + 1 ncl (K)
ncl (G) ≤ ncl (G/K 0 ) − .
2 2
6 Infinite Groups
The following classical result is due to H. Fitting [Fit38].
1.11 Let G be a group and let H, K be normal subgroups of G. If H, K are nilpotent,

then HK is also nilpotent. Moreover,
ncl (HK) ≤ ncl (H) + ncl (K).
The derived and lower central series of a group G are but two examples of the
notion of a descending series. More generally, the family
G = V0 ≥ V1 ≥ V2 ≥ . . . Vα ≥ Vα+1 ≥ . . . Vγ = 1
T
such that Vα+1 is normal in Vα and Vλ = β<λ Vβ , for all limit ordinals λ is called a
descending series. A descending series is called normal if each Vα is normal in G.
The subgroups Vα for α ≤ γ are called the terms of the series and the factor
groups Vα /Vα+1 for α < γ are called the factors of the series.
If X is a class of groups, then a group G is called a hypo-X group if it has a
descending series of normal subgroups, which is infinite in general, terminating in 1,
whose factors belong to X. If X = A, the class of abelian groups, we again obtain the
class of hypoabelian groups.
Since in a group the factor K/H is abelian if and only if K 0 ≤ H, we have:
1.12 A group G is hypoabelian if and only if G has a descending series of normal

subgroups whose factors are abelian.
For finite series, we obtain the well-known result which follows.
1.13 A group G is soluble if and only if G has a finite descending series of normal
subgroups
G = V0 ≥ V1 ≥ · · · ≥ Vn = 1
whose factors are abelian. Furthermore, dl(G) ≤ n.
Again since K/H is G-central if and only if [G, K] ≤ H, it follows that
1.14 A group G is hypocentral if and only if G has a descending series of normal

subgroups whose factors are G-central.
Again, for finite series, we obtain:
1.15 A group G is nilpotent if and only if G has a finite descending series
G = V0 ≥ V1 ≥ · · · ≥ Vn = 1
of normal subgroups whose factors are G-central. Furthermore, ncl (G) ≤ n.

We can construct a further canonical series of a group G this time starting with
the center. Let ζ0 (G) = 1, ζ1 (G) = ζ(G) and recursively define ζα+1 (G)/ζα (G) =
ζ(G/ζα (G)) for all ordinals α and ζλ (G) = ∪β<λ ζβ (G) for all limit ordinals λ. The
series
1 = ζ0 (G) ≤ ζ1 (G) ≤ . . . ζα (G) ≤ ζα+1 (G) ≤ . . . ζγ (G)
is called the upper central series of the group G.
The terms of this series are called hypercenters; they are characteristic sub-
groups of G. The last term ζγ (G) is called the upper hypercenter of G and we have
ζ(G/ζγ (G)) = 1. The notation ζ∞ (G) is also frequently used for the upper hyper-
center. The ordinal γ is called the hypercentral length of G and will be denoted by
zl(G).
A group G is said to be hypercentral if ζ∞ (G) = G.
We next note some of the properties of the hypercenters of groups.
We say that a group G has finite exponent e, for some natural number e, if the
order of each element of G is a divisor of e and e is the least natural number with
this property.
Let π be a set of primes. A group G is said to be π-torsion-free if G has no
elements of order p for each p ∈ π. As usual, when π is the set, P, of all primes, the
P-torsion-free groups are just called torsion-free.
1.16 Let G be a group.
(i) If the center of G has finite exponent e, then ζn+1 (G)/ζn (G) has finite exponent
dividing e, for each natural number n;
(ii) If the center of G is π-torsion-free for some set of primes π, then the upper
hypercenter of G is also π-torsion-free.
The first assertion here is proved in the paper [Dix64] of S. Dixmier, whereas
the second assertion appears in the paper [McL56b] of D. H. McLain. Thus, certain
properties of the center can be transferred to other upper central factors.
Next we describe the connections between the terms of the upper and lower central
series.
1.17 Let G be a group and let n, k be natural numbers.
(i) ζk (G/ζn (G)) = ζk+n (G)/ζn (G);
(ii) if k ≥ n, then [γn (G), ζk (G)] ≤ ζk−n (G);
(iii) if H is a subgroup of G such that G = Hζn (G), then γn+1 (G) = γn+1 (H).
The upper central series is an example of an ascending series which we now

describe. Let G be a group. The family
1 = V0 ≤ V1 ≤ . . . Vα ≤ Vα+1 ≤ . . . Vγ = G
8 Infinite Groups
S
such that Vα is normal in G and Vλ = β<α Vβ for all limit ordinals λ < γ is called
an ascending series of normal subgroups or normal ascending series of G.
As with descending series, the subgroups Vα , for α ≤ γ, are called the terms of
this series and the factor groups Vα+1 /Vα are called the factors of the series.
Let X be a class of groups (which can also be defined by means of a group
theoretical property). A group G is called a hyper-X group if it has an ascending
normal series, which is infinite in general, whose factors belong to X.
Thus if X = A, the class of abelian groups, we obtain the class of hyperabelian
groups. If X = F, the class of finite groups, we obtain the class of hyperfinite groups.
1.18 A group G is hypercentral if and only if G has an ascending series of normal

subgroups whose factor groups are G-central.
For nilpotent groups we obtain
1.19 Let G be a group having a finite series
1 = V0 ≤ V1 ≤ · · · ≤ Vj ≤ Vj+1 ≤ · · · ≤ Vn = G
of normal subgroups whose factors are G-central. Then
(i) Vj ≤ ζj (G) for 1 ≤ j ≤ n so that ζn (G) = G;
(ii) γj (G) ≤ Vn−j+1 for 1 ≤ j ≤ n so that γn+1 (G) = 1;
(iii) ncl (G) = zl(G).
This result shows that the lengths of the upper and lower central series of a
nilpotent group are the same and that the nilpotency class of G may then be defined
as the smallest of the lengths of the finite series of normal subgroups of G whose
factors are G-central.
If the group G has an infinite ascending series of normal subgroups whose factors
are G-central, then it may no longer have a descending series of normal subgroups
whose factors are G-central. An example of this type is described next.
Let A be a quasicyclic 2-group (see page 18), say
A = han |a21 = 1, a2n+1 = an , n ∈ Ni.
Since A is abelian, there is an automorphism α such that α(a) = a−1 for all a ∈ A
and clearly |α| = 2. This automorphism defines a semidirect product G = A o hdi,
where |d| = 2 and ad = α(a) for all a ∈ A. Then, the upper central series of G is the
series
1 ≤ ha1 i ≤ ha2 i ≤ · · · ≤ han i ≤ . . . A ≤ G
whereas A = G0 and γ3 (G) = [A, G] = A so that γ2 (G) = γ3 (G) 6= 1.
However, the following interesting result was proved by D. M. Smirnov [Smi53b].
1.20 Let G be a hypercentral group such that zl(G) = ω, the first infinite ordinal.
Then γω+1 (G) = 1.
On the other hand, if a group G has an infinite descending series of normal

subgroups whose factors are G-central, then it may no longer have an ascending series
of normal subgroups whose factors are G-central. For example, every non-abelian
free group has a lower central series of length ω by Magnus’s theorem (see [Kur67a,
Chapter IX, sect. 36] for example). Indeed, every free group has a descending chain
of normal subgroups whose factors are finite p-groups, for each prime p, a theorem
due originally to K. Iwasawa [Iwa43a]. Of course, however, a non-abelian free group
has trivial center.
The concept of an upper central series can be generalized in the following natural
way.
Let X be a formation of groups. We may construct the upper XC-central series
of the group G,
1 = XC0 (G) ≤ XC1 (G) ≤ . . . XCα (G) ≤ XCα+1 (G) ≤ . . . XCγ (G)
by letting XC1 (G) = XC(G) and recursively defining XCα+1 (G)/XCα (G) =
XC(G/XCα (G)) for all ordinals α such that XCλ (G) = ∪β<λ XCβ (G) for all limit
ordinals λ.
The last term XCγ (G) is called the upper XC-hypercenter of G and we have
XC(G/XCγ (G)) = 1.
A group G is said to be XC-hypercentral if the upper XC-hypercenter of G co-
incides with G. Also, G is called XC-nilpotent if the upper XC-hypercenter of G
coincides with G and the upper XC-central series of G is finite.
In particular, when X is the class F, of finite groups, the corresponding terms are
upper FC-central series, upper FC-hypercenter, FC-hypercentral and FC-nilpotent,
respectively.
Next we consider a further canonical series of groups.
Let G be a group and H be a subgroup of G. Starting with the normal closure
we can construct a series as follows. We let v0,G (H) = G, v1,G (H) = H G and define
vα+1,G (H) = H vα,G (H) for every ordinal α. As usual, vλ,G (H) = ∩β<λ vβ,G (H) for all
limit ordinals λ.
We may then construct the lower normal closure series
G = v0,G (H) ≥ v1,G (H) ≥ . . . vα,G (H) ≥ vα+1,G (H) ≥ . . . vγ,G (H) = D
of a subgroup H in the group G. By construction vα+1,G (H) is a normal subgroup of

vα,G (H) for all ordinals α < γ. The last term D of this series has the property that
H D = D and D = vγ,G (H) is then called the lower normal closure of H in G.
There are two extreme situations that lead to two important types of subgroup,
namely when vγ,G (H) = H or H G = G.
The subgroup H is said to be a descendant subgroup of G if the lower normal
closure series of H in G terminates in H. This gives rise to the next concept.
A descending series from G to H is a series of subgroups
G = V0 ≥ V1 ≥ V2 ≥ . . . Vα ≥ Vα+1 ≥ . . . Vγ = H
10 Infinite Groups
T
such that Vα+1 is normal in Vα and Vλ = β<λ Vβ for all limit ordinals λ. A descending
series is called normal if each term of the series is normal in G.
It is easily seen that a subgroup H is descendant in G if there exists a descending
series from G to H.
Again, the subgroups Vα , for α ≤ γ, are called the terms of this series and the
factor groups Vα /Vα+1 are called the factors of the series.
A subgroup H is said to be subnormal in a group G if H is descendant in G and
the lower normal closure series of H in G has finite length.
It is easy to see that a subgroup H is subnormal in G if there is a series
G = V0 ≥ V1 ≥ · · · ≥ Vk ≥ Vk+1 ≥ · · · ≥ Vn = H
for some natural number n with Vk+1 normal in Vk , for 0 ≤ k ≤ n − 1.

