The aim of the series is to present new and important developments in pure and applied mathematics. Well established in the community over two decades, it offers a large library of mathematics including several important classics. The volumes supply thorough and detailed expositions of the methods and ideas essential to the topics in question. In addition, they convey their relationships to other parts of mathematics. The series is addressed to advanced readers wishing to thoroughly study the topic. Editorial Board Lev Birbrair, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brasil Victor P. Maslov, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Walter D. Neumann, Columbia University, New York, USA Markus J. Pflaum, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA Dierk Schleicher, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany

This monograph presents both classical and recent results in the theory of nilpotent groups and provides a self-contained, comprehensive reference on the topic. While the theorems and proofs included can be found throughout the existing literature, this is the first book to collect them in a single volume. Details omitted from the original sources, along with additional computations and explanations, have been added to foster a stronger understanding of the theory of nilpotent groups and the techniques commonly used to study them. Topics discussed include collection processes, normal forms and embeddings, isolators, extraction of roots, P-localization, dimension subgroups and Lie algebras, decision problems, and nilpotent groups of automorphisms. Requiring only a strong undergraduate or beginning graduate background in algebra, graduate students and researchers in mathematics will find The Theory of Nilpotent Groups to be a valuable resource.

Lectures on Finitely Generated Solvable Groups are based on the “Topics in Group Theory" course focused on finitely generated solvable groups that was given by Gilbert G. Baumslag at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. While knowledge about finitely generated nilpotent groups is extensive, much less is known about the more general class of solvable groups containing them. The study of finitely generated solvable groups involves many different threads; therefore these notes contain discussions on HNN extensions; amalgamated and wreath products; and other concepts from combinatorial group theory as well as commutative algebra. Along with Baumslag’s Embedding Theorem for Finitely Generated Metabelian Groups, two theorems of Bieri and Strebel are presented to provide a solid foundation for understanding the fascinating class of finitely generated solvable groups. Examples are also supplied, which help illuminate many of the key concepts contained in the notes. Requiring only a modest initial group theory background from graduate and post-graduate students, these notes provide a field guide to the class of finitely generated solvable groups from a combinatorial group theory perspective.​

In this work we investigate nilpotent groups $G$ in which all proper subgroups (or all subgroups of infinite index) have class smaller than the class of $G$. Our main results are obtained by considering analagous questions for Lie algebras and using the Lazard correspondence and the Mal'cev correspondence. Among other things, for each $n \geq 3$, we prove the existence of nilpotent groups of class $2 n$ in which every proper subgroup (or subgroup of infinite index) has class at most $n$.

In this book, Pierre de la Harpe provides a concise and engaging introduction to geometric group theory, a new method for studying infinite groups via their intrinsic geometry that has played a major role in mathematics over the past two decades. A recognized expert in the field, de la Harpe adopts a hands-on approach, illustrating key concepts with numerous concrete examples. The first five chapters present basic combinatorial and geometric group theory in a unique and refreshing way, with an emphasis on finitely generated versus finitely presented groups. In the final three chapters, de la Harpe discusses new material on the growth of groups, including a detailed treatment of the "Grigorchuk group." Most sections are followed by exercises and a list of problems and complements, enhancing the book's value for students; problems range from slightly more difficult exercises to open research problems in the field. An extensive list of references directs readers to more advanced results as well as connections with other fields.

By a linear group we mean essentially a group of invertible matrices with entries in some commutative field. A phenomenon of the last twenty years or so has been the increasing use of properties of infinite linear groups in the theory of (abstract) groups, although the story of infinite linear groups as such goes back to the early years of this century with the work of Burnside and Schur particularly. Infinite linear groups arise in group theory in a number of contexts. One of the most common is via the automorphism groups of certain types of abelian groups, such as free abelian groups of finite rank, torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank and divisible abelian p-groups of finite rank. Following pioneering work of Mal'cev many authors have studied soluble groups satisfying various rank restrictions and their automor phism groups in this way, and properties of infinite linear groups now play the central role in the theory of these groups. It has recently been realized that the automorphism groups of certain finitely generated soluble (in particular finitely generated metabelian) groups contain significant factors isomorphic to groups of automorphisms of finitely generated modules over certain commutative Noetherian rings. The results of our Chapter 13, which studies such groups of automorphisms, can be used to give much information here.