Every nontrivial countable torsion-free group embeds in a countable torsion-free group with precisely two conjugacy classes, the identity and all nonidentity elements. At each stage, enumerate all ordered pairs of nonidentity elements of the current group and successively adjoin HNN extensions identifying their infinite cyclic subgroups. Britton's lemma preserves embeddings and torsion in an HNN extension preserves torsion-freeness. Repeat on the resulting countable union, so pairs involving newly introduced elements are eventually included. A final increasing union is countable and torsion-free, and any two nonidentity elements become conjugate at a later stage. No effective enumeration of nonidentity elements is claimed.
For a torsion-free group and finite-index subgroup , is a Poincare duality group of dimension if and only if is. Finite-index induction and coinduction of coincide and give , so Shapiro's lemma identifies their group-ring cohomology as abelian groups. The finite-index finiteness and cohomological-dimension lemmas supply finite projective resolutions. Without torsion-freeness of the converse fails: contains the index-two subgroup but has infinite integral cohomological dimension.
Every finitely generated torsion-free group which is a nilpotent group embeds as a discrete cocompact subgroup of a unique simply connected nilpotent real Lie group. Its dimension equals the group's integral cohomological dimension of a group. In dimension three the Lie algebra is either abelian or has a basis with a single nonzero bracket , giving the real Heisenberg group.
For an odd prime , the matrix logarithm and matrix exponential are inverse maps between and . They imply that the th-power map carries bijectively onto . Direct multiplication gives , so the group is a powerful pro-p group. The quotient is the additive matrix space over , with constant index . The matrices topologically generate, by successive approximation through these quotients. The lower p-series is exactly , so the group is a uniform pro-p group and a torsion-free group. At the first congruence subgroup contains and is not uniform.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 2 4 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A uniform pro-p group is a finitely generated powerful pro-p group whose lower p-series , has constant successive indices. For odd , the powerful pro-p group condition means , with closed generated powers understood. For it means . For finitely generated powerful pro-p groups, uniformity is equivalent to being a torsion-free group.
It is convenient to use general matrix size , then put . Let . The required kernel is , the inverse limit of its finite p-group quotients. For odd , the convergent matrix logarithm and matrix exponential seriesare inverse maps between and . The valuation bounds for ensure convergence and integrality. They give and hence a bijective power map : the unique root of is .
Direct matrix multiplication gives , so and it is a powerful pro-p group. MoreoverThe elements topologically generate: their th powers give all matrix basis directions in , since . Successive correction of each matrix entry, followed by completeness, approximates every element by words in these generators.
Its lower p-series is exactly and the indices are constant; thus the group is a uniform pro-p group. Alternatively, the logarithm excludes nontrivial p-power torsion. Setting gives a uniform pro-p group kernel of dimension and generator number , with indices . This is the odd-prime principal p-adic congruence subgroup is uniform result. The odd-prime condition matters: is nontrivial order-two torsion in .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 4 4 Solution 2026-10-14
Put and , where powers mean closed generated subgroups. The finite-quotient arguments of Question 3 pass to a powerful pro-p group: in particular is powerfully embedded, the power map is onto , andFor the root assertion, apply the finite result to every finite quotient and use the finite intersection property on the closed sets of possible roots in the compact group. Each is finitely generated by the appropriate powers of a finite generating tuple, and is finite and elementary abelian. Thus the are open. They form an identity-neighbourhood basis: in any finite continuous quotient their images form a terminating lower p-series, so some is contained in the kernel. In particular . Collection also givesOne can see the extra index directly by induction from : collect for . Its leading factor advances one layer, and the remaining iterated commutators, with their binomial coefficients, lie at least as deep. Products and limits preserve the inclusion. This is the usual strongly central property of the lower p-series.
A uniform pro-p group is a finitely generated powerful pro-p group for which all the indices equal . The preliminary congruence gives surjective linear mapsIf is uniform, these maps are bijective. If , write and choose the unique layer with . Bijectivity of and the power congruence imply , so . Thus the power map is injective. A finite-order element of a pro-p group has -power order; repeated injectivity of the power map excludes every nonidentity such element. Hence a uniform group is a torsion-free group.
Conversely, suppose some has a nonzero kernel. Choose with . At step , if the current satisfies , surjectivity of supplies withSet . The power congruence gives . Since the corrections tend to in the complete profinite group, the converge to , with and . In particular . A torsion-free group cannot have such an element, so every is injective and all layer indices are equal. This proves the root correction criterion for uniformity andFor a uniform group the power maps are continuous bijections , hence homeomorphisms. Their inverses define the unique roots used below. Comparison at the first differing layer also proves the power congruences in a uniform pro-p group:
The intrinsic Lie algebra of a uniform pro-p group has the same underlying set as , zero equal to the group identity, and operationsHere is the limit of integral powers approaching . The first root is taken in and the second in ; the commutator actually lies in . The following faithful algebra realization verifies convergence and the Lie algebra axioms, rather than assuming them as part of the definition.