The intersection of two subnormal subgroups is always subnormal, as is easily
seen. Somewhat more difficult to prove is the theorem of H. Wielandt [Wie39] that in
a finite group, the join of two subnormal subgroups is always subnormal. In general,
however, a join of two subnormal subgroups need not be subnormal (see [LS87], for
example). Subnormality is clearly a transitive relation, one of the motivations for the
interest in such subgroups.
At the opposite extreme, a subgroup H of a group G is contranormal in G if
H G = G.
The term “contranormal” was introduced by J. S. Rose in [Ros68].
We note that H is always contranormal in its lower normal closure in G.
The definition shows that contranormal subgroups are opposite to normal and
subnormal subgroups; indeed a contranormal subgroup H of a group G is normal
(respectively subnormal) if and only if H = G.
If G is a group and H is a contranormal subgroup of G, then every subgroup
containing H is contranormal in G. Thus, if H, K are contranormal subgroups of G,
then hH, Ki is also contranormal in G. However, the intersection of two contranormal
subgroups need not be contranormal. For example, in the alternating group A4 every
Sylow 3-subgroup is contranormal, but the intersection of distinct Sylow 3-subgroups
is trivial, so not contranormal. We note also that if M is a non-normal, maximal
subgroup of G, then M is contranormal in G. It is easy to see that the relation of
contranormality is a transitive relation so that if H is a contranormal subgroup of K
and K is a contranormal subgroup of G, then H is a contranormal subgroup of G.
If G is a group and H, K are subgroups of G, then we let
NK (H) = {x ∈ K|x−1 Hx = H}.
It is clear that NK (H) = NG (H) ∩ K is a subgroup of G and that NG (H) is the

largest subgroup of G in which H is normal. The subgroup NK (H) is the normalizer
of H in the subgroup K.
Starting from the normalizer, we may construct a further canonical series. Let
N0,G (H) = H, N1,G (H) = NG (H) and recursively define Nn+1,G (H) = NG (Nn,G (H))
for all n ∈ N. This series can be continued transfinitely by defining for each ordinal
α the subgroup Nα+1,G (H) = NG (Nα,G (H)) and Nλ,G (H) = ∪β<λ Nβ,G (H)) for all
limit ordinals λ. In this way, we may construct the upper normalizer series
H = N0,G (H) ≤ N1,G (H) ≤ . . . Nα,G (H) ≤ . . . Nγ,G (H) = D
of a subgroup H in G. By the construction, Nα,G (H) is a normal subgroup of

Nα+1,G (H) for all ordinals α < γ. The last term D of this series has the prop-
erty NG (D) = D and we call D the lower hypernormalizer or supernormalizer of
H in G.
If the upper normalizer series of H terminates in G, then H is called ascendant in
G; indeed, as for descendant subgroups, this is equivalent to there being an ascending
series
H = H0 ≤ H1 ≤ · · · ≤ Hα ≤ Hα+1 ≤ . . . Hγ = G
with Hα normal in Hα+1 for all α.
There are two extreme situations that lead again to two important types of sub-
groups, namely when Nγ,G (H) = G and when NG (H) = H.
A subgroup H is called self-normalizing if NG (H) = H.
We note that every subgroup H is ascendant in its hypernormalizer in G and that
the hypernormalizer of H in G is a self-normalizing subgroup.
There are a number of important types of self-normalizing subgroups.
A subgroup H is weakly abnormal in G if every subgroup containing H is self-
normalizing in G. The following characterization of weakly abnormal subgroups was
given in [BB88].
1.21 Let G be a group and let H be a subgroup of G. Then H is weakly abnormal

in G if and only if x ∈ H hxi for each element x ∈ G.
Slightly weakening the last condition we obtain a further important type of sub-
group.
A subgroup H of a group G is called abnormal in G if g ∈ hH, H g i for each
element g ∈ G.
Abnormal subgroups were studied in the paper [Hal37c] of P. Hall, while the term
“abnormal subgroup” is due to R. Carter [Car61].
We note that abnormal and weakly abnormal subgroups are contranormal, but
the converse is false.
Ascending and descending series are a special case of the following general con-
struction.
Let G be a group and let S be a family of subgroups of G. Then S is called a
Kurosh-Chernikov series if it satisfies the following conditions:
(KC1) G ∈ S;
(KC2) for each pair A, B of subgroups of S either A ≤ B or B ≤ A. Thus S is

linearly ordered by inclusion;
12 Infinite Groups
(KC3) for every subfamily L of S the intersection of all elements of L and the union
of all elements of L belong to S. In particular, for each non-trivial element
g of the group G, let
[
Vg = {H ∈ S|g ∈
/ H},
\
Λg = {H ∈ S|g ∈ H}.
Then Vg , Λg ∈ S.
(KC4) for each non-trivial element g of the group G the subgroup Vg is normal in
Λg .
The factor groups Λg /Vg are called the sections of the system S.
If every subgroup of S is normal in G, then S is called a normal Kurosh-Chernikov
series. In this case, the factor groups Λg /Vg are called the factors of the system S.
Such families were introduced by A. G. Kurosh and S. N. Chernikov in their
fundamental classical article [KC47]. Further information concerning series in groups
can be found in [KC47] and [Rob72a].
Let S, R be Kurosh-Chernikov series (respectively normal Kurosh-Chernikov se-
ries). If R contains S, then we say that R is a refinement of S. The refinement is
called proper if R =6 S.
The Kurosh-Chernikov series (respectively normal Kurosh-Chernikov series) S is
called a composition (respectively chief ) series if S has no proper refinement.
We note the following result from [KC47].
1.22 Let G be a group and let S be a Kurosh-Chernikov series of G (respectively

normal Kurosh-Chernikov series of G). Then S can be refined to a composition (re-
spectively chief) Kurosh-Chernikov series of G.
1.2 CLASSES OF GROUPS DEFINED BY SERIES OF SUBGROUPS

We shall not dwell here in detail on the classes of groups arising from various Kurosh-
Chernikov series and local theorems proved in [KC47]. We’ll take a look at the most
popular and widely used group classes here and determine which Kurosh-Chernikov
series they have (see also [Rob72a], for example).
Let X be a subgroup closed class of groups. A group is said to be a locally X-group
if every finitely generated subgroup of G belongs to the class X.
In particular, a group G is called locally soluble if every finitely generated subgroup
is soluble.
Also, G is called locally nilpotent if every finitely generated subgroup is nilpotent.
Finally, G is called locally finite if every finitely generated subgroup is finite.
Locally soluble groups have the following property.
1.23 Let G be a locally soluble group. Then G has a normal Kurosh-Chernikov chief
series whose factors are abelian.
A normal Kurosh-Chernikov series S is called central if Λg /Vg ≤ ζ(G/Vg ) for each

element of the group G. Locally nilpotent groups have such series.
1.24 Let G be a locally nilpotent group. Then G has a central Kurosh-Chernikov

series.
Now we extend the notion of a factor of a series. Suppose that G is a group

and U, V are subgroups of G such that U ≤ V and U is a normal subgroup of V .
Then V /U is called a section of G. If both subgroups U, V are normal in G, then
V /U is called a factor of G. If V /U contains no proper non-trivial normal subgroups
of G/U , then V /U is called a chief factor of G. In particular, when U = 1, then
V is called a minimal normal subgroup of G. The factor V /U is called central if
V /U ≤ ζ(G/U ). It is a consequence of Zorn’s Lemma that every group has chief
series, although not every group possesses minimal normal subgroups. The following
result gives information concerning the chief factors of locally soluble and locally
nilpotent groups (see the paper [McL56a] of D. H. McLain). The reader is referred
to page 18 for the definition of divisibility.
1.25 Let G be a locally soluble group. Then the chief factors of G are abelian. Fur-
thermore, the chief factors are either elementary abelian p-groups for some prime p
or are torsion-free divisible groups. In particular, simple locally soluble groups have
prime order.
1.26 Let G be a locally nilpotent group. Then the chief factors of G are central of
prime order.
The classes of hyperabelian and locally soluble groups are distinct (see [Rob72a],
for example). In particular, a finitely generated hyperabelian group need not be sol-
uble and a locally soluble group need not be hyperabelian. Furthermore, every free
group is hypoabelian (indeed hypocentral), but free groups are not soluble in general.
The following result is often useful.
1.27 Let G be a finitely generated group. If S is a subgroup of G of finite index,

then S is also finitely generated.
Some consequences of this result are as follows. As usual a group G is periodic if

every element of G has finite order.
1.28 Let G be a finitely generated soluble group. If G is periodic, then G is finite.

Thus every periodic locally soluble group is locally finite.
1.29 Let G be a group and let S be a normal locally finite subgroup of G such that
G/S is locally finite. Then G is locally finite.
Next we consider the properties of hypercentral groups in more detail, beginning

with a result of A. I. Maltsev [Mal49].
14 Infinite Groups
1.30 Let G be a hypercentral group. Then G is locally nilpotent.
A different type of characterization of hypercentral groups was obtained in the

paper of S. N. Chernikov [Che50].
1.31 A group G is hypercentral if and only if for each element a ∈ G and every
countable subset {xn |n ∈ N} of elements of G there exists an integer k such that
[. . . [[a, x1 ], x2 ], . . . , xk ] = 1.
In particular, a group G is hypercentral if and only if each of its countable subgroups

is hypercentral.
The following properties are also evident.
1.32 Let G be a hypercentral group.

