On universal and epi-universal locally nilpotent groups

Abstract

In this paper we mainly consider the class LN of all locally nilpotent groups. We first show that there is no universal group in LN_lambda if lambda is a cardinal such that lambda = lambda^{aleph_0}; here we call a group G universal (in LN_lambda) if any group H in LN_lambda can be embedded into G where LN_lambda denotes the class of all locally nilpotent groups of cardinality at most lambda. However, our main interest is the construction of torsion-free epi-universal groups in LN_lambda, where G in LN_lambda is said to be epi-universal if any group H in LN_lambda is an epimorphic image of G. Thus we give an affirmative answer to a question by Plotkin. To prove the torsion-freeness of the constructed locally nilpotent group we adjust the well-known commutator collecting process due to P. Hall to our situation. Finally, we briefly discuss how to use the same methods as for the class LN for other canonical classes of groups to construct epi-universal objects.