Injective modules and soluble groups satisfying the minimal condition for normal subgroups

Abstract

Let p be a prime and let Q be a centre-by-finite p′-group. It is shown that the ZQ-modules which satisfy the minimal condition on submodules and have p–groups as their underlying additive groups can be classified in terms of the irreducible ZpQ-modules. If such a ZQ-module V is indecomposable it is either the ZpQ-injective hull W of an irreducible ZpQ-module (viewed as a ZQ-module) or is the submodule W[pn] of such a W consisting of the elements ω ∈ W which satisfy pnw = 0.This classification is used to classify certain abelian-by-nilpotent groups which satisfy Min-n, the minimal condition on normal subgroups. Among the groups to which our classification applies are all quasi-radicable metabelian groups with Min-n, and all metabelian groups which satisfy Min-n and have abelian Sylow p-subgroups for all p.It is also shown that if Q is any countable locally finite p'-group and V is a ZQ-module whose additive group is a p-group, then V can be embedded in a ZQ-module whose additive group is a minimal divisible group containing that of V. Some applications of this result are given.