Alexandre Borovik

The Schur-Zassenhaus Theorem is one of the fundamental theorems of finite group theory. Here is its statement:Fact1.1 (Schur-Zassenhaus Theorem). Let G be a finite group and let N be a normal subgroup of G. Assume that the order ∣N∣ is relatively prime to the index [G:N]. Then N has a complement in G and any two complements of N are conjugate in G.The proof can be found in most standard books in group theory, e.g., in [S, Chapter 2, Theorem 8.10]. The original statement stipulated one ofNorG/Nto be solvable. Since then, the Feit-Thompson theorem [FT] has been proved and it forces eitherNorG/Nto be solvable. (The analogous Feit-Thompson theorem for groups of finite Morley rank is a long standing open problem).The literal translation of the Schur-Zassenhaus theorem to the finite Morley rank context would state that in a groupGof finite Morley rank a normal π-Hall subgroup (if it exists at all) has a complement and all the complements are conjugate to each other. (Recall that a groupHis called aπ-group, where π is a set of prime numbers, if elements ofHhave finite orders whose prime divisors are from π. Maximal π-subgroups of a groupGare called π-Hall subgroups. They exist by Zorn's lemma. Since a normal π-subgroup ofGis in all the π-Hall subgroups, if a group has a normal π-Hall subgroup then this subgroup is unique.)The second assertion of the Schur-Zassenhaus theorem about the conjugacy of complements is false in general. As a counterexample, consider the multiplicative group ℂ* of the complex number field ℂ and consider thep-Sylow for any primep, or even the torsion part of ℂ*. LetHbe this subgroup.Hhas a complement, but this complement is found by Zorn's Lemma (consider a maximal subgroup that intersectsHtrivially) and the use of Zorn's Lemma is essential. In fact, by Zorn's Lemma, any subgroup that has a trivial intersection withHcan be extended to a complement ofH. Since ℂ* is abelian, these complements cannot be conjugated to each other.

One of the purposes of this paper is to prove a partial Schur-Zassenhaus Theorem for groups of finite Morley rank.Theorem 2.Let G be a solvable group of finite Morley rank. Let π be a set of primes, and let H ⊲ G a normal π-Hall subgroup. Then H has a complement in G.This result has been proved in [1] with the additional assumption thatGis connected, and thought to be generalized in [2] by the authors of the present article. Unfortunately in the last section of the latter paper there is an irrepairable mistake. Here we give a new proof of the Schur-Zassenhaus Theorem using the results of [2] up to the last section and a new result that we are going to state below.The second author has shown in [11] that a nilpotentω-stable group is the central product of a divisible subgroup and a subgroup of bounded exponent, generalizing a well-known result of Angus Macintyre about abelian groups [8]. One could ask a similar question for solvable groups: are they a product of two subgroups, one divisible, one of bounded exponent? One is allowed to be hopeful because of the well-known decomposition of the connected solvable algebraic groups over algebraically closed fields as the product of the unipotent radical and a torus.