In mathematics, especially in the area of

algebra Algebra () is one of the areas of mathematics, broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathem ...

known as

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ...

, the Prüfer rank of a

pro-p group In mathematics, a pro-''p'' group (for some prime number ''p'') is a profinite group G such that for any open normal subgroup N\triangleleft G the quotient group G/N is a ''p''-group. Note that, as profinite groups are compact, the open subgrou ...

measures the size of a group in terms of the ranks of its

elementary abelian In mathematics, specifically in group theory, an elementary abelian group (or elementary abelian ''p''-group) is an abelian group in which every nontrivial element has order ''p''. The number ''p'' must be prime, and the elementary abelian gr ...

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

s.. The rank is well behaved and helps to define analytic pro-p-groups. The term is named after

Heinz Prüfer Ernst Paul Heinz Prüfer (10 November 1896 – 7 April 1934) was a German Jewish mathematician born in Wilhelmshaven. His major contributions were on abelian groups, graph theory, algebraic numbers, knot theory and Sturm–Liouville theory. In 19 ...

Definition

The Prüfer rank of pro-p-group

G

is ::

\sup\

where

d(H)

is the

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

of the abelian group :

H/\Phi(H)

, where

\Phi(H)

is the

Frattini subgroup In mathematics, particularly in group theory, the Frattini subgroup \Phi(G) of a group is the intersection of all maximal subgroups of . For the case that has no maximal subgroups, for example the trivial group or a Prüfer group, it is defi ...

H

. As the Frattini subgroup of

H

can be thought of as the group of non-generating elements of

H

, it can be seen that

d(H)

will be equal to the ''size of any minimal generating set'' of

H

Properties

Those

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 ...

s with finite Prüfer rank are more amenable to analysis. Specifically in the case of finitely generated

s, having finite Prüfer rank is equivalent to having an

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (Y ...

normal subgroup In abstract algebra, a normal subgroup (also known as an invariant subgroup or self-conjugate subgroup) is a subgroup that is invariant under conjugation by members of the group of which it is a part. In other words, a subgroup N of the group G ...

that is powerful. In turn these are precisely the class of

s that are p-adic analytic - that is groups that can be imbued with a p-adic

manifold In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a ...

structure.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prufer Rank Infinite group theory