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While analyzing some exact sequences of group homomorphisms, I went across the problem below. It seems fairly simple, so there are probably well-known theorems that one can use to get the answer quickly.

The problem:

I am looking for a group $G$ that has a normal subgroup $\mathbb{Z}$, such that the quotient group $G/\mathbb{Z}\cong\mathbb{Z}_2$. The goal is to find all $G$ with such a property.

There are the two obvious Abelian solutions: First, $G \cong \mathbb{Z}$ (where the subgroup corresponds to even integers), and second, $G \cong \mathbb{Z}\oplus \mathbb{Z}_2$. However, could there be additional non-Abelian solutions?

A related problem:

How does the result change if the quotient group is $G/\mathbb{Z}\cong\mathbb{Z}$. Are there solutions other than the obvious $G\cong\mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z}$?

Tomáš Bzdušek
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  • Thank you @MattSamuel. As for the non-Abelian solutions, could you perhaps recommend a reference that discusses them? Especially, I am wondering whether their conjugacy classes have some simple structure. (For the physics problem that I am interested in, the elements of G are observable only up to conjugacy.) – Tomáš Bzdušek Feb 26 '18 at 05:13
  • @MattSamuel The only nonabelian solution I can think of (to the first problem) is the infinite dihedral group. – Derek Holt Feb 26 '18 at 08:26
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    @MattSamuel How is $\mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z}{2n}$ a solution? I don't see it. Especially since $\text{Ext}^1{\mathbb{Z}}(\mathbb{Z}, \mathbb{Z}_2)=0$ since $\mathbb{Z}$ is a free $\mathbb{Z}$-module. Therefore $\mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z}_2$ is the only abelian solution. – freakish Feb 26 '18 at 11:04
  • @MattSamuel The quotient is isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}_{2n}$ via $(x,y)\mapsto (2x\text{ mod }2n)-y$. This is an "onto" group homomorphism and the kernel is generated by relation $y=2x\text{ mod }2n$ which corresponds to the subgroup generated by $(1,2)$. Or am I missing something? – freakish Feb 26 '18 at 12:17
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1 Answers1

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Abelian case

There's a tool to work with group extensions, at least in the abelian context. It is called the Ext functor. Generally non-equivalent (which is a bit weaker then non-isomorphic, non-equivalent extensions can be isomorphic) extensions of $N$ via $Q$ correspond to elements of

$$\text{Ext}^1_{\mathbb{Z}}(Q, N)$$

The direct sum $Q\oplus N$ always corresponds to the trivial element in $\text{Ext}^1(Q, N)$.

Now if $Q$ is projective (as a $\mathbb{Z}$-module, i.e. free abelian group) then $\text{Ext}^1(Q, N)=0$ which implies that the answer to the question

Let $G$ be such that there is $N\subseteq G$ with $N\simeq\mathbb{Z}$ and $G/N\simeq\mathbb{Z}$. Are there solutions other than the obvious $G\simeq\mathbb{Z}\oplus\mathbb{Z}$?

is no.

Now lets consider $Q=\mathbb{Z}_2$ and $N=\mathbb{Z}$.

There are the two obvious Abelian solutions

Yes, this follows because

$$\text{Ext}^1(\mathbb{Z}_2,\mathbb{Z})\simeq\mathbb{Z}_2$$

(which you can calculate from general properties of the Ext functor). Therefore there are 2 non-equivalent extensions and thus at most 2 non-isomorphic. You found two non-isomorphic solutions which completes the classification.

Trivial non-abelian (i.e. semidirect product)

Now non-abelian case is generally hard. But luckily when we work with $\mathbb{Z}$ and $\mathbb{Z}_p$ (for prime $p$) everything becomes easier.

The trivial non-abelian example is the semidirect product $N\rtimes Q$. I call it "trivial" because it corresponds to a short exact sequence $1\to N\to G\to Q\to 1$ that splits. The reverse also holds: if such sequence splits then $G$ is a semidirect product of $N$ and $Q$.

Since we are working in non-abelian case then by "semidirect product" I'm going to understand "non-abelian semidirect product" from now on. Note that the only abelian semidirect product is the direct product.

For $Q=\mathbb{Z}_2$ and $N=\mathbb{Z}$ this gives the infinite dihedral group. There are no other possibilities of semidirect product of $N$ and $Q$ because there's only one non-trivial homomorphism $Q\to\text{Aut}(N)$. Note that $\text{Aut}(\mathbb{Z})\simeq\mathbb{Z}_2$.

