Groups with a nilpotent triple factorisation

Abstract

In the investigation of factorised groups one often encounters groups G = AB = AK = BK which have a triple factorisation as a product of two subgroups A and B and a normal subgroup K of G. It is of particular interest to know whether G satisfies some nilpotency requirement whenever the three subgroups A, B and K satisfy this same nilpotency requirement. A positive answer to this problem for the classes of nilpotent, hypercentral and locally nilpotent groups is given under the hypothesis that K is a minimax group or G has finite abelian section rank. The results become false if K has only finite Prüfer rank. Some applications of the main theorems are pointed out.