A Topological Approach to the Nilpotent Multipliers of a Free Product

Abstract

In this paper, using the topological interpretation of the Baer invariant of a group $G$, $\mathcal{V}M(G)$, with respect to an arbitrary variety $\mathcal{V}$, we extend a result of Burns and Ellis (Math. Z. 226 (1997) 405-428) on the second nilpotent multiplier of a free product of two groups to the $c$-nilpotent multipliers, for all $c\geq 1$. In particular, we show that $M^{(c)}(G\ast H)\cong M^{(c)}(G)\oplus M^{(c)}(H)$ when $G$ and $H$ are finite groups with some conditions or when $G$ and $H$ are two perfect groups.