Powering-invariant not implies divisibility-closed

From Groupprops

This article gives the statement and possibly, proof, of a non-implication relation between two subgroup properties. That is, it states that every subgroup satisfying the first subgroup property (i.e., powering-invariant subgroup) need not satisfy the second subgroup property (i.e., divisibility-closed subgroup)
View a complete list of subgroup property non-implications | View a complete list of subgroup property implications
Get more facts about powering-invariant subgroup|Get more facts about divisibility-closed subgroup

EXPLORE EXAMPLES YOURSELF: View examples of subgroups satisfying property powering-invariant subgroup but not divisibility-closed subgroup|View examples of subgroups satisfying property powering-invariant subgroup and divisibility-closed subgroup

Statement

It is possible to have a group and a subgroup such that:

  1. is a powering-invariant subgroup of : If is a natural number such that every element of has a unique root, then every element of has a unique root within .
  2. is not a divisibility-closed subgroup of : There exists a natural number such that every element of has a root (not necessarily unique) but not every element of has a root within .

Related facts

Proof

Proof idea

The key fact is that any finite subgroup of a group must be powering-invariant, but it need not be divisibility-closed. We will construct an example where the subgroup is finite.

Proof details

For any prime number :

  • Let be the -quasicyclic group.
  • Let be the subgroup comprising the elements of order 1 or .

Clearly:

  • , being finite, is powering-invariant (in fact, both and are powered over precisely the set of primes other than ).
  • However, is not divisibility-closed: is -divisible, but is not.