Profinite group

In mathematics, a profinite group is a topological group that is in a certain sense assembled from a system
of finite groups.

The idea of using a profinite group is to provide a "uniform", or "synoptic", view of an entire system of
finite groups. Properties of the profinite group are generally speaking uniform properties of the system. For
example, the profinite group is finitely generated (as a topological group) if and only if there exists
such that every group in the system can be generated by elements.[1] Many theorems about finite groups
can be readily generalised to profinite groups; examples are Lagrange's theorem and the Sylow theorems.[2]

To construct a profinite group one needs a system of finite groups and group homomorphisms between
them. Without loss of generality, these homomorphisms can be assumed to be surjective, in which case the
finite groups will appear as quotient groups of the resulting profinite group; in a sense, these quotients
approximate the profinite group.

Important examples of profinite groups are the additive groups of p-adic integers and the Galois groups of
infinite-degree field extensions.

Every profinite group is compact and totally disconnected. A non-compact generalization of the concept is
that of locally profinite groups. Even more general are the totally disconnected groups.

Contents
Definition
First definition (constructive)
Second definition (axiomatic)
Profinite completion
Equivalence
Surjective systems
Examples
Properties and facts
Ind-finite groups
Projective profinite groups
Procyclic group
See also
References

Definition
Profinite groups can be defined in either of two equivalent ways.
First definition (constructive)

A profinite group is a topological group that is isomorphic to the inverse limit of an inverse system of
discrete finite groups.[3] In this context, an inverse system consists of a directed set , a collection of
finite groups , each having the discrete topology, and a collection of homomorphisms
such that is the identity on and the collection satisfies the
composition property . The inverse limit is the set:

equipped with the relative product topology.

One can also define the inverse limit in terms of a universal property. In categorical terms, this is a special
case of a cofiltered limit construction.

Second definition (axiomatic)

A profinite group is a Hausdorff, compact, and totally disconnected topological group:[4] that is, a
topological group that is also a Stone space.

Profinite completion

Given an arbitrary group , there is a related profinite group , the profinite completion of .[4] It is
defined as the inverse limit of the groups , where runs through the normal subgroups in of finite
index (these normal subgroups are partially ordered by inclusion, which translates into an inverse system of
natural homomorphisms between the quotients).

There is a natural homomorphism , and the image of under this homomorphism is dense in
. The homomorphism is injective if and only if the group is residually finite (i.e.,
, where
the intersection runs through all normal subgroups of finite index).

The homomorphism is characterized by the following universal property: given any profinite group
and any group homomorphism , there exists a unique continuous group homomorphism
with .

Equivalence

Any group constructed by the first definition satisfies the axioms in the second definition.

Conversely, any group satisfying these axioms can be constructed as an inverse limit according to the first
definition using the inverse limit where ranges through the open normal subgroups of
ordered by (reverse) inclusion. In other words, is its own profinite completion.

Surjective systems
In practice, the inverse system of finite groups is almost always surjective, that is, all its maps are surjective.
Without loss of generality, we may consider only surjective systems, since given any inverse system, we
can first construct its profinite group , then reconstruct it as its own profinite completion.