Choose a minimal tuple of topological generators. The layer isomorphisms show that the images of are bases of . The ordered-coordinate argument of Question 3 therefore gives a continuous bijectionExistence follows by successive digits and compactness; uniqueness follows by the first digit at which the coordinates differ, because its images are linearly independent in the corresponding power layer. Thus this map is a homeomorphism.
Here are details of the norm needed on the group algebra. In put . Its elements have unique ordered expansions with . To verify this description, identify the ordered coordinates of with . Elements of the completed group algebra are integral measures on this space; their values on the binomial polynomials are precisely the coefficients . The finite-difference identity pairs the ordered monomial with this binomial polynomial as . The Mahler expansion of a continuous function therefore proves both existence and uniqueness of the measure with the specified coefficients. This also proves that the ordinary rational group algebra embeds in these expansions.
Choose and setThis defines the weighted group algebra of a uniform pro-p group. Its multiplication is submultiplicative in the valuation convention, . Indeed, has valuation ; collection of ordered coordinates gives the same lower bound for when . Interchanging two adjacent in a product introduces a correction coming from , of valuation at least . Iterating the interchange rule never lowers the total weight; the corrections have strictly increasing weight, so infinite collection converges. The same argument with -th powers showsThe equality follows from the first nonzero coordinate digit: its leading terms are , at least one with unit , and cannot cancel in the ordered expansion. Completing the rational group algebra in this norm produces a complete normed algebra in which embeds faithfully and with its original topology.
Since , the seriesconverge on the relevant balls in and are inverse there. Their convergence follows from and ; formal one-variable identities prove that they are inverse. Put and . The Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formula in now givesbecause every term of degree at least two tends to zero after this rescaling. Similarly expansion of givesThe leading term is the indicated associative-algebra commutator and all terms of degree at least three tend to zero. These expressions are the logarithms of the unique roots in the intrinsic formulas. The image is compact and hence closed in , so both limits belong to , and the inverse logarithm takes the limits back to . Also . Consequently identifies the intrinsic operations with addition, scalar multiplication and commutation in . The Jacobi identity follows by expanding the associative products; thus is indeed a Lie algebra over .
The commutator roots in the intrinsic formula belong to , so their limit gives . Iterating the power congruence gives . Taking the unique roots shows that intrinsic addition modulo is the original group product modulo . Consequently is the original elementary abelian quotient , and the images of the form a basis. Successively removing digits expresses every element uniquely as an additive sum : existence uses completeness, while a nonzero relation would have a first nonzero digit contradicting the basis in . Hence is a free module of rank over the p-adic integers and is a powerful Lie lattice.
Conversely a powerful Lie algebra over p-adic integers, for odd , is a finite free -module with a bilinear alternating Lie bracket satisfying the Jacobi identity and . DefineFor completeness, integrality and convergence can be verified without guessing which individual denominators are units. In set . Then , so its integral universal enveloping algebra has an ordered basis by the Poincaré-Birkhoff-Witt theorem. Its coefficientwise -adic norm is submultiplicative, and consists of elements of valuation at least one. The homogeneous degree- terms in have coefficients of valuation at least : expand the logarithm, use on each nonconstant exponential factor, and on a product of such factors. Therefore evaluating degree on gives valuation at leastwhich tends to infinity and is at least two when . Each homogeneous term is a rational Lie polynomial by the formal Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formula. The ordered enveloping-algebra basis shows that its intersection with is exactly , so the estimate places the sum in , with the non-linear part in .
Associativity follows from the identity in the completed universal enveloping algebra. Its identity is , its inverse is , and , since the bracket of with itself is zero. The same coefficient estimate for the group commutator puts it in . Conjugation in the BCH group is ; each term preserves , because each bracket adds a factor of and . Thus the submodules are normal subgroups for , their intersection is zero, and their finite quotients have -power order. Thus is a powerful pro-p group, withA module basis topologically generates this group: it generates the quotient , and successive power digits lift that generation through all . The BCH construction therefore gives a uniform pro-p group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 27 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An isogeny of elliptic curves over a field is a nonconstant morphism preserving the identity and addition. It is surjective and finite: its image is a closed connected subgroup, and a nonconstant morphism of smooth projective curves is finite. The degree of an isogeny is the degree of its induced extension of function fields. A separable isogeny has degree equal to the number of geometric kernel points; in general the degree is the length of the finite kernel scheme, incorporating inseparability. The degree of an isogeny multiplies under composition, and degree one means an isomorphism. In characteristic zero all elliptic isogenies are separable. In positive characteristic the Frobenius isogeny illustrates inseparability, while an elliptic isogeny of degree prime to the characteristic is separable.