(i) Every subgroup of G is ascendant;
(ii) if H is a non-trivial normal subgroup of G, then H ∩ ζ(G) is non-trivial;
(iii) if A is a maximal normal abelian subgroup of G, then A = CG (A);
(iv) if A is a maximal normal abelian subgroup of G and there exists a natural

number k such that A ≤ ζk (G), then G is nilpotent.
Although every subgroup of a hypercentral group is ascendant, the converse is

false.There exists a group all of whose subgroups are subnormal which is not hyper-
central. In the paper [HM68], H. Heineken and I. J. Mohamed constructed such a
group with the following properties.
1.33 Let p be a prime. There is a group H with the following properties:

(i) The subgroup A = H 0 is an elementary abelian p-subgroup such that the factor
group H/A is a Prüfer p-group;
(ii) If K is a proper subgroup of H, then KA is also a proper subgroup of H;
(iii) Every proper subgroup of H is subnormal;
(iv) Every proper subgroup of H is nilpotent;
(v) The center of H is trivial.
A group G is called an N-group or group with the normalizer condition if H

NG (H) for all proper subgroups H of G.
Using the notation of 1.33, suppose that K is a proper subgroup of H. If K is
normal in H, then K H = NH (K). If K is not normal in H and K ≤ A, then
K A ≤ NH (K). Finally if A does not contain K, then KA is proper and nilpotent.
Since K is not normal in H, K KA and since K NKA (K) ≤ NH (K) it follows
that H is a group with the normalizer condition, having trivial center.
1.34 A group G has the normalizer condition if and only if every subgroup of G is
ascendant.
The following basic property of groups with the normalizer condition appears in
the paper [Plo51] of B. I. Plotkin.
1.35 Every group with the normalizer condition is locally nilpotent.
We note that there is a locally nilpotent group having proper self-normalizing

subgroups. Indeed, the standard wreath product of a group of prime order p with a
countable elementary abelian p-group is such an example. Thus, the class of groups
with the normalizer condition is a proper subclass of the class of locally nilpotent
groups.
Next we consider some basic properties of locally nilpotent groups. Before doing
so, we note the following useful result which appears in [Plo55].
1.36 Let G be a group and let π be a set of primes.
(i) The product of the periodic normal π-subgroups of G is a periodic normal π-

subgroup of G;
(ii) If H is a periodic ascendant π-subgroup of G, then H G is a periodic normal

π-subgroup of G.
If π is a set of primes and G is a group, then we let Oπ (G) denote the largest
normal π-subgroup of G. If π = Π(G), the set of prime divisors of the orders of
elements of G, then Oπ (G) is the largest normal periodic subgroup of G, which we
denote by Tor(G). This subgroup is called the periodic part of G. In some cases,
when Tor(G) consists of all the elements of G of finite order, then it is called the
torsion subgroup of G.
Locally nilpotent groups enjoy some of the properties of abelian groups as the
following result shows.
1.37 Let G be a locally nilpotent group and let π be a set of primes. Then
(i) The set of elements of G whose order is a π-number corresponds to Oπ (G);
(ii) The set of elements of finite order in G is a characteristic subgroup of G and

coincides with Tor(G). Also G/Tor(G) is torsion-free;
(iii) For each prime p, the set Torp (G), consisting of all elements of p-power order,
is a characteristic subgroup of Tor(G) and Tor(G) = Dr Torp (G).
p∈Π(G)
Now we consider the basic properties of torsion-free locally nilpotent groups which
were proved in the paper [Mal49].
Let G be a group. We recall that a subgroup H of G is called pure, or isolated, in
G if either hgi ∩ H = hgi or hgi ∩ H = 1, for each g ∈ G.
16 Infinite Groups
1.38 Let G be a torsion-free locally nilpotent group.
(i) If x, y ∈ G are elements such that xn = y n , for some n ∈ N then x = y;
(ii) Let g, x ∈ G. If there exist natural numbers k, t such that g t xk = xk g t then

gx = xg;
(iii) If M is a subset of G then CG (M ) is a pure subgroup of G;
(iv) If A is a normal subgroup of G then A is pure in G if and only if G/A is

torsion-free;
(v) The intersection of every family of pure subgroups is pure;
(vi) Every term of the upper central series of G is pure.
In particular, if G is hypercentral, then the factors of the upper central series of G

are torsion-free.
These properties may be contrasted with the following result of V. M.

Glushkov [Glu52].
1.39 Let G be a torsion-free locally nilpotent group. Then G has a central Kurosh-
Chernikov series whose terms are pure subgroups of G.
A group G is called radical (so named by B. I. Plotkin) if it is hyper (locally

nilpotent). The main result justifying the introduction of such groups lies in the
following useful analogue of 1.11 which was proved in the paper [Plo55] of B. I.
Plotkin and [Hir55] of K. A. Hirsch.
1.40 Let G be a group. The subgroup generated by all the normal locally nilpotent
subgroups of G is a normal locally nilpotent subgroup of G.
This result implies that every group G has a unique maximal normal locally
nilpotent subgroup called the locally nilpotent radical or the Hirsch-Plotkin radical
of G, denoted by Ln(G). Of course Ln(G) is a characteristic subgroup of G.
We also note the following useful result which was proved by Plotkin in [Plo55].
1.41 Let G be a group. If H is an ascendant locally nilpotent subgroup of G, then H G

is a normal locally nilpotent subgroup of G. In particular, if G contains a non-trivial
ascendant locally nilpotent subgroup, then its Hirsch-Plotkin radical is non-trivial.
The results above show that the class of radical groups is precisely the class of
groups with an ascending series each factor of which is locally nilpotent. Locally
nilpotent groups and hyperabelian groups are examples of radical groups.
We define the radical series
1 = R0 ≤ R1 ≤ . . . Rα ≤ Rα+1 ≤ . . . Rγ
of a group G by
R1 = Ln(G)
Rα+1 /Rα = Ln(G/Rα ) for all ordinals α < γ
[
Rλ = Rβ for limit ordinals λ < γ
β<λ
Ln(G/Rγ ) = 1
It may happen that Ln(G) is trivial. The group G is radical if and only if G =
Rγ for some term Rγ of this series. Since the Hirsch-Plotkin radical is always a
characteristic subgroup, a group G is radical if and only if G has an ascending series
of characteristic subgroups with locally nilpotent factors.
Here are some other useful properties of radical groups.
1.42 Let G be a radical group.
(i) If H is a subgroup of G, then H is a radical group;
(ii) if H is a normal subgroup of G, then G/H is a radical group;
(iii) if H, K are subgroups of G such that H is normal in K, then K/H is a radical

group;
(iv) CG (Ln(G)) ≤ Ln(G).
The next result is also due to Plotkin [Plo55], this time concerning a different
type of radical.
(i) The subgroup generated by the normal locally finite subgroups of G is a normal
locally finite subgroup of G;
(ii) If H is an ascendant locally finite subgroup of G, then H G is a normal locally

finite subgroup of G;
(iii) The subgroup generated by the normal radical subgroups of G is a normal radical
subgroup of G;
(iv) If H is an ascendant radical subgroup of G, then H G is a normal radical sub-

group of G.
It is easy to see that a product of normal soluble subgroups is locally soluble.

However an example due to P. Hall (see [Rob72a, Theorem 8.19.1], for example)
shows that a product of two normal locally soluble groups need not be locally soluble
in general and the same example shows that the product of two normal hyperabelian
groups need not be hyperabelian.
18 Infinite Groups
The result above shows that if G contains a non-trivial ascendant locally finite
subgroup, then it has a unique largest characteristic locally finite subgroup, the locally
finite radical, which we denote by Lf(G). This result in turn allows us to coalesce
the Hirsch-Plotkin radical and locally finite radicals to obtain the following class of
groups.
A group G is called generalized radical if G has an ascending series whose factors
are locally nilpotent or locally finite. It should be noted that in the past some authors
have used a more restrictive definition where the factors are locally nilpotent or finite,
which we later call nearly radical.
The basic properties of generalized radical groups are as follows.

(i) G is generalized radical if and only if every non-trivial homomorphic image of
G contains a non-trivial ascendant subgroup which is either locally nilpotent or
locally finite;
(ii) G is generalized radical if and only if G has an ascending series of normal

subgroups whose factors are locally nilpotent or locally finite. Thus G is hyper
(locally nilpotent or locally finite);
(iii) If G is a generalized radical group and H is a subgroup of G, then H is gener-

alized radical;
(iv) If G is a generalized radical group and H is a normal subgroup of G, then G/H

is generalized radical;
(v) If G is a generalized radical group and H, K are subgroups of G such that H is

normal in K, then K/H is generalized radical;
(vi) If G is a finitely generated periodic generalized radical group, then G is finite.

