Profinite Groups John S. Wilson School of Mathematics and Statistics University of Birmingham CLARENDON PRESS * OXFORDPreface Profinite groups are objects of interest for mathematicians working in a variety of areas. For the specialist in abstract groups, they provide the means for focussing attention on properties of finite homomorphic images, and sometimes for deriving strong results having no obvious connection with Anite images. For the number theorist, profinite groups are the groups which arise as Galois groups of algebraic field extensions. And for the analyst, they are the quotient groups of compact Hausdorff topological groups modulo the connected component of the identity. The theory of profinite groups reflects the diverse sources from which it derives its inspiration: the methods used are for the most part algebraic, but they are Jeavened with ideas from general topology, and the connections with field theory provide powerful motivation and an interesting perspective On several occasions between 1982 and 1992, I gave courses of Part ITI lec- tures on profinite groups for graduate students in Cambridge. They contained enough basic material to enable the audience to tackle a wide variety of prob- lems concerning profinite groups, and proceeded to examine a topic of recent research in some depth. (The topic vatied from year to year.) The books which I consulted when preparing the lectures did not present the material on profinite groups at an appropriate level of rigour and sophistication for such a course: they took a very direct route through the subject and skilfully skirted technical obstacles, because their true goals were either in field theory or in the study of profinite groups with rather specific properties. Sections of my lecture notes (complete with mistakes) have been circulating for some years, and in writing this book I am acceding to the requests of a number of colleagues and former students to make my account of the subject more generally available. This book, then, is intended first of all to provide an elementary and rigorous introduction to profinite groups. Its aims are to lay the foundations thoroughly enough for the reader to gain facility in handling profinite groups, to introduce the reader to some aspects of the subject which have received particular atten- tion, and, I hope, to convey some of the qualities which give the study of profinite groups a distinctive character and make it an attractive part of mathematics. Tt has not been my intention to mention all topics of interest or to reach the frontiers of knowledge, although the latter does happen from time to time, by accident or because of the enthusiasm of the author. Topics from the lectures which seemed too esoteric ot difficult have been suppressed. Like the lectures, the book is addressed to graduate students and more experienced mathematicians working in other areas. Tt is assumed from the beginning that the reader has some familiarity with abstract groups and topological spaces; however the prerequisites from generalvi Preface topology are summarized quickly in Chapter 0. In Chapter 3 and various exam- ples later on, a knowledge of classical Galois theory is assumed. Readers who do not have this knowledge could omit all references to Galois theory, but I would urge them strongly instead to redress this gap in their education. All that is needed can be found in any standard text (e.g. Lang’s Algebra). From Chapter 5, a knowledge of linear algebra and some aquaintance with rings and modules are assumed and the pace accelerates gently. Although it is clearly preferable that the reader should work through the whole book from beginning to end, it is possible to find economical routes to some of the highlights and to meet the demands of shorter courses by omitting material in various ways. The foundations are completed in Chapters 0-4; a very approximate indication of dependencies between sections in subsequent chapters is given in the Leitfaden. Because of the requirement of planarity in the Leitfaden we have promoted Pontryagin duality to a position that it deserves but does not quite receive in the text; we have also omitted the obvious dependency of certain sections on simple properties of free pro-p groups. At the end of each chapter there are exercises, followed by bibliographical notes with suggestions for further reading. The exercises should be considered as an integral part of the text and readers are encouraged to do most of them, particularly those in the first few chapters. They range from easy five-finger exercises, through results which might reasonably have been included in the text, to rather challenging problems related to recent research. Many of the exercises are referred to in later chapters. Those exercises which quite clearly assume specialist knowledge, such as familiarity with cardinal arithmetic, can be omitted without prejudicing an understanding of the subject. Tt is a pleasure to express my indebtedness a number of people who have helped me in the preparation of this book. I myself began to learn the subject from the books of H. Koch (1970) and J.-P. Serre (1964), and the influence of these books cannot be overestimated. I am also grateful to the graduate students and colleagues in Cambridge whose valuable feedback on my lectures was no less influential. I owe a great debt to Professor D. L. Johnson, who read an earlier version of the whole manuscript carefully and drew many infelicities and errors to my attention, Dr P. A. Zalesskii and Mr M. Smith have both read parts of the manuscript and made helpful suggestions, But for the comments of these People, the text would contain many more mistakes than it does. Finally, I owe a debt of a different kind to Dr D. R. H. Jones, for making his college room available to me and so enabling me to complete the preparation of this text as I began it, surrounded by many friends in Christ’s College, Cambridge. Birmingham JS.W. December 1997Contents Leitfaden Notational and terminological conventions 0 Topological preliminaries 0.1 Topological spaces 0.2 Products of topological spaces 0.3 Topological groups 0.4 Exercises 0.5 Notes 1. ~Profinite groups and completions Ll Inverse limits 1.2 Characterizations of profinite groups 1.3 Transversals, complements and semiditect products 1.4 Completions 1.5 Completions of the integers 1.6 Exercises 1.7 Notes 2 Sylow theory 2.1 Indices of subgroups and Lagrange’s theorem 2.2 Sylow’s theorems 2.3 Hall subgroups 24 Pronilpotent groups 2.5 The Frattini subgroup 2.6 Fixed-point-free automorphisms 2.7 Exercises 2.8 Notes 3 Galois theory 3.1 The Galois group of an infinite extension 3.2 The fundamental theorem of Galois theory 3.3. All profinite groups are Galois groups 3.4 Exercises 3.5 Notes 4 Finitely generated groups and countably based groups 4.1 Characterizations of countably based groups42 43 44 45 4.6 47 Finitely generated groups and finite images Finitely generated groups and subgroups of finite index Wreath products ‘An embedding theorem for pro-C groups Exercises Notes 5 Free groups and projective groups 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 57 Free pro-C groups C-projective groups Subgroups of projective groups Open subgroups A freeness criterion Exercises Notes 6 Modules, extensions and duality 6.1 6.2 63 64 65 66 TA 72 73 74 75 76 TT 78 79 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 86 8.7 88 8.9 Topological, profinite and discrete modules Extension theory Direct limits Pontryagin duality Exercises Notes Modules for completed group algebras Completed group algebras Modules for profinite