A Relative cohomological invariant for group pairs.
The main issue of this paper is an attempt to find a decomposition theorem for infra-nilmanifolds in the same spirit as a result of A. Vasquez for flat Riemannian manifolds. That is: we look for infra-nilmanifolds with prime order holonomy which can be obtained as a fiber space with a non-trivial nilmanifold as fiber and an infra-nilmanifold as its base. In this perspective, we prove the following algebraic result: if E is an almost-Bieberbach group with prime order holonomy,...
For a finitely generated group, we study the relations between its rank, the maximal rank of its free quotient, called co-rank (inner rank, cut number), and the maximal rank of its free abelian quotient, called the Betti number. We show that any combination of the group's rank, co-rank, and Betti number within obvious constraints is realized for some finitely presented group (for Betti number equal to rank, the group can be chosen torsion-free). In addition, we show that the Betti number is additive...