Examples
Finite groups are profinite, if given the discrete topology.
The group of p-adic integers under addition is profinite (in fact procyclic). It is the inverse
limit of the finite groups where n ranges over all natural numbers and the natural
maps for are used for the limit process. The topology on this
profinite group is the same as the topology arising from the p-adic valuation on .
The group of profinite integers is the profinite completion of . In detail, it is the inverse
limit of the finite groups where with the modulo maps
for . This group is the product of all the groups , and it is the absolute Galois group of
any finite field.
The Galois theory of field extensions of infinite degree gives rise naturally to Galois groups
that are profinite. Specifically, if L/K is a Galois extension, we consider the group G =
Gal(L/K) consisting of all field automorphisms of L which keep all elements of K fixed. This
group is the inverse limit of the finite groups Gal(F/K), where F ranges over all intermediate
fields such that F/K is a finite Galois extension. For the limit process, we use the restriction
homomorphisms Gal(F1/K) → Gal(F2/K), where F2 ⊆ F1. The topology we obtain on Gal(L/K)
is known as the Krull topology after Wolfgang Krull. Waterhouse (1974) showed that every
profinite group is isomorphic to one arising from the Galois theory of some field K, but one
cannot (yet) control which field K will be in this case. In fact, for many fields K one does not
know in general precisely which finite groups occur as Galois groups over K. This is the
inverse Galois problem for a field K. (For some fields K the inverse Galois problem is settled,
such as the field of rational functions in one variable over the complex numbers.) Not every
profinite group occurs as an absolute Galois group of a field.[5]
The étale fundamental groups considered in algebraic geometry are also profinite groups,
roughly speaking because the algebra can only 'see' finite coverings of an algebraic variety.
The fundamental groups of algebraic topology, however, are in general not profinite: for any
prescribed group, there is a 2-dimensional CW complex whose fundamental group equals it.
The automorphism group of a locally finite rooted tree is profinite.

Properties and facts

Every product of (arbitrarily many) profinite groups is profinite; the topology arising from the
profiniteness agrees with the product topology. The inverse limit of an inverse system of
profinite groups with continuous transition maps is profinite and the inverse limit functor is
exact on the category of profinite groups. Further, being profinite is an extension property.
Every closed subgroup of a profinite group is itself profinite; the topology arising from the
profiniteness agrees with the subspace topology. If N is a closed normal subgroup of a
profinite group G, then the factor group G/N is profinite; the topology arising from the
profiniteness agrees with the quotient topology.
Since every profinite group G is compact Hausdorff, we have a Haar measure on G, which
allows us to measure the "size" of subsets of G, compute certain probabilities, and integrate
functions on G.
A subgroup of a profinite group is open if and only if it is closed and has finite index.
According to a theorem of Nikolay Nikolov and Dan Segal, in any topologically finitely-
generated profinite group (that is, a profinite group that has a dense finitely-generated
 subgroup) the subgroups of finite index are open. This generalizes an earlier analogous
result of Jean-Pierre Serre for topologically finitely-generated pro-p groups. The proof uses
the classification of finite simple groups.
As an easy corollary of the Nikolov–Segal result above, any surjective discrete group
homomorphism φ: G → H between profinite groups G and H is continuous as long as G is
topologically finitely-generated. Indeed, any open subgroup of H is of finite index, so its
preimage in G is also of finite index, hence it must be open.
Suppose G and H are topologically finitely-generated profinite groups which are isomorphic
as discrete groups by an isomorphism ι. Then ι is bijective and continuous by the above
result. Furthermore, ι−1 is also continuous, so ι is a homeomorphism. Therefore the topology
on a topologically finitely-generated profinite group is uniquely determined by its algebraic
structure.

Ind-finite groups
There is a notion of ind-finite group, which is the conceptual dual to profinite groups; i.e. a group G is
ind-finite if it is the direct limit of an inductive system of finite groups. (In particular, it is an ind-group.) The
usual terminology is different: a group G is called locally finite if every finitely-generated subgroup is finite.
This is equivalent, in fact, to being 'ind-finite'.

By applying Pontryagin duality, one can see that abelian profinite groups are in duality with locally finite
discrete abelian groups. The latter are just the abelian torsion groups.

Projective profinite groups

A profinite group is projective if it has the lifting property for every extension. This is equivalent to saying
that G is projective if for every surjective morphism from a profinite H → G there is a section G → H.[6][7]

Projectivity for a profinite group G is equivalent to either of the two properties:[6]

the cohomological dimension cd(G) ≤ 1;

for every prime p the Sylow p-subgroups of G are free pro-p-groups.