rings Completed group algebras of free pro-p groups Free and projective modules Local rings Topologically free modules Tensor products Exercises Notes Profinite groups of finite rank Notation and elementary results Soluble groups of finite rank Abelian subgroups Arbitrary groups of finite rank Pro-p groups of finite rank Filtered and graded rings and modules Graded algebras for pro-p groups Exercises Notes Contents 94 94 97 102 105 113 113 114 114 119 122 126 127 129 136 137 138 138 139 142 145 147 150 161 163Contents 9 10 11 12 Cohomology of profinite groups 9.1 Definition of cohomology groups 9.2 Compatible pairs of maps 9.3 The long exact sequence 9.4 Coinduced modules 9.5 Summary, and a calculation 9.6 Dimension shifting 9.7 The cohomology of a profinite group and its finite images 9.8 Cohomology groups from resolutions 9.9 Exercises 9.10 Notes Further cohomological methods 10.1 The Eckmann-Shapiro lemma 10.2 Restriction, inflation and conjugation 10.3 The five-term cohomology sequence 10.4 Cup products 10.5 Homology groups 10.6 Exercises 10.7 Notes Groups of finite cohomological dimension 11.1 Definition of cohomological dimension 11.2 Projective groups 11.3. Higher cohomological dimension 11.4 Groups of dimension 2 11.5 A lemma of Serre 11.6 A theorem of Lazard 11.7 Exercises 11.8 Notes Finitely presented pro-p groups 12.1 Notation and elementary results 12.2 Open subgroups, extensions and max-n 12.3 Demushkin groups 12.4 Finitely presented metabelian groups 12.5 The Golod-Shafarevich inequality and soluble groups 12.6 Exercises 12.7 Notes Bibliography Index 164 164 166 167 W71 174 176 177 181 188 190 191 191 193 196 200 207 208 209 210 210 213 215 217 222 227 235 237 238 238 244 249 264 271 272 274 281Leitfaden 6.2 6. 8.3-8.7 LN 6.4 ra “| x 1-76 ho 77 6.4, 7.1-7.5 MI J Ve 10.5 124 N\ ia 8.6-8.7 122 1L.S5-11.6 12.3 12.4Notational and terminological conventions Most of our terminology is standard. Maps are written on the left; however group actions, when they arise, are usually actions on the right. The structures of interest to us are profinite groups and it is appropriate for terminology for substructures and structure-preserving maps to reflect this. Therefore from Chapter 2 we refer to ‘closed subgroups’ simply as ‘subgroups’ (except occasionally for emphasis), and maps between profinite groups and be- tween profinite modules will usually be tacitly assumed to be continuous. We write H < G,K«G,N 49 G to indicate that H, K, N are respectively a closed subgroup, a closed normal subgroup and an open normal subgroup of a profinite group G, We denote by Zp the group or ring of p-adic integers {introduced in Section 1.5) and by F, the group or field of order p. We write X() for the set of n- tuples of elements of a set X and G” for the subgroup generated by the set of nth powers of a profinite group G. For elements z, y of a group G we write z¥, [x,y] respectively for the conjugate y~!zy of z by y and the commutator 27y—!zy of zy. Exercise 5 of Chapter 1 is normally referred to in the text as (1.6.5), because it appears as the fifth listed item in Section 6 of Chapter 1. The use of the same style for references to exercises and to results proved in the text reflects the integral role that the exercises play in this book.0 Topological preliminaries In this chapter we collect various definitions, elementary facts and results that will be useful in the rest of the book. Many of them will be familiar to the reader, and so some easy proofs will be omitted. 0.1 TOPOLOGICAL SPACES A topological space is a set X together with a family of subsets, called open sets, satisfying the following conditions: (i) the empty set @ and X are both open sets; (ii) the intersection of any two open sets is an open set; (iii) the union of any collection of open sets is an open set. The set of open sets is called a topology on X. A subset of X is called closed if its complement is open. If ¥ is a subset of X the closure ¥ of Y is the intersection of all closed sets containing Y; thus ¥ is a closed set. A subset Y of X is called dense in X if Y = X. An open neighbourhood of an element x of X-is an open set that contains z. A base for the topology on X is a collection (U, | 4 € A) of open sets such that every open set is a union of some of the sets Uy (and a base of open neighbourhoods of z is defined similarly). Any set X may be regarded as a topological space with respect to the topology in which each subset is open; this topology is called the discrete topology on X, and X is then called a discreze space. If Y is a subset of a space X, then the collection of all subsets of the form YNU with U open in X is a topology on Y; this is called the subspace topology, and with respect to this topology Y is called a subspace of X. A topological space X is called compact if, given any family (U,| a € A) of open subsets whose union is X, there is a finite subfamily (Uq,,...,Ug,,.) whose union is X. Equivalently, X is compact if, whenever (Ca|a € A) is a family of closed subsets with the property that each intersection of finitely many sets Ca is non-empty, it follows that the intersection of all the sets Cy is non-empty. By the assertion that a subspace Y of a space X is compact we mean that Y is compact with respect to the subspace topology. A space X is called Hausdorff if given any two distinct elements z,y of X there exist open neighbourhoods U,V of z,y such that UNV = @. If X is Hausdorff then it follows at once that {2} is closed for each element z € X. The space X is called connected if it cannot be written as the disjoint union of two2 Topological preliminaries non-empty open subsets; at the other extreme, X is totally disconnected if every connected subspace has at most one element. Most of the spaces with which we shal} be concerned are compact Hausdorff totally disconnected spaces, Lemma 0.1.1 Let X be a compact Hausdorff space. (a) If C,D are closed subsets such that CN D = @, then there exist open * subsets U,V such that CCU, DCV and UNV =, (b) Let z € X and let A be the intersection of all subsets of X containing az which are simultaneously closed and open. Then A ts connected. (c) IfX ts also totally disconnected, then every open set is a union of sets which are simulianeously closed and open. Proof. (a) First we assert that for each c € C there are disjoint open sets Uc, Ve with ce U. and DC V,. Fix c€ C. For each d € D there are disjoint open sets Og, Pz with c € Og and d € Py. Since X is the union of the open set X \ D and the sets P; with d € D, there are finitely many elements d;,...,dm € D such that X is the union of X\D and P,,,..., Py,,. Clearly the sets Ug = On, 1-102, and Ve = Pa, Us U Pa, have the asserted properties. Now we let ¢ vary. Since X is the union of X \C and the sets U, with c € C, there are elements ¢1,...,¢n € C such that X is the union of X\C and Uj,,...,Ue,. Define U,V by UsU,U-UU,, and Vek nena. (b) Let (C,| A € A) be the family of sets containing x which are closed and open. Suppose that 4 = CUD where C,D are open in A and CND = @. Thas C, D are also closed in A, which is closed in X, and so (by definition of the subspace topology), C, D are closed in X. Let U,V be open sets in X as given by (a). Write B = X \(UUY). The intersection of the family {B}U(Cy} A € A) of closed sets is empty; therefore there is a finite family (Ca,,...,Cy,,) such that BNCy, N---NCy, =S. Thus the set J = Cy, N---NCy, satisies I CUUV, so that J is the disjoint union of / 1 U and JV. Each of these sets is open in J and hence also closed in J. Since J is both closed and open in X it follows that JMU and IV are closed and open in X. Therefore if 2 € JU we must have A C INU, and hence DC ANV CUNV =@. Similarly if ce V we conclude that C = 2. {c) Let U be an open set and z € U. For each y € X \ {x} there is a set Fy which is both closed and open and satisfies c € Fy and y ¢ Fy. Now X is the union of the open set U and the open sets X \ F,, and so there are finitely many elements y,,..., 4, such that X SUU(X\ Fy) U(X\F,,). Thus F,, 1-.