The homomorphism group of elliptic curves includes the zero homomorphism, the constant identity map, and every nonzero member is an elliptic isogeny. The operations are pointwise addition and negation; for endomorphisms, composition also gives the endomorphism ring of an elliptic curve. We put and otherwise. We now prove the positive definiteness of degree on elliptic-curve homomorphisms in full.
Let , and choose a Weierstrass model. Its coordinate has a double pole at , and the generic fibre of consists of and . On the rational function therefore has Weil divisorwhere , , , and . The generic zeros on the two diagonals have multiplicity one, and the generic poles on have multiplicity two; their intersections have codimension two and add no Weil divisor components. This argument also uses the general Weierstrass involution in characteristic , where need not mean changing just the sign of .
For the sum and difference maps and , the divisors and are and . Consequently, for the degree-one line bundle ,Pull back along and take degrees of line bundles on . A nonconstant map pulls back to degree equal to its degree, while a constant map pulls it back to a trivial bundle of degree zero. We obtain the degree parallelogram lawUsing the line-bundle identity is important: it still restricts correctly when or , when restriction of the displayed rational function would be identically zero.
Since , applying the identity to and gives the second-difference recursionStarting from and yields for all integers . DefineIt is symmetric and odd in each variable. Applying the parallelogram identity to the four terms in its first expression givesInterchanging and using oddness also gives . Adding proves ; symmetry proves additivity in the other variable. Thus is a quadratic form with associated rational bilinear form .
Every nonzero homomorphism has positive degree, so for . The scaling identity also shows that the homomorphism group is a torsion-free group. Hence extends to its rational vector space. On the span of any finitely many rationally independent homomorphisms, the matrix of is rational. Positivity on nonzero rational vectors implies nonnegativity on real vectors by density. If the real matrix had a nontrivial kernel, its rational linear equations would have a nonzero rational solution, contradicting positivity. Thus its real extension is a positive-definite quadratic form. This establishes the requested positivity as well as the quadratic identities.
An important companion to degree is the dual isogeny. Under via , the pullback defines . Divisor pushforward corresponds to , and pushforward after pullback multiplies divisor classes by . Therefore . Composing shows that takes values in the finite kernel of ; a morphism from a connected smooth curve into this finite scheme must be constant, and its identity value is zero. ThusThe last equality follows from , already proved by applying to the identity map. The dual isogeny is unique, since the difference of two choices composed with would vanish and is surjective. It follows that being isogenous is an equivalence relation: duality supplies symmetry, and composition supplies transitivity. For a finite subgroup of geometric points of order prime to the characteristic, the quotient curve and its quotient map give an elliptic isogeny with that kernel; in general one uses finite subgroup schemes. This is the geometric source of explicit descent maps, including the two-isogeny formula in Question 4.
Finally elliptic isogenies preserve the rational rank of an abelian group over a number field. Their dual compositions are multiplication by , so after tensoring the rational point groups with the elliptic isogeny becomes invertible. For a single curve, its endomorphism algebra in characteristic zero is or an imaginary quadratic field, giving ordinary integer multiplication or complex multiplication. In positive characteristic a supersingular curve can instead have a quaternionic endomorphism algebra. The positive degree form controls the sizes of these homomorphisms, while duality makes their arithmetic and geometric properties accessible.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 5 3 iii Solution 2026-10-14
Suppose first that is uniform and is a powerful open subgroup. The torsion criterion stated above makes a torsion-free group; so is a torsion-free group too. It is finitely generated, for example by the Schreier lemma, and hence is uniform by the same criterion. Put and , and choose with . For every ,Uniformity of the two groups givesTaking logarithms and dividing by , then letting , proves . This proves (i)(iii) without assuming that is a power subgroup. Conversely every is powerful and open, so (iii) applied to these subgroups gives (ii). Therefore all three conditions are equivalent.
The remaining nested parts establish the stated properties of the transported operations defined in the root solution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 5 3 Solution 2026-10-14
For a pro-p group, the lower p-series is the descending sequence of closed characteristic subgroupsThe bar means closure of the subgroup generated by the displayed powers and group commutators. Throughout this question is odd. For a finitely generated powerful pro-p group, group commutator collection gives , each is powerful, and . All these subgroups are open. A uniform pro-p group is such a group with all subgroup indices equal to . We use the standard powerful-group torsion criterion: a finitely generated powerful pro-p group is uniform exactly when it is a torsion-free group. For a uniform group of generator number , the indices are , and is a homeomorphism from onto .