Consequently a periodic generalized radical group is locally finite.
We can also form the still larger class of groups, the class of locally generalized
radical groups. In such groups, every finitely generated subgroup is generalized radical.
1.3 RADICABLE GROUPS

A group G is said to be radicable if the equation an = g can always be solved in G.
More precisely, if g is an element of G and n is a natural number, then G is radicable
if there is an element a of G such that an = g.
Generally a radicable abelian group G is often called divisible and then G is
usually called a divisible abelian group or just a divisible group.
Here are some examples of radicable groups.
Let p be a prime. The Prüfer p-group or group of type p∞ , denoted by Cp∞ , is the
union of an ascending chain of cyclic p-groups. More specifically, if Pn = hcn i where
|cn | = pn and thinking of Pn as a subgroup of Pn+1 for all n ∈ N, then P = ∪n∈N Pn
is isomorphic to Cp∞ .
Prüfer p-groups also arise somewhat more concretely; they can be thought of as
the multiplicative group of complex pth roots of unity, or as the set of elements of
p-power order in the additive abelian group Q/Z.
A further example of a divisible group is the additive group Q of the field of
rational numbers.
These groups are the building blocks of divisible abelian groups as the following
result shows.
1.45 Let G be a divisible abelian group. Then G = Dr Dλ × Dr Tp where Dλ ∼

=Q
λ∈Λ p∈π(G)
for all λ ∈ Λ, Tp = Dr Pµ and Pµ is a Prüfer p-group for all µ ∈ M (p). The
µ∈M (p)
cardinal numbers |Λ| and |M (p)| are invariants of the group G.
The following important property of divisible abelian groups was obtained in the
paper [Bae40a].
1.46 Let G be an abelian group. If D is a divisible subgroup of G, then G contains

a subgroup C such that G = D × C. Furthermore, for every subgroup B such that
B ∩ D = 1, there exists a subgroup E such that B ≤ E and G = D × E.
It follows that every abelian group G has a maximal divisible subgroup D =

Div(G) which is called the divisible (or radicable) part of G and then G = D × R for
some subgroup R which contains no non-trivial divisible subgroups. Such a subgroup
R is said to be reduced.
If G is a group and n is a natural number, then set Gn = hg n |g ∈ Gi.
A group G is called radicable in the sense of Chernikov or Chernikov-radicable if
G = Gn for ever natural number n (see [Kur67a, ğ65]).
We note that every abelian Chernikov radicable group is divisible and that every
radicable group is Chernikov radicable. However, the converse is false since the wreath
product Cp∞ o Cp∞ is a Chernikov-radicable group but it is not a radicable group, a
proof of which can be found in [Rob72a, Part 2, p. 124].
Groups which contain no proper subgroups of finite index are called F-perfect.
If G is a group, then the subgroup F(G), generated by all F-perfect subgroups of
G, is also F-perfect. It is the largest F-perfect subgroup of G.
The subgroup F(G) is called the F-perfect part of G.
Clearly every divisible group is F-perfect and conversely every abelian F-perfect
group is divisible. This result follows easily with the help of the following important
theorem from abelian group theory, obtained by H. Prüfer in [Prü23].
1.47 Let G be an abelian group. If there is a natural number n such that Gn = 1,

then G is a direct product of cyclic groups.
Suppose now that the abelian group G is F-perfect, but that there is a natu-
ral number n such that G 6= Gn . Then (G/Gn )n = 1 and using 1.47 we see that
G/Gn is a direct product of finite cyclic groups. This shows that G then has a non-
trivial subgroup of finite index, a contradiction which shows that G = Gn for all n.
Consequently, G is divisible.
20 Infinite Groups
The following proposition, proved by L. A. Kurdachenko in [Kur84b], gives a

result which is useful for the description of hypercentral F-perfect groups.
1.48 Let G be a hypercentral group and let A be an abelian normal p-subgroup for
some prime p. If G/CG (A) contains no subgroups of index p, then A ≤ ζ(G).
The corollary which follows gives a result proved by S. N. Chernikov in [Che46].
1.49 Let G be a hypercentral group. If G is an F-perfect group, then the center of G

contains the torsion subgroup of G. In particular, every periodic hypercentral F-perfect
group is abelian.
Thus, every periodic hypercentral F-perfect group is divisible. This naturally

raises the question of whether there are non-abelian periodic radicable groups. An
example of such a group was constructed in the paper [Che46].
A further result occurring in [Che46] concerns the structure of hypercentral F-
perfect groups.
1.50 Let G be a hypercentral group. If G is an F-perfect group, then G is a radicable

group.
1.51 A group G is an F-perfect hypercentral group if and only if G has a well-ordered

family of subgroups, {Dα |0 ≤ α < γ}, ordered by inclusion, satisfying the following
conditions:
(i) D0 is a periodic divisible abelian group;
(ii) D0 ≤ ζ(G);
(iii) Dα ∼
= Q for all 0 < α < γ;
(iv) Aα = hDβ |0 ≤ β < αi is normal in G for all 0 ≤ α ≤ γ;
(v) Aα ∩ Dα = 1;
(vi) Aγ = G.
Finally, we note several results concerning radicable locally nilpotent groups ob-
tained by V. M. Glushkov in the paper [Glu52].
1.52 Let G be a torsion-free locally nilpotent group.
(i) If S is a family of radicable subgroups of G, then hH|H ∈ Si is radicable.
(ii) If G is radicable, then every term of the lower central series of G is radicable.
(iii) If G is radicable, then every term of the lower derived series of G is radicable.
1.4 SOMETHING FROM THE THEORY OF MODULES

Quite often in group theory (in cases where there are many abelian subgroups or
factor groups) it is possible to use the theory of modules over group rings. Modules
arise naturally in the following way.
Let G be a group and suppose that G contains an abelian normal subgroup A. If
H = G/A, then H acts on A via:
if h = gA ∈ H and a ∈ A, then define ah = ag = g −1 ag.

Since A is abelian, this definition depends only on h. For each integer n we let
anh = (an )h = (ah )n .
Every element x of the integral group ring ZH can be expressed as a sum
x = n1 y1 + · · · + nk yk
for some ni ∈ Z, yi = gi A for 1 ≤ i ≤ k and we then set
ax = a(n1 y1 + · · · + nk yk ) = (ag1 )n1 . . . (agk )nk .
It is easily seen that this makes A into a ZH-module.

If A is periodic, then very often we may replace A by one of its primary p-
components, for some prime p. This allows us to assume that A is a p-group. In this
way, we obtain a p-module over the ring ZH. In this case, the structure of the lower
layer
P1 = Ω1 (A) = {a ∈ A|pa = 0}
of A significantly influences the structure of A. Since P1 is an elementary abelian
p-group, we may think of P1 as a module over the ring Fp H, where Fp is the prime
field of order p.
If A is torsion-free, then very often we may transfer from the ZH-module A to
its divisible envelope E = A ⊗Z Q. The action of H on A can be extended naturally
to the action of H on E. In this case, we obtain a module over QG. This shows that
the case when the ring of scalars is a field is one of the most important.
A further important type of scalar ring is the following. Let A be a module over
the group ring F H, for some field F . Suppose that the center of H is non-trivial and
choose an element 1 6= z ∈ ζ(H). Let J = F hxi be the group ring of an infinite cyclic
group over F . We note that J is a principal ideal domain. We may then consider A
as a module over the group ring JH where the action of x on A is defined by the rule
ax = az for each element a ∈ A.
In other situations, it becomes necessary to consider the ring of scalars to be the
ring Zp of p-adic integers or the ring F [[X]] of power series over a (finite) field. To
consider these and other possible situations, it makes sense to consider modules over
the group ring DH where D is a Dedekind domain.
We briefly give some notions from ring theory which are relevant in this type of
work (all rings that appear will have an identity). This will not be a long digression
22 Infinite Groups
and we merely note that the book of L. A. Kurdachenko, N. N. Semko and I. Ya.
Subbotin [KSS08] is concerned with the theory of modules over Dedekind domains.
Let R be an integral domain and let K denote the field of fractions of R. A
non-zero R-submodule A of K is called a fractional ideal of R if aA ≤ R for some
non-zero element a ∈ R.
This definition shows that all elements of A have a “common denominator”. If
the ring R contains a fractional ideal A, then A is an ideal in the usual sense and the
converse holds for non-zero ideals.
If A, B are fractional ideals, then their product AB is defined as the set of all sums
a1 b1 + · · · + am bm , where ai ∈ A, bi ∈ B for 1 ≤ i ≤ m. Then AB is also a fractional
ideal and a non-zero R-submodule of K. If x, y are non-zero elements of R such that
xA ≤ R and yB ≤ R, then for every element c of the form c = a1 b1 + · · · + am bm we
have
(xy)c = xy(a1 b1 + · · · + am bm ) = (xa1 )(yb1 ) + · · · + (xam )(ybm ) ∈ R.
Obviously, A(BC) = (AB)C for all fractional ideals A, B, C of R. This means that
the set FI(R) of fractional ideals of R is a commutative semigroup and R is its
identity element.
A fractional ideal A is said to be a principal fractional ideal if A = xR for some
0 6= x ∈ R.
If A is a fractional ideal of R, then let A0 = {x ∈ K|xA ≤ R}. It is possible to
prove that A0 is also a fractional ideal of R. We say that A is invertible if AA0 = R
and in this case we write A−1 instead of A0 .
An integral domain D is called a Dedekind domain if each of its fractional ideals
is invertible. In this case, the semigroup FI(D) is a group.
There are several definitions of Dedekind domains, but we shall not give them here
and refer the reader to [KSS08]. Note that every Dedekind domain is a Noetherian
ring and that every prime ideal is maximal.
1.5 THE 0-RANK AND p-RANK OF ABELIAN GROUPS