- Fy, lies in U; this set also contains z and is both closed and open, The result follows. Let X and ¥ be topological spaces. A map f: X — Y is said to be continuous if for each open set U of Y the set f-(U) = {z € X | f(z) € UV) is open in X.Products of topological spaces 3 Equivalently, f is continuous if f-'(C) is closed in X for every closed subset C of Y. It is clear that if f is continuous and if g: Y — Z is a continuous map from Y to another topological space then the product map gf: X — Z is continuous. It f: X — Y is bijective then the inverse map f~': ¥ — X is defined but need not be continuous. A map f is said to be a homeomorphism if it is bijective and if both f and f~' are continuous. Lemma 0.1.2 (a) Each closed subset of a compact space is compact. (b) Each compact subset of a Hausdorff space is closed. (c) If f:X sY is continuous and X is compact then f(X) is compact. (d) If f:X — Y is continuous and bijective and if X is compact and Y is Hausdorff then f is a homeomorphism. (e) If f: X = Y and g: X —Y are continuous and Y is Hausdorff then {z € X| f(z) = g(z)} is closed in X. Proof. (a), (b) and (c) are easy exercises. To prove (d) it is enough to show that the image under f of each closed subset of X is closed, and this follows immediately from (a), (b) and (c). Write N = {x € X| f(z) # g(z)}. Let y € N and let U,V be disjoint open subsets of Y containing f(y), 9(y). Clearly f7#(U)g7}(V) is an open neighbourhood of z and is contained in N. Therefore N is a union of open sets and so is open, and assertion (e) follows. Lemma 0.1.3 Let X be a totally disconnected space. Then {x} is closed in X, for eachz eX. Proof. Let C be the closure of {x}. If C is the union of two disjoint open subsets A,B, with z € A, then A is closed in C and therefore is closed in X, so that we must have A = C. It follows that the closed set C is connected, and that C = {zr}, since X is totally disconnected. Let p be an equivalence relation on a topological space X, and write X/p for the quotient set and q for the quotient map fom X to X/p. (Thus the elements of X/p are the equivalence classes of p, and g maps each element of X to its equivalence class.) The quotient topology on X/p is the topology whose open sets are the subsets V of X/p such that g7}{V) is open in X. Thus if X/p is given the quotient topology then the quotient map q is continuous. It is easy to check that ¢ has the following property: if f: X > Z is a continuous map to a space Z such that elements equivalent with respect to p have the same image under f, then there is a unique continuous map f*: X/p— Z such that f = f*g 0.2 PRODUCTS OF TOPOLOGICAL SPACES The Cartesian product (ot simply product) of a family (X)| A € A) of sets is the set C = Cr(X,| A € A) whose elements are the maps z from A to L, Xa with the property that z(\) € X) for each A. (Some authors use the symbol |] instead of Cr to indicate products.) We think of the elements of C as vectors with entries or coordinates indexed by the elements of A. Thus a typical element will be written as (x,); this element corresponds to the function which maps Ato zy. The projection map x, is the map which takes an element of C to4 Topological pretiminaries its value at 4. The product of a finite family X),...,Xn of sets is denoted by XK KX Now suppose that each X, is a topological space. The product topology on C_has as its open sets all unions of sets of the form ay (a) NZ (On) (0.1) with n finite, each A; in A and U; open in X,,. Therefore each projection map mm is continuous; indeed the product topology is the smallest topology for which each projection map is continuous. Let Z be another topological space and f:Z—C a map. We claim that / is continuous if and only if each map mf is continuous, The implication ‘only if’ is clear. Suppose that each map m/f is continuous. If U; is open in Xp, fori =1,...,7 then each (my, f)-2(Uj) is open in Z and so the set f—! (Voy my, (Ui) = Mer (ma, f)7 (U4) is open in Z. The following remark will be useful. Let a = (a,) € C and let N be an open neighbourhood of a in C’. Thus there is a set of the form (0.1) containing a and contained in N; that is, there exist an integer n, elements \1,..., An of A and open sets U; in X,, fori =1,...,2 such that a, € U; for each i and such that my! (Ui) N+ wy (U,) SN. In particular, N contains the set {x € C[ m,(z) =aa,,-.., (2) = ar, }- Theorem 0.2.1 Let (X)|A € A) be a family of topological spaces and let C be their Cartesian product. (a) If each X, is Hausdorff, so is C. (b) If each X, is totally disconnected, so is C. (c) If each X, is compact, so is C. The proof of assertions (a) and (b) of (0.2.1) is elementary; in (b) one uses the fact that a continuous image of a connected set is connected to show that the projection in each X, of a non-empty connected set has one element. The assertion (c) is not elementary; it is Tychonoff’s theorem, which is equiv- alent to the axiom of choice, given the other axioms of (Zermelo-Fraenksl) set theory. We shall give a proof that it follows from Zorn’s lemma (which is also equivalent to the axiom of choice), Let 5 be a non-empty set which is partially ordered with respect to a relation &. A chain in S is a subset C such that for any pair c1,¢2 of elements of C we have either c1 < cg or cz < c1, and a mazimal element of S is an element m such that m < s and s € Simply s =m. Zorn’s lemma is the assertion that if S is non-empty and if for each chain C in S there is an element s of S such that ¢ zy7! from G x G (with the product topology) to G is continuous. In the next lemma we collect some elementary results about topological groups. If G is a group, g is an element of G and U,V are subsets of G, we write Ug = {ug{u € G), gU = {gulu € G}, Ut = {u-'lu © U} and UV = {uv| ue U, ve V}. We write 1 for the identity element of a group, Lemma 0.3.1 Let G be a topological group. (a) The map (x,y) +> zy from G x G to G is continuous and the map rz! from G to G is a homeomorphism. For each g € G the maps zr ag andr gz from G to G are homeomorphisms. (b) if H is an open (resp. closed) subgroup of G then every coset Hg or gH of H inG is open (resp. closed). (c) Every open subgroup of G is closed, and every closed subgroup of finite index is open. If G is compact then every open subgroup of G has finite index, (d) If H is a subgroup containing a non-empty open subset U of G then H is open in G. (e) If H is a subgroup of G and K is a normal subgroup of G then H is a topological group with respect to the subgroup topology and G/K is a topological group with respect to the quotient topology; and the quotient map q from G to G/K takes open sets to open sets. (f) G is Hausdorff if and only if (1} is a closed subset of Gy and if K isa normal subgroup of G then G/K is Hausdorff if and only if K is closed in G. If G is totally disconnected, then G is Hausdorff. (g) IfG is compact and Hausdorff and if C,D are closed sets then the set CD is closed. (b) Suppose that G is compact and let (X,|A € A) be a family of closed subsets with the property that for all 41,A2 € A there is an element HEA for which Xy © X),AXa,. IY is a closed subset of G, then (hea Xa)¥ = Maen Xa¥- Proof, (a) A map from a space X to G x G is continuous