We record explicitly the collection facts used for the operations below. With , one hasThe second statement is the power-congruence property: the th-power map is an isomorphism on adjacent uniform layers, and collection gives for . Thus the first nonzero layer of a difference moves down exactly one step under a th power. Iterating gives the asserted equivalence and also justifies taking roots of congruences. These facts follow from powerful-group group commutator collection, using divisibility by of and the successive-layer power isomorphisms; they are the uniform-group structure results being used here.
The transported addition on a uniform pro-p group isThe product is in and has a unique th root in . For the comparison at define . The numbered proofs below establish associativity, approximate commutativity and compatibility of these operations.
The intrinsic Lie algebra of a uniform pro-p group has underlying set , zero equal to the group identity, additive inverse , and operationsHere the group commutator is . For , is the limit of for integers ; the pro- topology makes it well defined. The addition sequence is Cauchy by the compatibility proved below. The group commutator estimate puts in , so its displayed root exists and lies in . Collection of group commutators shows that successive bracket approximants differ in layers tending to the identity, giving the other limit. The group commutator identities give additivity of the limiting bracket, and the Hall-Witt identity gives its Jacobi identity. Approximate commutativity makes limiting addition commutative. The resulting lattice is a free module over of rank , and .
A powerful Lie algebra over p-adic integers, in the convention relevant here, is a Lie algebra whose underlying module is finite free over and whose bracket satisfies . For the condition is instead . For odd , define multiplication on its underlying set by the convergent Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formulaAn iterated bracket of degree lies in . The BCH coefficient bound loses at most powers of , so all higher-degree terms are integral, and their valuations tend to infinity. This explains both convergence and why multiplying a lattice with small bracket stays inside the lattice. Formal associativity of BCH passes to the convergent series, the identity is , the inverse is , and every group power satisfies . The quotients by are finite p-groups. Hence the resulting compact group is a finitely generated torsion-free group and a pro-p group, and its group commutator lies in . Thus is a uniform pro-p group, with and successive index .
The standard uniform-group/Lie-lattice correspondence identifies these constructions as mutually inverse: and . To see why the inverse limits recover the lattice operations, the addition approximant for a BCH group is : its linear term is and every higher term tends to zero. Similarly its group commutator approximant has limiting term . In the other direction, a local logarithm in the complete normed group algebra identifies the intrinsic operations with algebra addition and commutator and identifies group multiplication with BCH; the uniform power maps extend the identification from a sufficiently small power subgroup to all of . Continuous group homomorphisms respect powers, unique roots and limits, while Lie algebra homomorphisms respect every BCH term, so the equivalence also preserves morphisms.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 1 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
First prove the torsion in an HNN extension statement directly from Britton's lemma. Let have finite order in an HNN extension of . Among its conjugates, choose a reduced normal-form word with the smallest possible number of stable letters. If , that conjugate lies in the embedded base , so its finite order and the base's torsion-free group property force it to be the identity.
Suppose instead that . There are no internal pinches in an HNN extension because the word is reduced. There is also no pinch at the join of its end with its beginning. Indeed, write it as and conjugate off to obtain . If the joined subword were a pinch, its two signs would be opposite; conjugating by and using the pinch relation would reduce the stable-letter count by two, contradicting minimality. Thus every positive power is reduced with exactly stable letters in the th power. Britton's lemma makes every such power nonidentity, contradicting finite order. We have provedThe base embeds by the same lemma, so finite order has not been lost or artificially introduced by a quotient.
For the countable torsion-free embedding with two conjugacy classes, start with . Given a countable torsion-free , list all ordered pairs of its nonidentity elements. Both elements have infinite order, so the assignment is an isomorphism between their infinite cyclic subgroups. Successively adjoin one stable letter for each pair with relation . Each HNN extension embeds the previous group and is torsion-free by the result just proved. Let be the union after all pairs from have been treated. It remains countable because only countably many generators were added, and torsion-free because any element and any purported finite-order equation occur in a finite stage.