Let G be an abelian group. We consider an analogue of a linearly independent subset
in a vector space.
A subset X of G, consisting of elements of infinite order, is said to be Z-
independent or simply independent if, given distinct elements x1 , . . . , xn in X and
integers k1 , . . . , kn , the relation x1k1 . . . xnkn = 1 implies that xj = 1 for 1 ≤ j ≤ n.
We remark that if X = {xλ |λ ∈ Λ} is a Z-independent subset of G, then hXi =
Dr hxλ i is a direct product of infinite cyclic groups.
λ∈Λ
Conversely, if H = Dr hcλ i, where cλ is an element of infinite order for every
λ∈Λ
λ ∈ Λ, then the subset {cλ |λ ∈ Λ} is Z-independent.
We recall that a group G that is isomorphic to a direct product of infinite cyclic
groups is called a free abelian group.
Zorn’s Lemma implies that a Z-independent subset of an abelian group is always
contained in some maximal Z-independent subset. By analogy with vector space
theory, we have the following fundamental result. The reader can find a proof in
[Fuc70, Chapter III], or any one of a number of other excellent books.
1.53 Let G be an abelian group.
(i) If G has an infinite Z-independent subset, then all maximal Z-independent sub-
sets of G have the same cardinality;
(ii) If G has a finite maximal Z-independent subset M , then each maximal Z-

independent subset S of G is finite and |S| = |M |;
(iii) If X is a maximal Z-independent subset of G, then G/hXi is periodic. Con-

versely, if Y is a Z-independent subset of G such that G/hY i is periodic, then
Y is a maximal Z-independent subset of G.
This result makes it possible to determine the following important numerical

invariant for abelian groups.
Let G be an abelian group. The cardinality of a maximal Z-independent subset of
G is called the Z-rank or torsion-free rank of G, denoted by rZ (G). If G has a finite
maximal Z-independent subset, then we say that G has finite Z-rank. We also say
that G has finite 0-rank in this case and use the notation r0 (G).
We note that this numerical invariant really only works in non-periodic abelian
groups as can be seen from the following assertion.
1.54 Let G be an abelian group. Then rZ (G) = rZ (G/Tor(G)).
In particular, rZ (G) = 0 if and only if G is a periodic group.

A group G is said to be locally cyclic if every finitely generated subgroup of G is
cyclic. We note the following properties of torsion-free locally cyclic groups.
1.55 Let G be a torsion-free abelian group.
(i) Q has Z-rank 1;
(ii) rZ (G) = 1 if and only if G is locally cyclic;
(iii) rZ (G) = 1 if and only if G is isomorphic to a subgroup of the additive group of

Q.
As a corollary we obtain the following description of torsion-free abelian groups

that have finite Z-rank.
1.56 Let G be a torsion-free abelian group and let k be a natural number. Then
rZ (G) ≤ k if and only if G is isomorphic to some subgroup of A1 × · · · × Ak , for
certain groups Ai such that Ai ∼
= Q for 1 ≤ i ≤ k.
24 Infinite Groups
From this we see that an abelian group G has finite Z-rank at most r if and only
if G/Tor(G) is isomorphic to a subgroup of the additive group
Q ⊕ ··· ⊕ Q.
| {z }
r
A. I. Maltsev [Mal51] called an abelian group G an abelian A1 -group if rZ (G) is

finite.
For periodic abelian groups another numerical invariant, which is also based on
the concept of dimension, can be introduced.
Let p be a prime and let n be a non-negative integer. If P is an abelian p-group,
then the n-layer of P is the subgroup
n
Ωn (P ) = {a ∈ P |ap = 1}.
It is clear that Ωn+1 (P )/Ωn (P ) is an elementary abelian p-group, for each n ≥ 0,

which can therefore be thought of as a vector space over the prime field Fp = Z/pZ.
In particular, Ω1 (P ) is such a vector space.
When p is a prime and P is an abelian p-group the p-rank of P is defined to be
the dimension of Ω1 (P ) over Fp . More generally, if G is an arbitrary abelian group
then we define the p-rank of G to be the p-rank of of the Sylow p-subgroup of G.
The p-rank of G is denoted by rp (G).
In particular, if the Sylow p-subgroup of G is trivial then rp (G) = 0.
From the definition given above it follows that if G is a finite elementary abelian
p-group, isomorphic to a direct product of n copies of Cp , the cyclic group of order
p, then rp (G) = n.
It is clear that the p-rank of Cp × Z is 1 and that the p-rank of the factor group
Cp × Cp is 2. Thus, the p-rank can increase when we pass to factor groups.
The following useful properties of p-rank hold.
1.57 Let P be an abelian p-group for some prime p. Then rp (P ) = r is finite if and
only if every elementary abelian p-section U/V of P is finite, with rp (U/V ) ≤ rp (P )
and there is an elementary abelian section A/B of P such that rp (A/B) = r.
1.58 Let p be a prime and let P be an abelian p-group. Suppose that rp (P ) = r is

finite and P m = 1 where m = pk for some natural number k. Then P is finite and
|P | ≤ prk .
Our next result characterizes abelian p-groups with finite p-rank. The definition
of Chernikov group is given following 3.8.
1.59 Let P be an abelian p-group for some prime p. Then rp (P ) is finite if and only
if P is a Chernikov group.
1.6 THE FRATTINI SUBGROUP OF A GROUP

Let G be a group. The intersection of all the maximal subgroups of G is called the
Frattini subgroup of G, denoted by Frat(G), with the understanding that if G has no
maximal subgroups then Frat(G) = G.
This subgroup was introduced by G. Frattini in the paper [Fra85].
The Frattini subgroup can be characterized using the following idea. If G is a
group, then an element g ∈ G is called a non-generator of G if whenever there is a
subset M such that G = hM, gi it follows that G = hM i.
1.60 Let G be a group. Then the Frattini subgroup of G coincides with the set of
non-generators of G.
Here are some further properties of the Frattini subgroup.
1.61 Let G be a finite group and let K be a normal subgroup of G;

(i) Let S be a subgroup of G. If Frat(S) contains K, then Frat(G) contains K;
(ii) Frat(K) ≤ Frat(G);
(iii) Frat(G)K/K ≤ Frat(G/K);
(iv) If K ≤ Frat(G), then Frat(G)/K = Frat(G/K);
(v) If A is an abelian normal subgroup of G such that A ∩ Frat(G) = 1, then G

contains a subgroup S such that G = SA and S ∩ A = 1.
W. Gaschütz [Gas53] proved the following property concerning Frattini subgroups

of finite groups.
1.62 Let G be a finite group and let K, L be normal subgroups of G such that
K ≤ L and K ≤ Frat(G). If L/K is nilpotent, then L is nilpotent. In particular, if
G/Frat(G) is nilpotent, then G is nilpotent.
This result implies the following assertion which was obtained by G. Frattini in
the paper [Fra85].
1.63 Let G be a finite group. Then the Frattini subgroup of G is nilpotent.
We also note the following useful result which was obtained by B. Huppert in the
paper [Hup54].
1.64 Let P denote a group theoretical property satisfying the following conditions:
(i) if the group S has the property P, then every factor group of S has the property
P;
(ii) if K is a group and K/Frat(K) has the property P it always follows that K
has the property P.
26 Infinite Groups
If G is a finite group and L is a normal subgroup of G such that G/L has the
property P, then G contains a subgroup S having the property P such that G = LS.
We may immediately obtain the following result from this.
1.65 Let G be a finite group and let L be a normal subgroup of G. If G/L is nilpotent,
then G contains a nilpotent subgroup S such that G = LS.
By using the Frattini subgroup, H. Wielandt obtained the following characteriza-

tion of finite nilpotent groups in the paper [Wie36].
1.66 Let G be a finite group and let L be a normal subgroup of G. Then L is nilpotent
if and only if L0 ≤ Frat(G). In particular, G is nilpotent if and only if G0 ≤ Frat(G).
The next result was proved in the paper [Gas53] of W. Gaschütz.
1.67 Let G be a finite group. Then G0 ∩ ζ(G) ≤ Frat(G).
This leads us to the determination of groups which can (or cannot) act as the
Frattini subgroup of a group. For example, the following result was proved in the
paper of C. Hobby [Hob60].
1.68 Let H be a finite non-abelian p-group for some prime p.
(i) If ζ(H) is cyclic, then H cannot be the Frattini subgroup of any finite p-group
G;
(ii) If H 0 has index p2 in H, then H cannot be the Frattini subgroup of any finite
p-group G.
The following property of the Frattini subgroup is known as the Burnside Basis
Theorem.
1.69 Let p be a prime and let G be a finite p-group. Suppose that the Frattini
subgroup of G has index pd in G and let G/Frat(G) be generated by the elements
yj Frat(G), for 1 ≤ j ≤ d. Then G is generated by the elements y1 , . . . , yd . Fur-
thermore, if M is a set of generators for G, then M contains a subset X such that
G = hXi and G/Frat(G) is generated by the set {xFrat(G)|x ∈ X}.
A further interesting property of the Frattini subgroup is called the Hall-Burnside

property.
1.70 Let G be a finite p-group for some prime p and let A be a subgroup of the
automorphism group of G. If A = CA (G/Frat(G)), then A = 1.
The determination of the Frattini subgroup of an abelian group was considered