if and only if its product with each of the projection maps is continuous; thus if 6: G@ > G and vi G — G are continuous, so is the map z > (@(z),y(z)) from G to G x G. We first apply this taking for @ the constant map z+ 1 and for y the identity map ide, and compose the resulting map with the continuous map e: (x,y) + zy? from G x G to G. We conclude that the map z+ 27? is continuous and hence, being equal to its inverse, is a homeomorphism. Thus the map (z,y) +> (z,y7+) is continuous and so is its product with c, so that (z,y) > zy is continuous. Next we take for @ the map idg and for y the constant map z > g~!, and form the product of the resulting map with c. We conclude that the map tr zg isTopological groups 7 continuous, and so is its inverse, the map z+ zg7!. The treatment of the map zr gz is similar. (b) This follows immediately from (a). (c) We have G\H = U(Hg|g ¢ H). Thus if H is open then so is G\ H by (b), and # is closed. If H has finite index then G \ H is a union of finitely many cosets, and thus if H is also closed then so is G\ H, and H is open. If H is open then the sets Hg are open and disjoint and their union is G; thus it follows from the definition of compactness that if G is compact then H must have finite index ing. (d) 'This follows since by (a) each set Uh = {uh|u € U} is open and since H=U(Uh| he #). {e) The statement about # is clear. Let V be open in G. By (a), kV is open for each k € K and hence V, = KV is open. Thus since g(V) = 9(V1) and q-'9(Vi) = V, it follows that 9(V) is open in G/K. It remains to show that the map m: G/K x G/K — G/K defined by (€,¢) > €¢7 is continuous. Let U be open in G/K and let (Kui, Kw2) € m~*(U). Since q and the map (z,y) > zy7! from G x G to G are continuous, there are open neighbourhoods Wy, We of wi, we such that W, Wy! € 97! (U), and so q(W,) x g(We) is an open neighbourhood of (Kw;, Kwe) in G/K x G/K lying in m7!(U), as required. (f) We noted earlier that one-element subsets in Hausdorff spaces are closed. We must show that if the set {1} is closed then G is Hausdorff. Let a,b be distinct elements of G. From (a), the set {ab-'} is closed, and so there is an open set U with 1 € U and ab-! ¢ U. The map (z,y) > 2y™! is continuous and so the inverse image of U is open. It follows that there are open sets VW containing 1 with ViV-! CU. Thus a7'o ¢ VW-!, and so aV NOW = @. Since aV, bW are open, the first assertion of (f) follows. The second and third assertions are now immediate consequences of the first, the definition of the quotient topology and (0.1.3). (g) We use the results of (0.1.2). Since C,D are closed and G is compact, both C and D are compact, and so is the image of C x D under the continuous map (x,y) + zy. This image is CD, and since G is Hausdorff each compact subset is closed. (b) Cleatly (().Xa)¥ © \XaY). Teg ¢ ()XA)¥ then g¥-' (NH) =o, and therefore, since G is compact and since gY~* and the sets X, are closed, we have g¥~'N.X,,N---X), = @ for some Bnite set Ay,..., An; however Xu CX, N+ NXy, for some p € A, so that g¥-' NX, = Gand 9 ¢ X,Y Lemma 0.3.2 Let G be a compuct topological group. If C is a subset which is both closed and open and which contains 1, then C contains an open normal subgroup. Proof. For each z € C the set W, = Cx7! is an open neighbourhood of 1 such that Wr C C. Since multiplication is a continuous map from G x G to G there exist open sets L,,, containing 1 such that the image of L, x R; is contained in 1V,, ie. such that Z,R, is contained in W,. Write S, = L, 1 Rz, so that S,S, © W, and S, is open. Now C is compact and is the union of its open sets8 Topological preliminaries CN S,2, and so it is the union of finitely many of these sets; say C C U7, Se, 2i- The set S$ =(YjL, Sz, is open and contains 1, We have a n SECU 98.06 Wan ce, (0.2) ist ist and so SCC. Now let 7 = SM S7}, Thus 7 is open, T=T~}, and le T. Write T! =T, forn > 1 write T? = TT"-!, and write H = U,,)7". Thus H is the group generated by T, and, being a union of sets of the form Ty, it is open. By induction using (0.2) we have T™ C C for all n > 0, and it follows that H C C. From (0.3.1) (c), H has finite index in G, and so has only finitely many conjugates in G. The intersection of these conjugates is therefore an open norma] subgroup contained in C. Combining the above result with (0.1.1) we obtain the following result: Proposition 0.3.3 Let G be a compact totally disconnected topological group. (a) Every open set in G is a union of cosets of open normal subgroups. {b) A subset of G is both closed and open if and only if it is a union of finitely many cosets of open normal subgroups. {c) If X is a subset of G then its closure X satisfies X= (nx | N an open normal subgroup of G). In particular, C =(\(NC|N an open normal subgroup of G) for each closed subset C, and the intersection of the open normal sub- groups of G is the trivial subgroup. Proof. (a) We begin by noting that G is Hausdorff, by (0.3.1) (f) Let U be a non-empty open set in G. If x € U then Uz~' is an open set containing 1, and so by (0.1.1)(c) and (0.3.2) Uz-! contains an open normal subgroup K,. Therefore U = U,ey Ken. {b) If P is a set which is both closed and open, then by (a) it is a union of a family of cosets of open normal subgroups; and since P is compact it is also the union of a finite subfamily of these cosets. Conversely, it is clear that each union of finitely many cosets of open normal subgroups is both closed and open. (c) This follows from (a) on taking complements. If y ¢ X then y has an open neighbourhood disjoint from X and so there is an open norma! subgroup N satisfying Ny X = @; thus y ¢ NX. We finish by stating a result whose proof follows immediately from the defi- nition of the product topology. Lemma 0.3.4 Let (G,| A € A) be a family of topological groups, and write C= Cr(G,|AEA).Exercises 9 Define multiplication in C pointwise (so that (t,)(y,) = (zaya) for all (2), (ya) mC). With respect to this multiplication and the product topol- ogy, C becomes a topological group. 0.4 EXERCISES (1) Let G be a group and £ a non-empty family of normal subgroups such that if K,, Ke € £ and Ks is a normal subgroup containing KM Ke then Ks € L. Let T be the family of all unions of sets of cosets Kg with K € £,9 € G. Show that T is a topology on G and that G is a topological group with respect to this topology. Show also that CL is the set of open normal subgroups of G with respect to this topology. (2) The centralizer Cg(S) of a subset S of a group G is defined by Co(S) = {9 € G] gs = 39 for all s € S} and the normalizer Ng(H) of a subgroup H of G is defined by No(H) ={g€ Gg thg € H and ghg"! € H for allh € H}. Suppose that G is a Hausdorff topological group. (a) Prove that the centralizer of each subset of G is closed and the normalizer of each closed subgroup is closed. {b) Prove that each closed abelian subgroup A is contained in a maximal! closed abelian subgroup (in other words, the family of closed abelian subgroups containing A, partially ordered with respect to inclusion, has a maximal element). (c) Prove that if there is a series L=God6,40::-4G,=6 of subgroups such that G,/G,-1 is abelian for i= 1,...,n, then there is such a series consisting of closed subgroups. [Consider closures.] (3) Let X bea dense subgroup of a topological group G. Prove that N= NAX for each open subgroup N of G. (4) Let G be a compact topological group and S a topological space, and suppose that up: S x G — S is a continuous map. Prove that for each open subset U of S the set V = {s| u(s,g) €U for all g € G} is open in S. (5) Let G,A be topological groups, and suppose that G' is compact and has a base of neighbourhoods of 1 consisting of open normal subgroups. Let M be the set of continuous functions from G to A. For each open coset Nt in G and each open set U in A, write K(NtU) = {f| S(Nt) CU}, and endow M with the topology having base consisting of all finite intersections of sets (Nt,U). Define multiplication of functions in M componentwise (ifele) =filz)fe(z) foralteG fA, faeM,10 Topological preliminaries and for f € M and g € G define a map f? by setting f%{z) = f(gz) for allze G. {a) Prove that M is a topological group. (b) Prove that if f € M and g € G then #9 € M, and prove that the map Mx G — M given by (f,g) > f® is continuous. (c) Prove that for each g € G the map 7: f + f(g) from M to A is continuous. (d) Prove that if A is a discrete topological group then M too is discrete. [In the course of this question one uses repeatedly the fact that open cosets Nt are also compact.