Repeat this whole process: new stable letters and their products must also be included in later pair lists. In the final increasing unionthe original embeds and torsion-freeness and countability persist. Any two nonidentity elements lie together in some and are conjugate in . Thus every countable torsion-free group embeds in a countable torsion-free group in which all nonidentity elements are conjugate. If the initial group is nontrivial there are exactly two conjugacy classes; for the trivial group the stated condition is vacuous, or one can begin with instead. The listing is set-theoretic; no algorithm for recognizing nonidentity elements is assumed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 1 6 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
False. Take the finite, hence countable, cyclic group . Its elements and have orders two and three. A group embedding preserves the order of every element, whereas conjugate group elements have the same order: . Therefore their images cannot be conjugate in any containing group. This gives the required obstruction. The torsion-free group hypothesis in Question 5 avoids this conflict of element orders.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 5 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The correspondence concerns uniform pro-p groups and powerful Lie lattices, with their natural morphisms. Put for odd and for . A powerful pro-p group is a pro-p group whose closed commutator subgroup lies in its closed -power subgroup. It is uniform when it is topologically finitely generated and all successive indices in its lower p-series are equal. Equivalently, a finitely generated powerful pro-p group is uniform precisely when it is a torsion-free group. A powerful Lie algebra over p-adic integers means a Lie algebra over that is free of finite rank as a module and satisfiesHere a Lie algebra over a ring is a module with an alternating bilinear Lie bracket satisfying the Jacobi identity. Finite freeness is an essential part of the lattice convention. The zero-bracket module satisfies the bracket inclusion but has torsion, and its additive group is not uniform. Thus allowing arbitrary torsion modules would make the categorical assertion false.
The basic structural facts behind the construction can be seen from the power layers. Write with . Collection for a powerful pro-p group givesFor odd , the power lifting is exactly the successive-correction argument of Question 3, followed by compactness; at the stronger fourth-power commutator condition makes the corresponding collection corrections work. The maps between successive layers are surjective linear maps. Uniformity makes their finite dimensions equal, so these maps are isomorphisms. Comparing the first layer in which two elements differ now shows that the power map is injective, while the power-set formula makes it surjective. Thus all the roots used below exist uniquely in the indicated layer. If lift a basis of , the images of form a basis of . Successively choosing their coefficients modulo gives the unique ordered expressionExistence follows by lifting one layer at a time and taking a limit; uniqueness follows by comparing the first nonzero coefficient layer. In particular and these layers form a neighbourhood basis. These are the power-layer and coordinate facts needed in the proof, rather than an assumption that an arbitrary pro-p group has unique roots.
On the underlying set of , set the additive zero to , the additive negative of to , and defineThe p-adic integers act through limits of integer powers in the closed cyclic subgroup generated by . In the second formula the product belongs to ; in the third the group commutator belongs to . The symbols and denote the unique group roots, not unrestricted division in a group. We next justify convergence and the Lie algebra laws together.
A useful concrete tool is a complete normed group algebra containing . In its completed group algebra, put . Ordered-coordinate uniqueness gives unique expansions with . To see why, first work modulo and : the ordered products of the with exponents below form the regular basis, and the change to the corresponding products of is triangular with diagonal entries one. Take inverse limits and then lift the coefficient digits successively in powers of . Define the weightIt is a genuine separated, submultiplicative weight. Indeed reordering produces a group-commutator correction in ; the binomial expansion of a th power gives that correction weight at least , so collection never decreases total weight. Also . Inverting and completing therefore gives a Banach algebra over . For , ordered coordinates showwith value infinity at . Thus the induced topology on is exactly its original topology. This construction supplies the ambient algebra without presupposing the uniform pro-p group and powerful Lie lattice correspondence. The weighted construction, including the case , is described in Equivariant D-modules on rigid analytic spaces, Section 6.5.
Since , the p-adic logarithm and p-adic exponential converge on the relevant balls in :The estimates and show that term weights tend to infinity. Formal substitution is legitimate there and proves that the two maps are inverse. They preserve the leading weight. In particular embeds the compact set homeomorphically into , and .
Put and . Expanding the convergent Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formula in givesThe first expansion has linear part and all other terms have degree at least two in . The second has leading term and all remaining terms have degree at least three. After division by the displayed powers of , the extra factor of forces those errors to zero. The normalized expressions are logarithms of the unique roots already specified. Since is compact and closed in , both limits belong to . Scalar multiplication also remains in by continuity of powers. Consequently is a module over , closed under the associative-algebra Lie bracket . Bilinearity, alternation and the Jacobi identity follow by expanding products in the associative algebra . Transporting these operations back gives exactly above.
The commutator-layer inclusion places every normalized bracket root in . Since and this set is compact, passage to the limit proves . Addition modulo is the original multiplication modulo : collection shows , as the nonlinear errors lie at least one layer deeper. Thus has dimension , with basis . Given , write its residue as and repeat on . This iterative digit lifting converges because the remainders stay in the bounded compact set . It gives with . A nontrivial relation among the could be divided by the smallest power of among its coefficients, contradicting their independence modulo . Hence is free of rank , proving that it is a powerful Lie lattice.