in the paper [Dla60] of V. Dlab who obtained the following results.
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’pen’ance on dis promis’, I puts my ’pen’ance on dat, an’ dey all fails
me.
Lucy
You ain’t neveh put youah trus’ in Gawd.
Madison
Yassuh, I did, an’ Gawd He up an’ gimme de go-by too. What He
bin doin’ fo’ me? Nuthin’. Now I goin’ spit on my han’s an’ whu’l in an’
trus’ myse’f. An’ I feels lots betteh. I can feel conferdence wukin’ all
oveh me. I casts ’em all off. I’m lookin’ out fo’ myse’f. M-m-m—It took
me long time to git heah but now I’m heah let ’em look out for me.
[His voice rises to a chant.]
M—m—m—Midnight on de sea. All de lights out. I’m carryin’ hod
on Jacob’ laddeh to build me a new house an’ I’m buildin’ it high,
man. Don’ tech me. I’m a flame of fieh an’ I’ll singe you sho’. If dey
asks fo’ me tell ’em say, “I saw somethin’ sailin’ up but he was
headin’ fo’ a high hill on de sun an’ my eyes failed me.” Tell ’em say,
“He had de fo’ win’s runnin’ like stallions to fetch up wif him but dey
carried ’em out, an’ buried ’em in de valley. He bus’ dere hea’ts!” Tell
’em say, “He was herdin’ lightnin’s like sheep an’ dey wuz too slow
an’ he picked ’em up an’ sheared ’em an’ sent ’em home.”
Dat’s me, I’m de one you’ll be talkin’ bout. Fer why? ’Cause I cas’
off ever’thing an’ I puts my trus’ in myself an’ nuthin’ can’t hole me.
De mo’ I says it de mo’ I feels conferdence. I feels it a wukin’.
Lucy
You goin’ to wuk, Madison?
Madison
Yes, indeedy. I got to wuk an’ wuk ha’d. I can’t shirk none.
Lucy
What wuk you goin’ to do?
Madison
I’m a stock brokin’ man. I goin’ into de stock brokin’ business
tomorrer.
Lucy
How?
Madison
Buyin’ an’ sellin’, dat’s how an’ which too.
Lucy
De Devil’s wrastlin’ wif you, Madison, an’ you’s perishin’ fas’. Ef
you keeps on in dis paf you’ll lan’ mongs’ de rocks er mournin’. You’s
let somebody tu’n you roun’.
Madison
Not me. Nobody can’t tu’n me roun’. I dreamed it an’ I dreamed it
right, face fo’mos’ an’ on de run.
Lucy
How dream?
Madison
Las’ night an’ day befo’ yistiddy night an’ night befo’ dat. I wuz
layin’ groanin’, “O Lawd, how long,” an’ I heah a voice say, “Git up
an’ come a-runnin’.” Looks up an’ sees a fine w’ite saddle hoss.
Hoss say,
“Ride me right an’ I’ll guide you right.”
On I gits an’ off he goes, slick as a rancid transom car. Comes to
high hill lookin’ down on de sun an’ moon. Hoss stop an’ say,
“Brung you heah to give you noos
De worl’ is youahn to pick an’ choose.”
I ax him “How dat?” Hoss say:
“How is how an’ why is why,
Buy low an’ sell high.”
I say to him, “I got no money to buy. Wheah I goin’ git de fun’s to
buy low?” Hoss respon’:
“Trus’ yo’se’f an’ take youah own,
Git de meat an’ leave de bone,
Bus’ de nut an’ fling em de shell,
Ride an’ let em walk a spell,
Findeh’s keepeh’s, loseh’s weepeh’s,
I hope dese few lines find you well.”
I ax him who tole him all dis an’ hoss say:
“Ole hoss Grab will nevah balk,
All dis heah is w’ite man talk.”
Dat what de hoss say to me in my true dream ev’y night dis week
an’ I’m a-goin’ to bide by hit twell de las’ er pea time. ’Cause I’m er
true dreameh an’ my mammy she wuz befo’ me.
Lucy
What come of de hoss in de dream, Madison?
Madison
Dat’s all. Hoss went up in smoke an’ I come down in bed.
Lucy
Hoss went up in smoke! No, hit went down in smoke an’ fiah.
Madison
Now look-a heah, woman. I’m goin’ to make you a good livin’ f’um
now on. I’m goin’ into business termorrer. I’m goin’ in de specalatin’
wu’k. I’m goin’ to buy low an’ sell high.
Lucy
What kin you buy wif? You got no money.
Madison
[Hesitating but collecting his forces gradually.] Oh, ain’t I tell you
’bout dat? I got it in de dream.
Lucy
In de dream?
Madison
Um Hmmm. You know dat hoss I tole you ’bout. Well’m, jes’ fo’ we
pa’ted he prance up th’ough a starry fiel’ an’ come to a gyarden
fence. Oveh dat fence he lep an’, man, she was a fine gyarden.
“Whose patch dish yer?” I say to him. Hoss say:
“If you asks me grab what you see.”
Den he reaches down an’ pulls up a tu’nip wif his teef an’ gives it
to me an’ say,
“Dis gyarden truck will fetch you luck.”
[He watches Lucy furtively.] An’ I takes an’ sta’ts to peel dis tu’nip
an’ what does I find? I finds she’s a fine fat roll er bills, dem tu’nip
tops is greenbacks.
Lucy
So youah money is dream money?
Madison
Well, no, not ezackly. De hoss whispeh sumpin in my eah an’ told
me how to make dat dream money real money. An’ I took de hint an’
done it today. An’ on dat money I’ll buy low an’ gouge ’em all good.
Lucy
How much you got?
Madison
Well’m— [He hesitates.] I got a little an’ den some. I got erbout—
fifty er so.
Lucy
Wheah you git it? [She catches hold of him.]
Madison
Tu’n me loose, woman. I goin’ to baid. I got to make early sta’t. [He
pulls off his coat.]
Lucy
[Wildly.] I ain’ goin’ to let you stay in sin. [She snatches the coat
from him.] I goin’ take dis money an’ make you say wheah you got it.
[She begins hastily searching through the pockets of

the coat.]
Madison
[Calmly regarding her with great good humour and breaking into a
laugh as she fails in her search.] Eh, yah, yah, sea’ch an’ look,
sea’ch an’ look.
Lucy
Oh, Madison, ain’ yo’ got no honin’ ter be hones’ at all?
Madison
Hones’! What kin’ er fool talk is dat? I done got my ear-string bus’
now an’ dem preachah wu’ds can’t fool me no mo’. You’ll neveh fin’
it, honey. ’Cause why? ’Cause I’m got it in my pants an’ I goin’ to
keep it f’um a foolish woman.
Lucy
[Running to him desperately.] You got to give it to me.
Madison
Gal, ef you don’ tu’n me loose I’ll git ugly. Now, look heah. I wants
to heah de las’ er dis. I got new ideahs. I got big plots en plans. I
done give you de plankses in my flatfo’m an’ I’m a-goin’ to stan’ on
hit. When I makes a lot mo’ money in de broker business I’m a-goin’
to give you all de gold youah ap’un’ll hold, ev’y day er youah life, an’
you won’ have to wait long. But till dat day an’ to dat time I’m de
treasu’eh er dis lodge an’ I’m de stake holdeh er dis race an’ dat
money stays in de pu’se in de hip er my ol’ jeanses.
[He says this last slowly and with growing emphasis
and as he ends, gives himself a resounding
thwack on the hip over his pocket. There is a
moment’s pause. He puts his hand hurriedly in the
pocket and then dazedly into one on the other
hip.]
What dis? Wheah dat roll?

Lucy
[Fearfully.] I ain’ tech it. You know I ain’ bin neah you.
Madison
[Rushing to her.] Gimme de coat.
[He snatches the coat and begins going through the

pockets, from time to time searching and slapping
the garments he is wearing.]
Didn’t you git it? You mus’ er tuk it.

Lucy
No, Madison, I ain’ see nor tech it. You watched me.
Madison
Oh, Lawd, he’p me look.
[He begins to run around the room, looking on the

table, picking up articles and letting them fall,
dropping on his knees and hunting under the table
and chairs. As he searches he grows more
frantic.]
Oh, my Lawd, Oh, wheah is it? I got to have it. Oh, I couldn’ lose it,
hit ain’ mine ter lose. Stay by me, Lucy, an’ he’p me fin’ it, git down
on youah knees, Lucy. Oh, wheah did I drop it? I’m gittin’ old an’
needs it. Ef I lose dis I lose all my push. I was jes’ goin’ into business
an’ we all wuz goin’ to fly high. I got to fin’ it. I ain’ give up. Lemme
think. Oh, I hopes some hones’ puhson foun’ it. Lemme come on
down—Know I put it on dat side ’cause dat de side Mistah Long he
wuz on—Oh, I’ll go crazy— [He strikes his forehead groaning.]
Lucy
[Starting.] Mistah Long! He’s cashiah in de Dime Savin’s! How he
give you money?
Madison
Oh, lemme see—he gimme de money an’ I put it right in yere. [He
fumbles again distractedly in his pocket.]
Lucy
[Pursuing him desperately.] Onliest money at de Dime Savin’s is
de money. You couldn’t draw hit out. You didn’ do dat,—you
couldn’—Tell me if you did fo’ I’ll fin’ it out tomorrer—Oh, tell me true
—you couldn’ when it’s in my name—tell me now fo’ I’ll find it out.
Madison
Oh, I can’t stand it.
Lucy
Ef you wan’ me to he’p you den be free wif me. How you draw
money from de Bank? I give you no papeh. You couldn’ draw de
money.
Madison
Wilson Byrd, he gimme de papeh.
Lucy
I give him no papeh.
Madison
He write it fo’ you.
Lucy
Oh, Gawd, dat w’ite man write my name. You drawed de money—I
see it now. You had dealin’s wif a fo’geh, Wilson Byrd.
Madison
Spar’ me an’ he’p me. He tol’ me ef I draw de money he’d take me
into business wif him an’ gimme de guitar besides.
Lucy
Did you spar’ me? Fifty dollahs! You said fifty, didn’ you? How
could you do hit? More’n six months’ ha’d slavin’. Six months mo’
befo’ I can resto’ it back. I could a bought de house tomorrer mo’nin’
an’ now hit’s six months off to pay in dat fifty. It was fifty, didn’ you
say? Maybe ’twuzn’ dat much. Tell me right. I’ll fin’ it out tomorrer.
Madison
Dis yere’ll kill me ef I can’t think.
Lucy
How much you draw? Tell me right. Look at me. Were hit fifty?
[She holds his eye.] Less? Mo’? How much? [She continues to hold
his lustreless eyes, reading them.] A hunde’d? Two hunde’d? Eight
hunde’d? [A pause ensues as she reads the truth in his face.] All of
hit! [She sinks in a chair.] Twelve yeahs’ labour sence I married you
an’ termorrer I wuz goin’ to mek de payment an’ we’d a bin undeh
owah own roof. I’m done. I could a paid off pa’t, mebbe fifty, but I
won’ las’ twelve yeahs mo’ at de same thing. But I thank Thee,
Lawd, dat it wuz stole f’um us all ef hit had to be stole.
Madison
Ef I could on’y think. Had hit in de bank—felt hit an’ had it on Thu’d
Street—slapped hit an’ had it at Joe’s house—slapped hit an’ had it
comin’ up de alley—jes’ fo’ I clum de hill—lemme see—clum de hill
—went in th’oo Wilson Byrd’s hedge fence—he gimme de guitar—
scrape my back comin’ out— [His face shows gradual recollection,
and suddenly brightens.] I knows now! Dat’s hit! In dat white man’s
yard wheah he gimme de guitar! I wuz jes’ goin’ to give him de
money when somebody grabbed him f’um behin’. He give a squawk
an’ skeered me. I run out th’oo his hedge fence an’ scrape my back.
I scrape de pocketbook out. She’s dere! In dat Wilson Byrd’s yard. I’ll
git it yit. Watch me. [He grabs his hat and runs excitedly toward the
door.]
Lucy
[Rushing toward him.] No, sumpin’ might happen. You might git
mix up wif him ergin. Lemme go, but I mus’ resto’ dis guitar at Uncle
Williams, as I go by his house. I’ll slip it on his porch. Maybe he’ll
neveh know it wuz gone. Oh, if somebody had seen it heah! How
could I have stood it?
[She puts on a shawl and takes up the bag but as she