| 0.5 NOTES Topological groups have been studied implicitly, as automorphism groups of geometries, since the time of Klein's Erlanger Programm (1872), However the notion of an abstract topological group was first formulated in Leja (1927). Puller introductions to topologica] groups can be found in Higgins (1974), Chapters 1, 2 and Bourbaki (1966), Chapters I, III. The two volumes of Hewitt and Ross (1963 and 1970) contain a wealth of information about topological groups. Tychonoff’s theorem appeared in Tychonoff (1930), and the equivalence of its statement with the axiom of choice was proved in Kelley (1950).1 Profinite groups and completions A profinite group is by definition an inverse limit of Anite groups. In this chapter we begin by discussing inverse limits in general, and then we show that profinite groups can be characterized in other ways too. Important and natural examples arise as profinite completions of abstract groups. 11 INVERSE LIMITS A directed set is a partially ordered set J such that for all iy,i2 € J there is an element j € J for which i; < j and ig Xi] i,7 € I, 1 < 9) of continuous maps such that yi, is the identity map idx, for each i and yispjx = Giz Whenever i a. Then (Xy, giz) is an inverse system of finite sets. (ii) Let S be @ partially ordered set and let J be a set of subsets of S which is directed by inclusion {so that if X}, X2 € J then there is a subset Y e€ J with X;UX2 CY). For each X e/ let Ry be the set of order- preserving injections from X to Q, and for X CY define gxy: Ry + Rx to be the restriction map ++ @ly. Then (Rx, yxy) is en inverse system indexed by J. (iii) Let J = N, let p be a prime, and let G; = Z/p'Z for each i, and for J Di let yy: Gj - G, be the map defined by gy(n+ pz) =ntpZe for each n € Z, Then (G;, pis) is an inverse system of finite rings. (iv) The above example is also an invetse system of finite groups. More genetally, let G be a group, and let I be a family of normal subgroups with12 Profinite groups and completions the property that for all Uy, Uz € J there is a subgroup V € J such that V i} and gt = milx for eachi. Then (X, yi) is an inverse limit of (Xi,wis). (c) If (Xi, paz) 4s an inverse system of topological groups and continuous homomorphisms, then X is a topological group and the maps yi; are continuous homomorphisms. Proof. (a) The proofs of uniqueness assertions such as this follow a common pattern. First, the universal property of (X@), g)) applied for the family (yp) of compatible maps yields a map gp): X@ — X sach that yy) =v?) for each ¢. Similarly we obtain 2 map @): X™ + X@) such that gi?) = yl? for each #. By the universal property for (X),y‘")), there is only one map vy: X@) + X@) with the property that gy = gy!” for each 1. However both yg?) and idyas have this property, and we conclude that pp) = idyay Similarly we have p@ yO) = idxc, and it follows that gy) is an isomorphism. (b), (c) We regard C as equipped with the product topology and X with the subspace topology. Thus the maps ate certainly continuous, and the definition of X ensures that yijey = yi whenever j 2 t. If the hypothesis of (c) holds, then X is a topological group and each map y; is a homomorphism. Now suppose that (1: Y -> X;) is a compatible family of maps. We must show that there is 2 unique (continuous) map : Y -» X such that gp = v4 for each i, Let % be the map from Y to C' taking each element y to the vector (vi(y)). Thus 7; = y for each i, and # is continuous because its product with each projection map is continuous. If j > i then Ta = i = Gig hy = GUTIY and it follows that } maps Y into X, Now define y: Y + X by oly) = Ply) for each y. Thus y is continuous, and giz = y for each i. If w!2 Y + X isa map satisfying yiy’ = yy for each i and y € Y then the entry in X, of y’(y) is ay) for each i, so that y"(y) = yy). Finally we note that if (Xi, ps3) is an inverse system of groups and homomorphisms and the maps yy: Y -» Xy are group homomorphisms, then so is y. The result above shows that the inverse limit of an inverse system (X1, 913) exists and is unique up to isomorphism. We shall therefore refer to the inverse limit of the inverse system. It wil! be denoted by lim (Xi, 13), ot simply by lim Xj; reference to the maps yi is usually suppressed. It will sometimes be convenient to work with the particular inverse limit constructed above; we shal! denote it by slim X,14 Profinite groups and completions We note that if (Xj, ij) is an inverse system of topological groups, then its inverse limit, regarded as a set, is just the inverse limit of (Xj, ¢ij) regarded as an inverse system of sets. Proposition 1.1.5 Let (X,, jj) be an inverse system, indexed by I, and write X = lim X;. (a) If each X; is Hausdorff, so is X. {b) If each X; is totally disconnected, so is X. {c) If each X, is Hausdorff, then slim X; is closed in the Cartesian product C=Cr(Xlied. {d) If eack X, is compact and Hausdorff, so is X. {e) If cach X; is a non-empty compact Hausdorff space, then X is non- empty. Proof. Of course, it is sufficient to prove these results just for slim Xj, and conclusions (a), (b) follow immediately because subspaces and products of spaces with the properties under consideration also have these properties (see {0.2.1)). {c) If f,g: X — Y are continuous maps and Y is a Hausdorff space, then by (0.1.2) the set {| (x) = 9(z)} is closed in X. Since stim X= (lee Cl pyle) = milo)}, jot where of course the maps 7 ere projection maps, it follows that if each X; is Hausdorff then slim X; is an intersection of closed sets and hence is closed in the Cartesian product. . Assertion (d) follows directly from (c), (a) together with (0.2.1)(c) and (0.1.2) (a). {e) For j >i set Dy; = {c € C| vizmj(c) = m(c)}. Each set Dj; is closed and C is compact, and so if slim X; = 0, then (\?_, Di,j. = 9 for some integer n and elements i,,j, of I. Since J is directed, we can find k € J such that k > jy for each r. Choose ay € Xg, define xj = vy (zx) for 1 < k, and define xy arbitrarily for all other elements of J. Clearly the element (z;) of the Cartesian product lies in (Yt, Dis, and this contradiction finishes the proof of assertion (e). Proposition 1.1.6 Let (X,y) be an inverse limit of an inverse system (Xi, 913) of non-empty compact Hausdorff spaces indexed by I. The following asser- tions hold. (a) eX) = Mya ag(X5) for each i el. {b) The sets g7'(U) with i e I and U open in X; form a base for the topology on X (c) If¥ ts a subset of X satisfying o.