Conversely, let be a powerful Lie lattice. In , defineThe formal Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formula and its coefficient estimate are the algebraic ingredients used here. More precisely, the degree- component can be expressed as an integral Lie polynomial divided by a number of -adic valuation at most . One way to obtain this estimate is to bound the associative coefficients of and use an integral ordered basis of the free Lie algebra. The denominator bound , where is the base- digit sum, is at most . A precise primary reference for that denominator estimate is Smallest common denominators for the homogeneous components of the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff series. A length- Lie bracket in lies in . Thus the degree- term belongs toThese exponents are nonnegative and tend to infinity; for they are at least one. This proves integral convergence, continuity and . Associativity follows from the formal identity in the completed universal enveloping algebra. Substitution of three elements is justified by the same valuation estimates, so the two associative expressions agree. The identity is , the inverse is , and because every nonlinear term involving only vanishes.
For powerfulness, formal conjugation givesThe difference lies in : its th term has valuation at least for . The group commutator is therefore . Its linear term is . Every nonlinear Lie term contains , since it vanishes when , and the extra divisibility makes all those terms lie in too. Hence . The ideals are open normal subgroups for , and their finite quotients have order . The group is consequently a pro-p group. Its power sets are exactly , its lower-series indices are constantly , and a basis of topologically generates it by the same successive digit lifting. The BCH group is uniform.
To check the inverse constructions, powers in the Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formula group are ordinary multiples in . Thereforeand the similarly normalized group commutator tends to . The limit constructions recover the original Lie algebra exactly. In the other direction, the ambient Banach algebra construction gives , so the recovered operation is the original multiplication of .
Finally a continuous group homomorphism between uniform pro-p groups preserves integer powers and powers with exponents in the p-adic integers, preserves the unique roots in the power layers, and commutes with their limits. It therefore becomes a linear Lie algebra homomorphism. Conversely a linear Lie algebra homomorphism between finite free modules is continuous and preserves every term of the convergent Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff formula, hence is a continuous group homomorphism for . The constructions preserve identity maps and composition, and the inverse identifications are natural. They are mutually inverse functors, giving the stated category correspondence with the finite-free lattice convention.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 2 16G ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Add to the group axioms the sentences for every . Their models are precisely the torsion-free groups. This theory is not finitely axiomatizable. If a finite sentence or finite theory were equivalent to it, the compactness theorem would imply that finitely many of these power axioms already entailed the proposed axiomatization. A cyclic group of prime order greater than all the finitely listed exponents satisfies those power axioms but is not torsion-free, a contradiction.
The class of all torsion groups is not first-order axiomatizable at all. If a theory axiomatized it, add a new constant and the sentences for all . Every finite subset has a model: use a cyclic group of sufficiently large prime order, with a generator. Compactness gives a model of all of in which has infinite order, contradicting the claimed torsion property. These conclusions concern the ordinary first-order language of groups.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 22 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
In this setting a formal group law means a one-dimensional commutative series with identity zero andIt starts with ; there is a unique inverse series satisfying . For coefficients in , the series and its inverse converge on , making this ideal a topological abelian group under .
Set , and write . The formal logarithm isDifferentiate associativity in the third variable at zero. It gives , so . Subtracting leaves a series independent of , whose value at zero is . Thus .
For odd , the logarithm converges on : the valuation of its degree- term is at least , which tends to infinity. Put . For , factor to obtainfor every and odd . Hence is a contraction with constant at most and maps into . The equation is equivalent to ; the contraction mapping theorem gives a unique solution in for every . The same estimate shows , so the logarithm is a topological group isomorphism. Dividing its values by givesThis is the deep logarithm subgroup of a formal group argument, here with depth one.
For , the degree-two estimate at depth one need not be strict. At depth two, however,so the same proof gives . This subgroup has index two in , because when .
Indeed the topological structure of a formal group on twice the 2-adic integers has just two possibilities. Let , let its index-two subgroup have topological generator , and choose . Write , with , using group notation. If is odd, generates and generates , giving . If is even, has order two and lies outside , giving . The multiples are defined by continuity in this compact pro-two group.
For explicit contrasting examples, the formal additive group gives , which is a torsion-free group. The formal multiplicative group is identified by with . Its element corresponds to and has order two. Moreoverand the logarithm identifies the second factor with . The two resulting groups are and , so they are not isomorphic.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 22 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The Lutz–Nagell theorem says that for a nonsingular short equation with , every nonidentity rational torsion point of an elliptic curve has , and either orThis is a necessary condition for torsion, not a converse.
