Residual Finiteness Growth in Virtually Nilpotent Groups

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Deré, Jonas, Matthys, Joren, Vandeputte, Lukas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Deré, Jonas
Matthys, Joren
Vandeputte, Lukas
author_facet Deré, Jonas
Matthys, Joren
Vandeputte, Lukas
contents The residual finiteness growth $\text{RF}_G: \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ of a finitely generated group $G$ is a function that gives the smallest value of the index $[G:N]$ with $N$ a normal subgroup not containing a non-trivial element $g$, in function of the word norm of that element $g$. It has been studied for several classes of finitely generated groups, including free groups, linear groups and virtually abelian groups. This paper shows that if $G$ is virtually nilpotent, then $\text{RF}_G = \log^δ$ for some $δ\in \mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}$, with moreover an explicit formula for $δ$ in terms of Lie algebras. This implies in particular that it is an invariant of the complex Mal'cev completion, leading to the application that residual finiteness growth is a profinite invariant for virtually nilpotent groups.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_16585
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Residual Finiteness Growth in Virtually Nilpotent Groups
Deré, Jonas
Matthys, Joren
Vandeputte, Lukas
Group Theory
20E26
The residual finiteness growth $\text{RF}_G: \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ of a finitely generated group $G$ is a function that gives the smallest value of the index $[G:N]$ with $N$ a normal subgroup not containing a non-trivial element $g$, in function of the word norm of that element $g$. It has been studied for several classes of finitely generated groups, including free groups, linear groups and virtually abelian groups. This paper shows that if $G$ is virtually nilpotent, then $\text{RF}_G = \log^δ$ for some $δ\in \mathbb{N}\cup\{0\}$, with moreover an explicit formula for $δ$ in terms of Lie algebras. This implies in particular that it is an invariant of the complex Mal'cev completion, leading to the application that residual finiteness growth is a profinite invariant for virtually nilpotent groups.
title Residual Finiteness Growth in Virtually Nilpotent Groups
topic Group Theory
20E26
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.16585