(Y) = X; for each i then Y is dense in X (a) If 8 ts @ map from @ spuce Y to X then @ ts continuous if and only if each map y,6 1s continuous.Inverse limits 15 (e) If f: X — A is a continuous map to a discrete space, then f factors through X; for some i; in other words, for some i there is a continuous map g: X; > A satisfying f = ge. Proof. It is sufficient to establish that the result holds when X = slim Xj. Write C = Cr (X;|i € J) and let m be the projection map from C to X;, so that pi = mlx. (a) We have vi(X) = visej(X) S viy(Xy) for all j > i, and therefore wX) S Myyi eig(X)- Now fix t, fix a € yp; yuy(Xy), and for j 2 i set ¥, = ty € X;| vy(y) = a}. Thus Y;, being the inverse image of a closed set, is closed in X, and hence is compact. Ift ,Y). Thus yyu(de) = by fi <7 < k, and b = a. If lelandi €l, find j with j > 1,0 and define & = y.j(b;); this is independent of j since if we also have j’ >7,! we can find & > j,j’ and we have ‘pty (03) = ety pk (be) = wry Pye (bk) = page (y")- It is now easy to check that jx (by) = by for every pair j,k of indices with j hy,..., ls. For k Si X; satisfying 949; = a. The map gi; is then uniquely determined because g; is suzjective. Clearly I becomes a partially ordered set. If t={U|l (ii). This follows from (1.1.5) (c). (ii) = (ii!). Let G be isomorphic to a closed subgroup G of C = CrlGi), where each G; is a C-group, and for each i write K; for the kernel of the ne map from C' to G;. By (0.2.1), C is compact, and hence so is é from (0.1.2) (a For each i write Ny = K,nG. Since K; do C we have Ni do G, and since evidently ()K; = 1 we have ().N, = 1. Moreover GIN, © GKi/Ki < C/Ky ¥ Gi, so that G/N, € C for each i. (iit) > (i). Write J = (N (iv). By (1.1.5) the group G is compact and totally disconnected, and the remaining conclusion of (iv) follows directly from (1.2.1). (iv) = (iii). This implication follows from (0.3.3).Characterizations of profinte groups 19 Finally, suppose that C is closed for quotients. For each L dg G we may find Nao G as in (1.2.1) with N < Land G/N €C, and since G/L © (G/N) /(L/N) we conclude that G/L eC. This completes the proof of (1.2.3). Taking C to be the class of all finite groups, we obtain the following important charactetizations of profinite groups. Corollary 1.2.4 Let G be a topological group. The following ave equivalent: (i) G is profinite; (ii) G is tsomorphic (as a topological group) to a closed subgroup of a Curte- sian product of finite groups; (iii) G ts compact and (\(N|N <9 G) = 1; (iv) G Gs compact and totally disconnected. Our next result describes how a given profinite group, and its subgroups and quotient groups, can be tepresented explicitly as inverse limits. Theorem 1.2.5 {a) Let G be a profinite group. If I is a filter base of closed normal subgroups of G such that (\{N| N € J) =1 then GS lim verG/N. Moreover H lim wer (HN) for each closed subgroup H and G/K &timweiG/KN for each closed normal subgroup K. (b) IFC is a class of finite groups which is closed for subgroups and direct products, then closed subgroups, Cartesian products and inverse limits of pro-C groups are pro-C groups. If in addition C is closed for quo- tients, then quotient groups of pro-C groups by closed normal subgroups are pro-C groups. Proof. (a) The first two statements follow directly from (1.2.2). The family J =(KN|N @1J) isa filter base of open normal subgroups of G containing K, and by (0.3.1) (h) we have (MMI Med) =K(\N|NEN=K. Therefore the third statement follows from (1.2.2). {b) The statements about subgroups and quotient groups follow straight from (a). Since closed subgroups of closed subgroups are closed, and Cartesian prod- ucts of Cartesian products are Cartesian products, the statements about sub- groups and Cartesian products follow from the equivalence of {i) and (ii) in (1.2.8). Since profinite groups are Hausdorff, (1.1.5) (c) implies that inverse lim- its of pro-C groups are isomorphic to closed subgroups of Cartesian products of20 Profinite groups and completions pro-C groups and so are pro-C groups. Alternatively, the statement concerning inverse limizs of pro-C groups can be proved directly from the definition of inverse limits. Our final result in this section is a useful and elementary fact related to (1.1.6) (d). Lemma 1.2.6 Let f: G > A be a map from a profinite group to a discrete space. Then f is continuous if and only if there is en open normal subgroup N such that f factors through G/N. Proof. Clearly if f factors through G/N then is continuous. Suppose that f is continucus. Then im f is finite. Let im f = {a1,...,an} and write O; = {2 € G| f(z) = a;} for each 4. Now Oj is open, and so Is a union of open cosets in G; and O; Js also closed, hence compact, and so is a union of finitely many such cosets Vz. Find an open normal subgroup N which is contained in V for each of the cosets Vz arising; then each O; is a union of cosets of N, and the result follows. 1.3 TRANSVERSALS, COMPLEMENTS AND SEMIDIRECT PRODUCTS Let H be a closed subgroup of a profinite group G. A right transversal (or right cross-section) to H in G is a closed subset containing precisely one element of each coset Hg of H in G. Thus S is a right transversal if and only if S is closed, G= HS, and s, = 82 whenever 5), $2 are elements of S satisfying Hs) = Hs. The concept of a left transversal is defined similarly. We note that S is a right transversal to H in G if and only if S~? is a left transversal. In this section we shall be concerned only with right transversals, and for brevity we refer to them simply as transversals. Since finite sets are closed, it is clear that transversals to open subgroups exist. In order to prove that transversals to arbitrary closed subgroups exist we need a relative version of the notion of a transversal. Let M,H be closed subgtoups of a profinite group G such that M < H. A transversal to H mod M in G is a closed subset $ which is a union of cosets Mg and which satisfies the following two conditions; () G=HS, (ii) if 81,82 € Sand Hs, = Hog then s187' € M. Lemma 1.3.1 Let M,H be closed subgroups of G such that M < H, and let S be a transversal to H mod M. Let N dq G ond M = MON and suppose that {g1,...,9r} is @ transversal to MN in G. Define Si = NgeMS for ig Mg and Si 3 Sp. Let C be a chain in J and define Mo=(\(M[ (M.S) eC), So= (S| (M.S) €C). We claim that (Mo,So) ¢ J. Clearly Sp is closed; and Sp is @ union of cosets of Mo since if s € Sy then we have Mos C MS C S for each (M,S) € C so that Mos C [}S = So. We have HSy = H(NS) = (AS) = G by (0.3.1) (h). Finally, if 5,589 € So and Hs, = Hg then 5,53! € M for each (M,S) € C, so that sisg? €()M = Mo. Thus (Mo,So) € J, and our claim is proved. Clearly (Mo, So) is an upper bound for the chain C. Therefore Zorn’s lemma may be applied. Let (M, 5S’) be a maximal element of I. If Mf # 1, we can find a subgroup N do G such that A M=NoOM2M, and then we may construct 5 as in (1.3.1). But evidently (M, 3) >(M,S) and this is a contradiction. It follows that M = 1, and that S’ is a transversal to H. Let S/N H = {h}. The set S$ = h7'S" is also a transversal to H in G and we have 1 € S, as required. ‘Transversals are closely related to right inverses of certain quotient maps. Let H be a closed subgroup of a profinite group G. Write Q for the set {Hg| g € G}, regarded as a topological space with the quotient topology, and let g: G + Q be the quotient map. If o: Q - G is a continuous function satisfying go = idg, then its image S contains one element from each coset Hg, and S is closed since ¢@ is continuous, so that S is a transversal, Conversely, if S is a transversal then |g is a continuous bijection from S$ and hence a homeomorphism; its inverse is therefore a continuous function whose product @ with the inclusion map from S to G satisfies go = idg. It is clear that o(H) = 1 if and only if | lies in the associated transversal. Therefore (1.3.2) can be restated as follows; Proposition 1.3.3 Let H be a closed subgroup of G and let q be the quotient map to the set Q = {Hg|g € G}. Then there is a continuous function o:Q -— G satisfying go = idg and o(H) = 1.22 Profinite groups and completions Proposition 1.3.4 Let H be a closed subgroup of G, let g be the quotient map from G to Q = {Hglg € G}, and let c: Q — G be a continuous function ‘such that qa = idg and o(H)=1. Then (a) the map a: 9 + g(09(9))”* 4 a continuous surjection from G to H satisfying a(1) = 1 and a(ha) = ha(z) for allh eH, eG, (b) the map 6: g > {e(g7))7! is a continuous surjection from G to H satisfying B(1) =1 and B(xh) = B(a)h for allh € H, ze G, and {c) the map @: 9 + (q(g), (9) 1 a homeomorphism from G to the space Qx*H and 6(9) = (H,g) for allge H. Proof. (a) Let S = imo; thus S is a transversal to H in G and 1 € S. Each element g of G can be written uniquely in the form hs with he H,s € S, and we have 9(hs) = Hs, og(hs) = s, so that a is simply the map As + h. It follows that a maps G onto H, that a(i) = 1 and that a(ha) = ha(z) for all he Hy, a € G. Since o,¢ are continuous so is og, and thus, being the product of the continuous maps g++ (g,0¢@(g)) and (91,92) 4 9193", the map @ is continuous. (b) This follows directly from (a). (c) Since the product of @ with each projection map Is continuous, 6 Is con- tinuous. It is clear that @(g) = (Hg) for all g € H, and so by (0.1.2) it remains only to show that @ is bijective. If 6(g1) = 6(g2) then we have a(g1) = q(g2) and 91 (09(91))~* = g2(oq(g2))~* and hence gr = gg. Given (Hy,h) € Q x H, write Hg = Hs with s € imo. Then ahs) =(s)=Hg and a(hs)=h, so that @(hs) = (Hg, h). The result follows. A complement to a closed normal subgroup K of a profinite group G is a closed subgroup C such that KNC = 1 and KC = G; in other words, a complement is a transversal to K in G which is a subgroup. Lemma 1.3.5 Suppost that 8: G —> L is a continuous epimorphism with kernel K. There is a homomorphism 6: L + G with 86 = ide if and only if there is a complement to K in G. Proof. If @ has the above property then its image is clearly a complement. Conversely, if C is a complement to K in G then the map Ble: C + Lis an isomorphism and its inverse @ satisfies 90 = id. A profinite group G which has a closed normal subgroup K and a complement C to K is called a semidirect product of K by C; it is the direct product of K,C if and only if C too is normal in G. We write G = C « K to indicate that G is a semidirect product of K by C. If G = C « K then clearly for each element 9 € G we have g = ck = k’c for uniquely determined elements c,c’ of C and kk’ of K. Lemma 1.3.6 {a) Suppose that G= Cw K. Let x: Cx K - K be the map (ck) + oko"! and for each ce C define ct: K + K to be the map ku K(o,k).Transversals, complements and semidirect products 23 {i) The map x is continuous. (ii) The mapc -+c" is @ homomorphism from C to the automorphism group of K (which is regarded as an abstract group) (ili) The map 6: Cx K — G given by (c,k) + ck ts ¢ homeomorphism. (b) Conversely, suppose that profinite groups K,C are given, together with @ continuous map Ki Cx K - K. For eacheo € C definec*: K + K to be the map k + x(c,k), and suppose that (it) holds. Write G for the set C x K, regarded as a topological space with the product topology, and define multiplication in G by (61, k1)(Cas ka) = (exe2, *(C2, ha) ka) - Then G becomes a profinite group, and the maps cH (c,1) and k++ (1,k) are isomorphisms of profinite groups from C, K to subgroups Cy, K, of G. Moreover G = Cy « Ky and {e, 1)(1, kc, 1)7? = (4, w(c, &)) for alice C,k eK, so that, if C,K are identified with C), Ky in the obutous manner, then G = C% K andcke~) = x(e,k) for allc,k. Proof. (a) Statements (i) and (Si) reflect respectively the continuity and the algebraic properties of the group operations, this is immediate for (i) and ele- mentary to check for (i). Statement (ii) can be verified using (1.3.4), or directly as follows. Let N do G andg eG. Ife eC, k € K and ck € Ng then since NG we have ((N A C)e)((N 1 K)k) & (Ne)(Nk) = N(ck) = No. Therefore @-!(Ng) is a union of sets of the form (VM C)e x (NA K)k, and so it is open in the set C x K with the product topology. Since the cosets Ng with N do G and g € G comprise a base of open sets of G it follows that @ is continuous, and so, being obviously @ bijection, it must be a homeomorphism by (0.1.2). (b) We leave it to the reader to verify that the group axioms follow from (ii), and that the inverse of an element (c, &) is (c7!,(x(c,&))7!). Thus G is both a group and a totally disconnected compact space, and therefore it is a profinite group if the map (93,92) + 9193' is continuous. This map will be continuous if its products with the projection maps to C, K are continuous, and these are respectively the maps ((er,ky), (C2, ka) + eg? and ((c1, 1), (Cas ke) 4 wlCa, ki )(m (ca, ka)) The first map is continuous because C is a topological group, and the second because & is continuous and because K is a topological group. Therefore G is24 Profinite groups and completions a profinite group. The proofs of the remaining assertions are easy and they can be omitted. The identifications referred to in (b) are usually carried out, so that each element of the semidirect product becomes a formal product of an element of C and an element of K. The above result provides an important means for combining profinite groups to construct more complicated ones. In the next section we shall see how profinite groups can be constructed from abstract groups. 1.4 COMPLETIONS Let G be an abstract group and J a non-empty filter base of normal subgroups of finite index. We call a subset of G' open if and only if it is a union of cosets Kg of subgroups K € I. Then G becomes a topological group (cf. (0.4.1); the main point to observe is that an intersection K1g; M Kg2 of cosets of two subgroups K,, Kg is either empty or a coset of KK). The completion of G with respect to J consists of a profinite group G and a continuous homomorphism 7: G + G with the following property: whenever 6: G — H is a continuous homomorphism to a finite group H there is a unique continucus homomorphism @: G + H such that @ = 67. Proposition 1.4.1 Let @ = slim ;G/K and let j be the map g++ (Kg) from G toG. The pair (G,3) has the properties of the completion of G with respect tol Proof. First we note that j is continuous; this was proved in (1.2.2). Let 6: G+ H be given. Since @ is continuous, ker 9 is open so that ker @ con- tains some L € I. Define 6: G > H to be the product of the map from G' to G/L taking each element to its coordinate in G/L and the induced homomorphism Lg 6(g) from G/L to H. Thus @ is continuous, and it is clear that @ = 67. If ge: G — H is a continuous homomorphism satisfying @ = yj, then 8, y agree on 3(G), which is dense in G by (1.2.2), and so y = 4 by (0.1.2) (e). We shall show that the completion of G with respect to J is uniquely deter- mined. This will follow easily, once we have reformulated the definition of the completion in terms of a universal property. Proposition 1. 