Every projective profinite group can be realized as an absolute Galois group of a pseudo algebraically
closed field. This result is due to Alexander Lubotzky and Lou van den Dries.[8]

Procyclic group
A profinite group is procyclic if it is topologically generated by a single element i.e., of the
subgroup .[9]

A topological group is procyclic iff where ranges over all rational primes and is

isomorphic to either or .[10]

See also
Locally cyclic group
Pro-p group
 Profinite integer
Residual property (mathematics)
Residually finite group
Hausdorff completion

References
1. Segal, Dan (2007-03-29). "Some aspects of profinite group theory". arXiv:math/0703885 (htt
ps://arxiv.org/abs/math/0703885).
2. Wilson, John Stuart (1998). Profinite groups. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ISBN 9780198500827. OCLC 40658188 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40658188).
3. Lenstra, Hendrik. "Profinite Groups" (http://websites.math.leidenuniv.nl/algebra/Lenstra-Profi
nite.pdf) (PDF). Leiden University.
4. Osserman, Brian. "Inverse limits and profinite groups" (https://web.archive.org/web/2018122
6233013/https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~osserman/classes/250C/notes/profinite.pdf) (PDF).
University of California, Davis. Archived from the original (https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/~os
serman/classes/250C/notes/profinite.pdf) (PDF) on 2018-12-26.
5. Fried & Jarden (2008) p. 497
6. Serre (1997) p. 58
7. Fried & Jarden (2008) p. 207
8. Fried & Jarden (2008) pp. 208,545
9. Neukirch, Jürgen (1999). Algebraic Number Theory (http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-6
62-03983-0). Grundlehren der mathematischen Wissenschaften. Vol. 322. Berlin,
Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-03983-0 (https://doi.org/10.1
007%2F978-3-662-03983-0). ISBN 978-3-642-08473-7.
10. "MO. decomposition of procyclic groups" (https://mathoverflow.net/questions/247731/decom
position-of-procyclic-groups). MathOverflow.

Fried, Michael D.; Jarden, Moshe (2008). Field arithmetic. Ergebnisse der Mathematik und
ihrer Grenzgebiete. 3. Folge. Vol. 11 (3rd revised ed.). Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-540-
77269-9. Zbl 1145.12001 (https://zbmath.org/?format=complete&q=an:1145.12001).
Nikolov, Nikolay; Segal, Dan (2007), "On finitely generated profinite groups, I: strong
completeness and uniform bounds", Annals of Mathematics, 2nd series, 165 (1): 171–238,
arXiv:math.GR/0604399 (https://arxiv.org/abs/math.GR/0604399),
doi:10.4007/annals.2007.165.171 (https://doi.org/10.4007%2Fannals.2007.165.171).
Nikolov, Nikolay; Segal, Dan (2007), "On finitely generated profinite groups, II: products in
quasisimple groups", Annals of Mathematics, 2nd series, 165 (1): 239–273,
arXiv:math.GR/0604400 (https://arxiv.org/abs/math.GR/0604400),
doi:10.4007/annals.2007.165.239 (https://doi.org/10.4007%2Fannals.2007.165.239).
Lenstra, Hendrik (2003), Profinite Groups (http://websites.math.leidenuniv.nl/algebra/Lenstra
-Profinite.pdf) (PDF), talk given at Oberwolfach.
Lubotzky, Alexander (2001), "Book Review", Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society,
38 (4): 475–479, doi:10.1090/S0273-0979-01-00914-4 (https://doi.org/10.1090%2FS0273-0
979-01-00914-4). Review of several books about profinite groups.
Serre, Jean-Pierre (1994), Cohomologie galoisienne, Lecture Notes in Mathematics (in
French), vol. 5 (5 ed.), Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-540-58002-7, MR 1324577 (https://www.
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plete&q=an:0812.12002). Serre, Jean-Pierre (1997), Galois cohomology, Translated by
Patrick Ion, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 3-540-61990-9, Zbl 0902.12004 (https://zbmath.org/?form
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 Waterhouse, William C. (1974), "Profinite groups are Galois groups", Proceedings of the
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