Tarski monster group
Type of infinite group in group theory
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In the area of modern algebra known as group theory, a Tarski monster group, named for Alfred Tarski, is an infinite group such that every proper subgroup, other than the identity subgroup, is a cyclic group of order a fixed prime number p. A Tarski monster group is necessarily simple. It was shown by Alexander Yu. Olshanskii in 1979 that Tarski groups exist, and that there is a Tarski p-group for every prime p > 1075. They are a source of counterexamples to conjectures in group theory, most importantly to Burnside's problem and the von Neumann conjecture.
Definition
A Tarski group is an infinite group such that all proper subgroups have prime power order. Such a group is then a Tarski monster group if there is a prime such that every non-trivial proper subgroup has order .[1]
An extended Tarski group is a group that has a normal subgroup whose quotient group is a Tarski group, and any subgroup is either contained in or contains .[1]
A Tarski Super Monster (or TSM) is an infinite simple group such that all proper subgroups are abelian, and is more generally called a Perfect Tarski Super Monster when the group is perfect instead of simple. There are TSM groups which are not Tarski monsters.[2]
Properties
As every group of prime order is cyclic, every proper subgroup of a Tarski monster group is cyclic.[1] As a consequence, the intersection of any two different proper subgroups of a Tarski monster group must be the trivial group.[1]
- Every Tarski monster group is generated by any two elements such that neither is a power of the other, and two such elements do not commute.
- If is a Tarski monster group, then is simple. If and is any subgroup distinct from the subgroup would have elements.
- The construction of Olshanskii shows in fact that there are continuum-many non-isomorphic Tarski Monster groups for each prime .
- Tarski monster groups are examples of non-amenable groups not containing any free subgroups.