On Diamond-Free Subgroup Lattices

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a particular lattice of subgroups called a "cyclic-diamond" and show that every finite non-cyclic group contains a cyclic-diamond as a sublattice of its lattice of subgroups. Turning to the infinite case, we show that an infinite abelian group does not contain a cyclic-diamond in its subgroup lattice if and only if all of its finitely generated subgroups are cyclic or isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}_{2^N}$ for some $N$.