The nice basis rank of a primary abelian group

An abelian p-group G has a nice basis if it is the ascending union of a sequence of nice subgroups, each of which is a direct sum of cyclic groups. It is shown that if G is any group, then G ⊕ D has a nice basis, where D is the divisible hull of pωG. This leads to a consideration of the nice basis rank of G, i.e., the smallest rank of a divisible group D such that G ⊕ D has a nice basis. This concept is used to show that there exist a reduced group G and a non-reduced group H, both without a nice basis, such that G ⊕ H has a nice basis

Criteria for Total Projectivity

All groups herein are assumed to be abelian. It was not until the 1940's that it was known that a subgroup of an infinite direct sum of finite cyclic groups is again a direct sum of cyclics. This result rests on a general criterion due to Kulikov [7] for a primary abelian group to be a direct sum of cyclic groups. If G is p-primary, Kulikov's criterion presupposes that G has no elements (other than zero) having infinite p-height. For such a group G, the criterion is simply that G be the union of an ascending sequence of subgroups Hn where the heights of the elements of Hn computed in G are bounded by some positive integer λ(n). The theory of abelian groups has now developed to the point that totally projective groups currently play much the same role, at least in the theory of torsion groups, that direct sums of cyclic groups and countable groups played in combination prior to the discovery of totally projective groups and their structure beginning with a paper by R. Nunke [11] in 1967.

Pure-complete subgroups of direct sums of Prüfer groups

Suppose that G is a p-primary abelian group. The subgroup G[p] = {x∈G:px=0} is called the socle of G and any subgroup S of G[p] is called a subsocle of G. If each subsocle of G supports a pure subgroup, then G is said to be pure-complete [1]. It is well known that, if G a direct sum of cyclic groups, then G is necessarily pure-complete. Further results about pure-complete groups are contained in [1] and [3].

On Purifiable Subsocles of a Primary Abelian Group

In this paper we shall investigate an interesting connection between the structure of G/S and G, where S is a purifiable subsocle of G. The results are interesting in the light of a counterexample by Dieudonné [3, p. 142] who exhibits a primary abelian group G, where G/S is a direct sum of cyclic groups, but G is not a direct sum of cyclic groups. Surprisingly, the assumption of the purifiability of S allows G to inherit the structure of G/S. In particular, we show that if G/S is a direct sum of cyclic groups and S supports a pure subgroup H, then G is a direct sum of cyclic groups and if is a direct summand of G which is of course a direct sum of cyclic groups. It is also shown that if G/S is a direct sum of torsion-complete groups and S supports a pure subgroup H, then G is a direct sum of torsion-complete groups and H is a direct summand of G, and is also a direct sum of torsion-complete groups.

A Generalization of Final Rank of Primary Abelian Groups

Let G be a p-primary Abelian group. Recall that the final rank of G is infn∈ω{r(pnG)}, where r(pnG) is the rank of pnG and ω is the first limit ordinal. Alternately, if Γ is the set of all basic subgroups of G, we may define the final rank of G by supB∈Γ {r(G/B)}. In fact, it is known that there exists a basic subgroup B of G such that r(G/B) is equal to the final rank of G. Since the final rank of G is equal to the final rank of a high subgroup of G plus the rank of pωG, one could obtain the same information if the definition of final rank were restricted to the class of p-primary Abelian groups of length ω.

The Generalized Kulikov Criterion

In 1941, Kulikov (5) showed that a p-primary abelian group G is a direct sum of cyclic groups if and only if G is the union of an ascending sequence of subgroups each of which has a finite bound on the heights of its elements. An easy reformulation of the Kulikov criterion is: A p-primary abelian group G is a direct sum of cyclic groups if and only if G[p] = ⴲn<ωSn where, for each n, the non-zero elements of Sn have precisely height n. This statement suggests the consideration of reduced p-groups G such that G[p] = ⴲa<λSα where, for each α, Sα – {0} ⊆ pαG – pα+lG. We shall call such p-groups summable (the term principal p-group has been used by Honda (4)). Recall that the length of a reduced p-group G is the first ordinal λ such that pλG = 0.