lays her hand on the door-knob a loud knock is
heard on the door. Both start back and wait. The
knocking is repeated. She throws off the shawl,
places the bag in a corner and returning to the
door, opens it. She greets the visitor in a strained
voice, almost with a shriek.]
Uncle Williams! Step in, please.
[A man enters. The newcomer is old, with white hair

and beard. He is probably of Moorish descent. He
is so small and weazened as to be almost a dwarf,
but his whole demeanor indicates great latent
power. A strong personality, dominating the two
others from the first instant.]
Williams
Good evenin’, Lucy.
[He seems to be unaware of the presence of Madison.

He comes forward with little mincing steps and an
old man’s gesture, then takes off his hat and sees
about him. The others stand watching him,
transfixed.]
Ain’ you goin’ shut de do’, Lucy? I feels draf’s. I’m gittin’ old an’
catches cold easy. Ain’ you goin’ take my hat? [She reaches for it
mechanically, watching him apprehensively.] No, de hat—not de stick
—ol’ pu’son like me always need good stout stick er club case er
havin’ faintin’ spell—sumpin’ to lean on. Now, wheah a cheer, bettah
fetch me er cheer fo’ feah I might set on sumpin’ you wouldn’ choose
fo’ me. [She obeys dumbly and brings a chair to him.] Set it neareh.
Dat’s right. Now gimme youah shouldeh an’ ease me down. Ah—
[He leans heavily on her and sinks totteringly into the chair with a
great show of feebleness.] Now take a cheer yo’se’f. I ’spize to see a
lady standin’ an’ me takin’ my res’, old ez I is. [She obeys, watching
him with doubt and dread.] Set it dah, wheah I can see you good.
[Madison is standing up by the wall, right, gazing at him as though
paralyzed with fear.] Dah now. We kin be ca’m and have a nice talk.
Does you know what business I come yere fo’ tonight? [He pauses.]
You does, doesn’t you?
Lucy
[Almost beside herself with nervous tension.] You—come to see—
ef— [Recovering herself with a mighty effort.] Oh, yes, you come to
look oveh de stove an’ see ef you like to buy hit.
Williams
[Musingly.] M-m. Well, I reckon—dat’s hit. Yes, dey tells me y’all
has a wahmin’ stove to sell an’ now katydid cease, fros’ ain’ fur off,
an’ I needs hit. Is dish yere de one?
Lucy
[Rising and rushing toward door at side.] No, not dat. Hit’s outside
—ef you please to step out.
Williams
Well’m, I’ll take’n look her oveh. [She hastily lights a candle as he
rises and totters in the wrong direction.]
Lucy
Th’oo heah, th’oo heah. De stove’s out in de woodshed. [She
grasps and guides him.]
Williams
Ah—well’m. Um hm. I always gives things er good lookin’ oveh
befo’ takin’ stock in ’m. You needn’ come erlong. I lived so long in dis
house befo’ you wuz bawn dat I knows my way. Is de stove an easy
wood eateh?
Lucy
Yes, yes.
[She gives him the candle and almost pushes him

through doorway at side as she follows him out.
Madison, who has watched fearfully from a dark
corner, darts forward and looks after them,
listening. He then runs toward the door at back but
hesitates before it and turns as Lucy comes
swiftly in from outer room, closing the door softly.]
Madison
What he say? Do he know?
Lucy
[Desperately seizing the bag and pressing it into his hands as she
turns him again toward doorway at back.] Oh, I cain’ tell. On’y resto’
dis in case he don’ know er case he do. Now’s de one chance to be
hones’.
Madison
Huh. What erbout dat eight hunderd dollah?
Lucy
I don’ know. Trus’ Gawd an’ be hones’.
Madison
Huh uh. One of us has got to go look fo’ dat money.
Lucy
One of us has got to take back de guitar.
Madison
I’m goin’ fo’ de money.
Lucy
Den I’ll take dis. [She takes up the guitar and she and Madison go
toward door at back. Then she halts.] Oh, Madison, you can do bofe.
One of us has got to stay wif Uncle Williams. But take back de guitar
first.
Madison
All right. I’ll go. An’ I ain’t played on dis heah but twice. [He takes
the guitar from her.]
Lucy
Go now. Can you fin’ youah way to his porch in de dahk?
Madison
Will we find de money? Dat’s de p’oblem I wants de answeh fo’.
[Lucy opens door at back to go out. Madison is at her

side. Both start back. Williams stands before
them in the open doorway.]
Lucy
[Haltingly, after a pause.] How—you like—de stove?
Williams
[Entering more vigorously than before.] Well’m, befo’ we goes any
furder we betteh come neareh de real p’int an’ question. I didn’ come
fo’ no stove dis night. [Madison shrinks back into the shadows.]
Lucy
[Slowly.] Yo’—don’—wan’—
Williams
No’m. To be sho’, I might tek de stove one er dese days, but dat
ain’ my erran’ now. Hit’s dis; does you know when we mek de
bargum about you buyin’ dis heah house?
Lucy
Twelve yeah ago.
Williams
Gal, you dreamin’! ’Tweren’t but las’ year. ’Twere de fus’ er
Octobah las’ year an’ I say I gives you de refusals fer one yeah.
’Membeh dat?
Lucy
Yassuh.
Williams
So fur so good. Now does you know what day de month dis is?
Lucy
Fus’ er Octobah.
Williams
Dat’s true as preachin’. Well’m, time’s up.
Lucy
What you mean?
Williams
I’m er man er my wuhd. Pay me de money an’ tek de house.
Lucy
Termorrer—
Williams
No. Termorrer won’ do.
Lucy
Why you push me so? Oh, please spar’ me an’ wait—wait anutheh
day.
Williams
No, I’m er business man. I kin sell de house fer mo’ money
termorrer but I hold’s to my wuhd ter sell it to you. I holds to it an’
loses money, but it falls due dis day an’ night an’ I won’ stretch it one
jump er my hea’t.
Lucy
You know—de bank—ain’t open—
Williams
Sign de check fer hit. You kin do dat, cain’t you?
Lucy
I—s’pose—I—kin.
Williams
Den up an’ do hit. Heah’s er check, all wrote out but de signin’.
[She takes the check he produces.] An’ heah’s one er dese fountum
pins. [She takes the pen.] Octobeh fus’—pay to Zek’l Williams—eight
hunderd dollahs. Des write “Lucy Sparrow.” [She mechanically turns
to do so.] Looks easy, sho’. But de law allows hit; dis writin’ out
money. [He pauses, then adds impressively.] Dat is, ef you got de
money in de bank. Co’se ef de money ain’ dah an’ you writes de
check fer hit de law puts you in State prism. [She stops and stares at
him.] [The pen falls from her hand and the check flutters to the floor.]
What de matteh? You wants de house, don’ you? [Lucy’s head
sinks.] An’ you got de money, ain’ you?
Madison
Dat’s de question. [He comes forward out of the shadow.]
Williams
[Seemingly observing Madison for the first time during the
evening.] Why, heighyo, Madison. I bin lookin’ fer you dis very
evenin’. Whah you bin?
Madison
Bin home.
Williams
Sho’ly not, Madison, sho’ly not all evenin’? Has you?
Madison
Yes.
Williams
Well, ain’ dat de whu’lygig? I wuz lookin’ fer you at Pratt’s sto’ at
eight o’clock an’ dey say you jes’ lef’ dah. You wuz dah, weren’t you?
Madison
No, suh.
Williams
Well, dere I am fool agin. An’ who you think done fool me?
Madison
Dunno.
Williams
Well, suh, ’tweren’t no one but— [He pauses a moment.] Wilson
Byrd.
Lucy
Byrd! [Springing to her feet with the shock.]
Williams
[After watching the two a moment.] So you ain’ got de money no
mo’, is you? [They are speechless before him.] I knows you ain’
’ca’se I knows who has got hit.
Madison
[Involuntarily.] Who?
Williams
I has. [He observes them and then chuckles softly.] I has de
money an’ de bargum’s closed, fer de goods is bin delivered an’
dey’re right in dis room in dat corner. One guitar at eight hunderd
dollahs. Insterments comes higher’n what dey did once but you
would have it an’ now you got it an’ everybody’s fixed.
Madison
[Groaning and bending over the table.] Oh!
Williams
Yassuh, de man what buys guitars at dat price su’tinly plays on de
golden strings. Eight hunderd fer one guitar makes ’m mighty near
twenty thousand dollehs er dozen. De cos’ er livin’ is shore gone up
but ef you mus’ you mus’.
Madison
Oh!
Williams
Well, I cain’ stay heah, I got er be amblin’ on. I much erblige ter
you to mek youah plans to move out er heah fo’ I got ter sell de
house befo’ sundown. Well, so long, an’ I hopes you gits all de good
er youah high price music. [He turns again with his feeble old man’s
step toward the doorway, putting on his hat.] I wish y’all good
evenin’.
Madison
[Moving toward him with the threatening determination of despair.]
Say, I’ve got to have dat money. I sees red. I’m gone bad an’ I’ll kill
befo’ I’ll lose hit.
[Williams suddenly turns with a swiftness and agility