4.2 LetG,I be as above, and suppose that G is a profinite group and 3: G G a continuous homomorphism. The following are equivalent: (i) , J) has the defining property of the completion of G with respect to (ii) for every diagram G oYCompletions 25 with H profinite and with @ @ continuous homomorphism, there is a unique continuous homomorphism 8: G — H which completes a com- mutate triangle. Proof. We only need to prove the implication (i) = (ii). Let @ be given, write qa for the quotient map from H to H/M for each M do H, and consider the following diagram for each M: G A H/M i Om Application of the definition of the completion for the group H/M and the map qu@ yields a unique map @a, such that the outer triangle commutes. If My < Mo and gy,M, is the homomorphism Mj ++ Moh from H/M; to H/Mo then we have gu, = Gumi, and hence MoM OM 9 = Geta br GM = 900.9 = Baad i thus from the uniqueness of a,, we have gaaM@.9an = 9m. Since H & lim H/M it follows from the definition of the inverse limit that there is a map 8 making the triangle on the right commute for each M. Thus the products of 7 and @ with each ce ate equal. For g € G we have qus(8j)(g) = gay8(g) so that 83(9)(A(g))7? kergauy = M. Since this holds for each M and since (\M = 1 we conclude that 6j = @ and that 6 has the desired property. Suppose that 1: G — H satisfies rj = 9. Then (gur)j = aa, and so we have aut = Oa by the uniqueness property of Ox¢. For u € G we have qu(t(u )) = on (B{u)), so that 8(u)(r(u))-? € ker gay = M. Since this holds for each M we conclude that 7T=8. The uniqueness of the completion is now clear: Proposition 1.4.3 If (G1, 1), (G2,Jq) are completions of G with respect to I, then there ts an isomorphism a: Gy > G2 such that aj; = jo. Proof. Consideration of the completion (G14) and the homomorphism Jo yields a continuous homomorphism a: Ga = Go satisfying aj; = jo. Reversing the roles of G1,Gz we obtain a homomorphism @ satisfying j2 = j:. Thus dr = (idg )d: = (Bc) jx. Consideration of the completion (G1, 51) and the homo- morphism j; shows that there is just one continuous homomorphism 4 satisfying di = yar. It follows that id= = Ba. Similarly we have af = ida, , and so a is an isomorphism The following result is an immediate consequence of the earlier results of this section and (1.2.2).26 Profinite groups and completions Proposition 1.4.4 Let (6,3) be the completion of G with respect to I. Then (a) §(G) is dense én G and (b) ker} = Mer K- Proof, By (1.4.3) and (1.4.1) we may assume that G = slimG/K and j is the map g + (Kg). Assertion (a) follows from (1.2.2). Moreover g € ker j if and only if Kg = K for each K, and assertion (b) follows. Assertion (a) justifies the use of the word ‘completion’ in this context. In some important cases when the map j: G — G Is injective we shall regard G as a subgroup of G. | ‘We now mention some special cases of the above ideas. The profintte com- pletion of a group G is the completion of G with respect to the family of all normal subgroups of finite index. The map from G to its profinite completion is injective if and only if the normal subgroups of finite index in G intersect in the trivial subgroup; in this case, G is said to be residually finite. If p is a prime, the pro-p completion of G is the completion with respect to the family of all normal subgroups of p-power index. Thus the pro-p completion of G ts 2 pro-p group. More generally, let C be a class of finite groups closed with respect to subgroups and direct products. If Gis a group and Ky, Kp are normal subgroups such that G/K, and G/Ky are in C then G/(K; O Kz) € C, because the map g (Kyg, Kag) from G to G/K, x G/Kz is a homomorphism whose kernel is KN Ka. The prot completion of G is the completion of G with respect to the family of normal subgroups K such that G/K € C. If R is a ring, then it will be natural to consider its completion with respect to families of ideals K of finite index. The construction of slim R/K shows that the completion s a ring and that the map from R to its completion Is a ring homomorphism. This applies to completions of Z since all subgroups of Z are ideals. The completions of Z are of particular importance, and so we shall now consider them in some detail. 1.6 COMPLETIONS OF THE INTEGERS We fix a prime p and we consider the inverse system (Z/p'Z) of rings. Let Z, be the set of formal infinite sums 792, ajp! with 0 < a; < p for each J. Define maps Gi 2p Z/pZ and 6: Zp — slim Z/p'Z by we int Dap Vapi t eZ and 2 (a(z)|i 21). ° o Clearly @ is injective; we show that @ is also surjective. Let a= (x; +p'Z|i 20) € slimZ/p'Z.Completions of the integers 27 Choose x; with 0 < zi < p' and set ap = zy. For i > 1, the coset cig1 + p't?Z maps to 2; + p'Z in Z/piZ since x € slimZ/p°2, and so p' divides 241 — ai; say Zia. ~ 2 = ap’. Thus 0 1) = (Cyt apap! + pi2] i > 1) = OLS aj-ap’). Thus for each i > 0 we have PDair) = D§Lyas-iw’s and so p'Zp = ker y, is an open subgroup of index p‘. If H is an open subgroup, of index p', say, then p*(Zp/H) = 0, so that p'Z, < H, and as Zp/p'Zp Y img; is cyclic of order p' we have H = p'Zp. It follows that the open subgroups are just the subgroups p'Z, with i = 0,1,..., and, since closed subgroups are intersections of open subgroups, the closed subgroups are the open subgroups together with the subgroup 0. Ifz € Z,\0 then {u € Z,| ut = 0} = ker(u + uz) is a closed subgroup. This subgroup does not contain p'Z,y for any i, and so it must be zero. Hence, regarded as a ring, Zp is an integral domain. The subgroup p*@Zp is the kernel of the ring homomorphism y; and so it is an ideal. Thus all closed subgroups of Z, are ideals. If c € Zp\0 then zZ, is compact, and so closed; it is also a non-zero subgroup, and so open. So all ideals of Z are closed, and pZ, is the unique maximal ideal. If z € Zp \p%p then 2%» & pZy so that tZ, = Zy, and x is a unit in Z, (i.e. Zp has an element v such that zv = 1). In particular, if n is a non-zero integer coprime to p then nZp = Zp and n is a unit in Zp. Now we shall study the profinite completion of Z. An alternative treatment can be based on the result (2.4.3) in Chapter 2.28 Profinite groups and completions Lemma 1.5.1 Let D = Cr(Zp|p prime), let 5: Z— D be the map taking x € Z to the vector with all coordinates equal to z and let Z be the image of 6. For each integer n > 0 the following assertions hold: (a)nD+Z’=D;, (b) D/nD is cyclic of ordern, (c) nDAZ! = nZ’. Proof. Let pi,...,Pm be the prime divisors of n and write n = q1---gm where q is a power of p, for each it. (a) Choose (zp) € D. It will suffice to find an integer z with zp — 2 € nZy for each prime p. Since each map Z— Zp, /qiZp, is surjective we can find for each i an element ys €Z such that zp, + qiZp, = yi + GZp, By the Chinese remainder theorem in @ there is an z € Z such that y; + q@Z= z+ q@ for each i. Thus for each i we have zp, —z € giZp,. However, since each non-zero integer coprime to p is a unit in Zp, we have nZp, = giZp, for each ¢ and also nZp = Zy for all primes p with p€ {pr,...,Pm}. Therefore z — x € nZ, for every prime p, as required. (b), (c) From (a) we have [D/nD} = |Z'f(nDOZ’)| < |Z'/nZ'| =n, with equality only if nD Z/ = nZ. On the other hand, there are surjective homomorphisms 6: Zp, + Z/g;Z for i= 1,...,m, and the map 9 (Zp) > (Ba (ep. )s + 191(Zpm)) from D to Z/qZ x +++ x Z/qmZ satisfies |imO| = q,--+gm =n and nD < ker 8. Therefore |D/nD} > |D/ker 6| = |im6| =n. The required conclusions follow. Proposition 1.5.2 The group D = Cr(Zp|p prime) together with the map 5:Z— D is the profinite completion of Z. Proof. The crucial observation for proofs such as this is that ifa: L + M is a surjective homomorphism and if g: L -» N is a homomorphism such that ker a < ker @ then there is a unique homomorphism 7: M — N such that 8 = ya. Let @ be a homomorphism from Z to a finite group H. We must show that there is a unique continuous homomorphism 6: D + H such that @ = 66. Let HT have order n and write g for the quotient map from D to D/nD. From (1.5.1) the map g6 is surjective and has kernel nZ. Since ker @ contains nZ by Lagrange’s theorem, there is 2 unique homomorphism y: D/nD + H making the quadrilateral D D/nD