To prove integrality, fix a prime . If , the term dominates the right side of the equation. Hence , so , for some . The parameter has valuation and identifies the point with the formal neighbourhood of the identity, namely the formal group of an elliptic curve evaluated on .
For odd , this group is a torsion-free group by the logarithm argument of Question 2. For , use the special short-model structure. Negation sends exactly to , so the formal multiplication series is odd and has integral coefficients:If , the first term has valuation and all the others have valuation at least . Thus , and no iteration of doubling kills a nonzero point. Multiplication by an odd integer has unit linear coefficient and also cannot kill it. This proves the torsion-free formal subgroup for a short Weierstrass equation, including at two. Consequently a rational torsion point of an elliptic curve cannot have at any prime. Its is integral, and the equation then makes its rational integral too.
For the divisibility conclusion suppose . Then and is also a rational torsion point of an elliptic curve, so is integral. Its tangent slope satisfies . Thus ; a rational number with integral square is itself integral. In particular . Reduce the supplied polynomial identity modulo : both terms on the left are divisible by , so the right side is too. This is the divisibility proof in the Nagell–Lutz theorem.
For the specific curve, . The computed equality makes a point of exact order three. The coordinate has square not dividing , so has infinite order. To decide , use the already computed point . Its -coordinate has even square, which cannot divide the odd number , so that sum has infinite order. Since is torsion, must have infinite order as well. has order three; and both have infinite order.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 22 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Translate the rational point of order two to and clear denominators to obtain an integral equationThe two-isogeny formula giveswith and its dual . One choice of signs isThese extend across their displayed poles as isogenies; their composition is and their kernels are the respective rational points of order two.
The two-isogeny descent maps into square classes areand the analogous map on uses at its point . They are homomorphisms, with kernels and . For instance the product of the three intersection -coordinates of a chord is the square of its intercept, proving the square-class addition rule; the values at exceptional points come from the same rule or from the divisor . This also identifies the maps as the Kummer maps for the two isogenies.
The square-class index formula for two-isogeny descent iswhere is the rank. To see the torsion correction explicitly, put on . Factoring multiplication by two givesThe last denominator is : is in exactly when the two additional torsion points of an elliptic curve of order two on are rational. Since , cancellation gives the formula in both the single and full rational two-torsion cases.
For computing the images, unit square-class bound for two-isogeny descent restricts to signed squarefree divisors of , and to those of . To justify the prime support, negative valuations of a rational -coordinate are even; at a prime not dividing , a positive valuation of makes a unit, so the equation again forces the valuation to be even. A candidate occurs precisely when the quartic covering in a two-isogeny descenthas a rational point, with the limiting points at or included. Clearing denominators gives integers with . For , the associated point is , . Test these finitely many coverings over and over relevant to eliminate impossible classes; surviving locally soluble classes give an upper bound. Finding rational points on them proves membership and often makes the bound exact. Local solubility alone need not prove global solubility, so one must retain the possible Selmer obstruction.
For the illustration takewith . On all possible square classes are . They all occur: supplies and the three points with , at , supply . Hence .
On , a nonzero real point has , because . Thus only need be considered, and occurs already at . The other three classes are excluded as follows.
For , the covering is . Reducing modulo forces and . If were divisible by , then would be too, contradicting primitivity. Otherwise , impossible since . For , the equation is , which similarly forces . Thus neither class occurs. These are odd-prime obstructions for the congruent-number isogeny coverings.
For , the equation is . If exactly one of is odd, its right side is , not a square. If both are odd, their fourth powers are and ; hence the right side is , also not a square. Both even is forbidden by primitivity. This is the modulo-thirty-two obstruction for a congruent-number descent class. Consequently , and the rank formula givesTo complete the congruent-number conclusion, also determine torsion. At a good prime , the character sum for cancels in pairs , so . Rational torsion injects into good reduction at every odd prime, by the formal kernel, which is a torsion-free group. If , use to bound its order by . If , use , giving . The three rational points of order two already give four points, so . This is rational torsion of a congruent number curve in the present cases.
A congruent number is the positive area of a right triangle with rational side lengths. A point on with would give such a triangle with sidesfor which and . Conversely a rational right triangle of area gives a point with nonzero , for example , . But every rational point on the curve just determined is or has . Every prime is therefore not a congruent number.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 4 2 Solution 2026-10-06
A soluble group, also called a solvable group, has a terminating derived series:For a subgroup , induction gives , so subgroups of soluble groups are soluble. For a surjective group homomorphism , , so quotients of soluble groups are soluble. Finally, in a group extension , suppose and . Then and . Soluble groups are closed under subgroups, quotients and group extensions.