astounding in so old a man. Starting forward he
confronts Madison with such dominance and fire
that he seems suddenly to tower.]
Williams
You kill me! You tek money away from me! Why, you po’ grain er
chaff, you don’ know me. I’m a king in my own right. I got ways an’
means er pertecktin’ myse’f dat you don’ even dream on an’ I don’
need to lay a fingeh on you to do hit. Furdermo’ I could brain you wif
dis stick but ef you cross me I won’ be dat easy on you. Ef you don’
wan’ wuss’n dat don’ cross me no furder er youah troubles’ll begin
fer fa’r.
Lucy
Oh, please don’ lay nothin’ on him.
Williams
You po’ sufferin’ gal, I won’ lay nothin’ onto ’im but I’m a-goin’ to
tek sumpin’ off’n you. I’m goin’ tek de burding er dish yere pack er
laziness off’n you. An’ fus’ I wants ter show you dish yere piece er
papeh. [He produces a folded document and opens it.] Does yo’
know who wrote it? Answeh me. [He shoves the paper under
Madison’s eye.]
Madison
It looks like dat Wilson Byrd’s writin’.
Williams
Yassuh, an’ what’s mo’ it is dat man’s writin’. It’s his confession dat
he fo’ge Lucy Sparrow’s name. I saw dat man steal my guitar an’
follered him home. Dah I grabbed him, dah I foun’ de purse wif
Lucy’s name inside an’ dah I made dat thief write out his confession.
Knowed so much of his meanness already dat he had to do hit. An’
now I owns you. Does you undehstan’ dat? Answeh me.
Madison
Yas suh, no suh.
Williams
Well, I’ll take’n cl’ar up de myst’ry fer you. I got dis confession
outer Byrd an’ I got other things ter prove hit an’ I kin bring him an’
you too, bofe befo’ de gran’ jury.
Lucy
Oh, my sweet Jesus, save him. [The old man stands watching the
two before him for some time in silence. Lucy falls on her knees
before him.] Oh, don’t sen’ Madison to de lawyers.
Williams
No, Lucy, I ain’ wishful ter.
Lucy
You won’t?
Williams
Mebbe not. But fus’, les’ put all dis talk aside dat I bin talkin’ up to
now. I bin puttin’ on an’ pretendin’ in ordeh ter try you bofe an’ sif’ de
chaff from de grain in you. I des bin playin’ wif you ter see how good
you is an’ how ornry dish yere man er youahn is. Yit I’ll take an’ give
him er chance even so, an’ I’ll pluck him f’um de bu’nin’ ef he follers
de paf I p’ints out ter him. But we all got ter have cl’ar unde’stan’in’
’bout dat. Fus’ an’ fo’mos’ youah money is all safe wif me. De house
is youah’n.
Lucy
You means you sell it fer de money.
Williams
In co’se. You didn’t speck I’d steal too, like a w’ite man, did you?
I’ll fetch you de deeds fo’ hit fus’ thing in de mo’nin’.
Lucy
Oh, fu’give me, I was all mix up. But you won’ sen’ Madison to de
gran’ jury neitheh?
Williams
I say I ain’ honin’ ter.
Lucy
Oh, my Makeh, I thank Thee fo’ Thy mercy.
Williams
But I shorely goin’ to put dis man er youah’n th’oo er tes’ ter see
whetheh he’s fitten ter keep out er jail. Madison, will you tek er tes’?
Madison
[Humbly.] Yassuh. What is it?
Williams
A guitar.
Madison
A guitar!
Williams
Yassuh, dat’s hit, no mo’ ner no less. I’m goin’ give you dat guitar
—but—dere’s suhtinly goin’ to be a string tied to it. You kin take dat
guitar but you got to make somethin’ outer yourself wif her or back
she’ll come to me. You kin give lessons an’ learn folks music or you
kin write down de music you make, but you got to do somethin’ wif it
fer Lucy. You got to wake up or I’ll take de guitar. Which’ll it be?
Make youah choice.
Madison
[Crushed.] I’ll—keep de guitar.
Williams
An’ dat ain’ all. You got ter quit runnin’ wif Byrd an’ Byrd wif you,
you got ter be a better husban’ an’ you got to min’ everything Lucy
tells you. Will you do hit?
Madison
Yassuh.
Williams
An’ yo’ ain’ much of er temp’unce man neitheh, is you, Madison?
Madison
I’s a temp’unce man but I ain’ no frantic.
Williams
Well, suh, you got ter jine de frantics now. No dram drinking at all.
Will you quit hit er go ter jail?
Madison
I’ll quit.
Williams
Well, dat’s on’y a promise but I’ll shore hol’ you to hit er put you
behin’ de bahs. Why, look heah, man, does you know how you stan’
’pon top er dis yu’th? Does you know how you liken to er tree?
’Sposin’ sumpin’ wif er cool eye like er tree could see you an’ talk. I
cain’ jedge you ca’m but er tree could. Tree would look at you an’
say, “Does dat ’ere man wu’k?” Win’ ’ud whispeh, “No.” “Do he eat?”
“Yas ’n git fat,” respon’ de win’. “Who shines on him?” “His wife,” win’
say. “Do he put fo’th flower an’ bless de wife?” say de tree. “No.” “Do
he give shade an’ shelteh ter de wife?” say de tree. “No.” “Well,
chop’m down an’ bu’n him befo’ he rots,” say de tree. “Dat’s all.” But
mebbe I kin mek mo’ of him dan dat an’ so I’ll try prunin’ him an’
graftin’ some good labeh onto him. An’ I kin’ er think hit’ll save him

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Infinite Groups A Roadmap to Selected

Classical Areas 1st Edition Martyn R.

Random Walks on Infinite Groups 1st Edition Steven P.

Texas Snakes A Field Guide James R. Dixon

The Spread of Almost Simple Classical Groups Scott

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Behavior

A Paradise to Die For 1st Edition David James Dixon

A Paradise to Die For 1st Edition David James Dixon

Methodological Concepts A Critical Guide 1st Edition

Becoming Your Own Banker The Infinite Banking Concept

and by CRC Press

CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

© 2023 Martyn R. Dixon, Leonid A. Kurdachenko, Igor Ya. Subbotin

ISBN: 978-0-367-70262-5 (hbk)

Typeset in Latin Modern

Chapter 1 Important Subgroups 1

1.1 SOME IMPORTANT SERIES IN GROUPS AND SUBGROUPS

References for Chapter 1 41

Chapter 2 Finitely Generated Groups 49

2.1 THE GENERALIZED BURNSIDE PROBLEM 51

References for Chapter 2 72

Chapter 3 Finiteness Conditions 83

3.1 THE MINIMAL CONDITION ON CERTAIN SYSTEMS OF

3.2 THE MINIMAL CONDITION ON NORMAL SUBGROUPS 90

References for Chapter 3 117

Chapter 4 Ranks of Groups 127

4.1 FINITE SPECIAL RANK AND FINITE SECTION p-RANK 127

References for Chapter 4 153

Chapter 5 Conjugacy Classes 159

5.1 AROUND “SCHUR’S THEOREM”, CENTRAL-BY-FINITE GROUPS

References for Chapter 5 193

Chapter 6 Generalized Normal Subgroups and their Opposites 203

6.1 GROUPS WHOSE SUBGROUPS ARE NORMAL, PERMUTABLE OR

6.3 GROUPS HAVING A LARGE FAMILY OF SUBNORMAL

References for Chapter 6 254

Chapter 7 Locally Finite Groups 269

7.1 PRELIMINARIES 269

References for Chapter 7 303

Author Index 377

Symbol Index 381

Subject Index 385

“Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics,

Kurosh, M. Hall, J. J. Rotman, H. Zassenhaus, W. R. Scott and others, are already

Dr. Martyn R. Dixon is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Alabama.

Dr. Leonid A. Kurdachenko is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of

Important Subgroups, Series

[x1 , x2 , . . . , xn−1 , xn ] = [[x1 , . . . , xn−1 ], xn ].

When x1 = x and x2 = x3 = · · · = xn+1 = y we often write

[x1 , . . . , xn+1 ] = [x,n y].

The following well-known properties hold for commutators.

1.1 Let G be a group and let x, y, z ∈ G. Then

(i) [x, y]−1 = [y, x];

If X, Y are non-empty subsets of a group G, then the normal closure X Y of X

[X, Y ] = h[x, y]|x ∈ X, y ∈ Y i

[X1 , X2 , . . . , Xn ] = [[X1 , . . . Xn−1 ], Xn ]

and if X = X1 = X2 = · · · = Xn , then we let [Y,n X] = [Y, X1 , X2 , . . . , Xn ].

1.2 Let G be a group and let X, Y be non-empty subsets of G. Then

(i) if 1 ∈ Y , then X Y = hX, [X, Y ]i;

A group G is called an N-group or group with the normalizer condition if H