For $Q=N=\mathbb{Z}$ we have that the only non-trivial semidirect product $Q\rtimes N$ is actually $\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}$ with group multiplication given by

$$(a,b)(c,d)=(a+ (-1)^bc, b+d)$$

Non-trivial non-abelian?

There are none. Thanks to @Derek Holt for hints to solve that case.

Indeed, the case $N=Q=\mathbb{Z}$ is quite simple. Every short exact sequence of the form

$$1\to N\to G\to\mathbb{Z}\to 1$$

has to split because $\mathbb{Z}$ is not only free-abelian but also free among all groups. Therefore if $f:G\to\mathbb{Z}$ is an epimorphism and $f(g)=1$ for some $g\in G$, then $h:\mathbb{Z}\to G$ given by $h(1)=g$ is the partial inverse.

The case $N=\mathbb{Z}$ and $Q=\mathbb{Z}_p$ (for prime $p$) is a bit more difficult. We will show that every such extension has to split as well. Or equivalently that $G$ is a semidirect product of $N$ and $Q$.

So let $g\in G$ such that $g\not\in N$ (for simplicity I assume that $N\subseteq G$). Define by $H=\langle g\rangle$. Since $G/N\simeq\mathbb{Z}_p$ then $\{N, H\}$ generate entire $G$. Since $N$ is normal then $G=NH$. And since $G/N\simeq\mathbb{Z}_p$ then $g^p\in N$. Let $e\in G$ be the neutral element. Now we have two cases:

  1. $g^p=e$. Then $N\cap H=\{e\}$ (the assumption about $p$ being prime kicks in here) and therefore (since $G=NH$) $G$ is the semidirect product of $N$ and $H$.
  2. $g^p\neq e$. In that case consider the automorphism $\varphi_g:G\to G$ given by $\varphi_g(x)=gxg^{-1}$. Since $N$ is normal then we can restrict it to $\varphi_g:N\to N$. Since $N\simeq\mathbb{Z}$ then $N$ has only two automorphism: the identity and the inverse. But both cases are impossible. Indeed, if $\varphi_g(x)=x$ then $gxg^{-1}=x$ and thus $gx=xg$ which contradicts $G$ being non-abelian. If on the other hand $\varphi_g(x)=x^{-1}$ then $gg^pg^{-1}=g^{-p}$ and thus $g^p=g^{-p}$, i.e. $g^p$ is an element of order at most $2$ in $N$. This is impossible because $N\simeq\mathbb{Z}$ and the only finite-order element in $\mathbb{Z}$ is the neutral element. But we assumed that $g^p\neq e$.

This proves that there are no non-split extensions of the form

$$1\to \mathbb{Z}\to G\to\mathbb{Z}_p\to 1$$

freakish
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    It's not hard to see that any nonsplit extension must split, in both cases. For example with $|Q| = 2$, if it was nonsplit, then an element $g \not\in N$ wouls satisfy $g^k \in N \setminus {1}$ for some $k > 0$, but then $g$ would centralize $g^k$, which it doesn't. – Derek Holt Feb 26 '18 at 14:22
  • @DerekHolt I'm not sure I understand your argument. What do you mean by "$g$ would centralize $g^k$" and how does it lead to contradiction? Note that the sequence $0\to\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}\to\mathbb{Z}_2\to 0$ doesn't split. – freakish Feb 26 '18 at 14:26
  • Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I was referring to the nonabelian case, in response to your final comment about the nontrivial nonabelian case! As you pointed out, the only nontrivial automorphism of ${\mathbb Z}$ maps every element to its inverse, so in the nonabelian case, we would have $g^{-1}g^kg = g^{-k}$, which is clearly false. In the case $Q = {\mathbb Z}$, any preimage in $G$ of any generator of $Q$ generates a complement. – Derek Holt Feb 26 '18 at 14:45
  • @freakish : Your answer covers all I wanted to understand, including a simple non-abelian example. Thanks a lot! In any case, is it obvious that one can find a non-trivial non-abelian solution, too? Or could it be that there is none? – Tomáš Bzdušek Feb 27 '18 at 22:23
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    @zdus Updated the answer. – freakish Feb 28 '18 at 08:27