A sandwich in thin lie algebras

A thin Lie algebra is a Lie algebra $L$ , graded over the positive integers, with its first homogeneous component $L_1$ of dimension two and generating $L$ , and such that each non-zero ideal of $L$ lies between consecutive terms of its lower central series. All homogeneous components of a thin Lie algebra have dimension one or two, and the two-dimensional components are called diamonds. Suppose the second diamond of $L$ (that is, the next diamond past $L_1$ ) occurs in degree $k$ . We prove that if $k>5$ , then $[Lyy]=0$ for some non-zero element $y$ of $L_1$ . In characteristic different from two this means $y$ is a sandwich element of $L$ . We discuss the relevance of this fact in connection with an important theorem of Premet on sandwich elements in modular Lie algebras.

On the commuting probability for subgroups of a finite group

Let $K$ be a subgroup of a finite group $G$ . The probability that an element of $G$ commutes with an element of $K$ is denoted by $Pr(K,G)$ . Assume that $Pr(K,G)\geq \epsilon$ for some fixed $\epsilon >0$ . We show that there is a normal subgroup $T\leq G$ and a subgroup $B\leq K$ such that the indices $[G:T]$ and $[K:B]$ and the order of the commutator subgroup $[T,B]$ are $\epsilon$ -bounded. This extends the well-known theorem, due to P. M. Neumann, that covers the case where $K=G$ . We deduce a number of corollaries of this result. A typical application is that if $K$ is the generalized Fitting subgroup $F^{*}(G)$ then $G$ has a class-2-nilpotent normal subgroup $R$ such that both the index $[G:R]$ and the order of the commutator subgroup $[R,R]$ are $\epsilon$ -bounded. In the same spirit we consider the cases where $K$ is a term of the lower central series of $G$ , or a Sylow subgroup, etc.

Diamond distances in Nottingham algebras

Nottingham algebras are a class of just-infinite-dimensional, modular, [Formula: see text]-graded Lie algebras, which includes the graded Lie algebra associated to the Nottingham group with respect to its lower central series. Homogeneous components of a Nottingham algebra have dimension one or two, and in the latter case they are called diamonds. The first diamond occurs in degree [Formula: see text], and the second occurs in degree [Formula: see text], a power of the characteristic. Many examples of Nottingham algebras are known, in which each diamond past the first can be assigned a type, either belonging to the underlying field or equal to [Formula: see text]. A prospective classification of Nottingham algebras requires describing all possible diamond patterns. In this paper, we establish some crucial contributions towards that goal. One is showing that all diamonds, past the first, of an arbitrary Nottingham algebra [Formula: see text] can be assigned a type, in such a way that the degrees and types of the diamonds completely describe [Formula: see text]. At the same time we prove that the difference in degrees of any two consecutive diamonds in any Nottingham algebra equals [Formula: see text]. As a side-product of our investigation, we classify the Nottingham algebras where all diamonds have type [Formula: see text].

On the modular isomorphism problem for groups of class 3 and obelisks

We study the Modular Isomorphism Problem applying a combination of existing and new techniques. We make use of the small group algebra to give a positive answer for two classes of groups of nilpotency class 3. We also introduce a new approach to derive properties of the lower central series of a finite 𝑝-group from the structure of the associated modular group algebra. Finally, we study the class of so-called 𝑝-obelisks which are highlighted by recent computer-aided investigations of the problem.

Virtual concordance and the generalized Alexander polynomial

We use the Bar-Natan [Formula: see text]-correspondence to identify the generalized Alexander polynomial of a virtual knot with the Alexander polynomial of a two component welded link. We show that the [Formula: see text]-map is functorial under concordance, and also that Satoh’s Tube map (from welded links to ribbon knotted tori in [Formula: see text]) is functorial under concordance. In addition, we extend classical results of Chen, Milnor and Hillman on the lower central series of link groups to links in thickened surfaces. Our main result is that the generalized Alexander polynomial vanishes on any knot in a thickened surface which is virtually concordant to a homologically trivial knot. In particular, this shows that it vanishes on virtually slice knots. We apply it to complete the calculation of the slice genus for virtual knots with four crossings and to determine non-sliceness for a number of 5-crossing and 6-crossing virtual knots.

Lower central series, surface braid groups, surjections and permutations

Generalising previous results on classical braid groups by Artin and Lin, we determine the values of m, n ∈ $\mathbb N$ for which there exists a surjection between the n- and m-string braid groups of an orientable surface without boundary. This result is essentially based on specific properties of their lower central series, and the proof is completely combinatorial. We provide similar but partial results in the case of orientable surfaces with boundary components and of non-orientable surfaces without boundary. We give also several results about the classification of different representations of surface braid groups in symmetric groups.

Analytic Detection in Homotopy Groups of Smooth Manifolds

In this paper, for the mapping of a sphere into a compact orientable manifoldSnM,n1, we solve the problem of determining whether it represents a nontrivial element in the homotopy group of the manifoldn(M) n(M ). For this purpose, we consistently use the theory of iterated integrals developed by K.-T. Chen. It should be noted that the iterated integrals as repeated integration were previously meaningfully used by Lappo-Danilevsky to represent solutions of systems of linear differential equations and by Whitehead for the analytical description of the Hopf invariant for mappingsf:S2n-1Sn,n2. We give a brief description of Chens theory, representing Whiteheads and Haefligers formulas for the Hopf invariant and generalized Hopf invariant. Examples of calculating these invariants using the technique of iterated integrals are given. Further, it is shown how one can detect any element of the fundamental group of a Riemann surface using iterated integrals of holomorphic forms. This required to prove that the intersection of the terms of the lower central series of the fundamental group of a Riemann surface is a unit group.