A virtually soluble group contains a soluble group as a finite-index subgroup. The finite-index facts proved in parts (i)–(iii) imply closure under subgroups and quotients: intersect a finite-index soluble subgroup with the chosen subgroup, or take its image under the quotient map.
For group extensions, no finite-generation hypothesis may be inserted. We first establish the finite-index characteristic soluble subgroup lemma. If is a virtually soluble group, the kernel of its action on the cosets of a finite-index soluble subgroup is a soluble normal subgroup of finite index. Among soluble normal subgroups containing , choose with maximal , possible because is finite. If is any soluble normal subgroup of , then is soluble: it is an extension of by . Maximality forces . Thus is the unique largest soluble normal subgroup of , making it a characteristic subgroup, and it has finite index.
Now suppose has both and virtually soluble. Replace by the preimage of a finite-index soluble subgroup of . The subgroup just constructed is characteristic in and therefore normal in . In , the subgroup is a finite normal subgroup, and is a soluble group. The centralizer has finite index in , since conjugation gives a map with finite image. Its intersection with is the center of a group , an abelian group, while its quotient by embeds in the soluble group . Thus is a soluble group. Its preimage in is an extension by , so it too is soluble and has finite index in . Virtually soluble groups are closed under group extensions.
For the final example take the restricted direct sum of groupswhere is the nonabelian simple group of even permutations on five letters. Every finite collection of elements lies in a product of finitely many finite factors, so is a locally finite group and hence a torsion group. It cannot contain a nonabelian free group, which is a torsion-free group.
To show that is not a virtually soluble group, let be any finite-index subgroup and let be the kernel of the finite coset action. Each coordinate maps either injectively or trivially into the finite quotient , by Simplicity of the alternating group A5. The nontrivial images of distinct factors commute, and each has trivial centre, so any of them generate a direct product of groups of order . Only finitely many such images can occur in a finite quotient. Therefore , and hence , contains a whole coordinate copy of , which is not soluble: its nontrivial commutator subgroup is normal and therefore equals . No finite-index subgroup of is soluble.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 23 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A torsion-free divisible Abelian group is naturally a vector space over the rational numbers: for and , define as the unique with . Divisibility supplies existence and torsion-freeness supplies uniqueness.
In the usual group first-order language , a model of the universal part of DAG is a torsion-free group which is Abelian. If the language instead uses only , a substructure can be merely a torsion-free cancellative commutative monoid. Handle this convention by first taking its Grothendieck group : its elements are formal differences , withThe cancellative commutative monoid condition makes injective. If , then , and torsion-freeness gives ; hence is a torsion-free abelian group. In the full group language simply take .
For form its rational divisible hullConcretely its elements are fractions with , where if . The canonical embedding of into is injective, and is nontrivial, divisible, Abelian and torsion-free, so it satisfies DAG.
Let be any structure embedding into a model of DAG. Extend it first to formal differences if necessary. Its unique extension to the rational divisible hull sends to the unique element with . This is a group homomorphism fixing the given copy of . It is injective: an element mapped to zero has , hence . Thus every embedding into a DAG model factors through .
The zero case must be treated separately: its rational divisible hull is zero and does not satisfy DAG. Instead choose . Given any nontrivial DAG model , choose ; the map embeds into over zero. Therefore DAG has algebraically prime models, including over the trivial base.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 104 5 g Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The factors and are torsion-free groups, and so is their free product . Indeed every element of a free product is conjugate either into one factor or to an alternating word whose first and last syllables lie in different factors. A word of the latter kind has nonempty reduced powers of every positive length, so has infinite order. A nonidentity element of either factor also has infinite order.
By the finite-order result in part (b), every finite-order element of the multiple HNN extension is conjugate into the torsion-free base , and hence is the identity. Apply the same result once more to , whose base is . It follows thatThus the failure of a word problem for a group to be decidable does not require torsion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 149 2 a Solution 2026-10-03
Let be the abelianization map. Its image is again a -approximate group. Apply the large-progression form of the Freiman-Green-Ruzsa theorem to . It gives a finite subgroup , elements , and lengths , withand
The large lifted product from a coset progression applied to this progression givesBriefly, choose a section of on . Multiplication by that section is multiplicative up to ; lifting successively the subgroup part and each progression direction therefore places every element of in the displayed product. The fiber-counting lemma for a quotient map gives , which proves the estimate.
SetThe intersection of an approximate group power with a subgroup shows that each is a -approximate group contained in . The preimage of a cyclic subgroup of has step less than . The same is true of the preimage of the finite subgroup because is a torsion-free group. Consequently each has step less than , and the displayed estimate is the required conclusion.