SUBSPACES, FREE SUBGROUPS AND A THEOREM OF STALLINGS

Abstract

There is a simple group-theoretic formula for the second integral homology group of a group. This is an abelian group and there is an analogous formula for another abelian group, which involves a normal subgroup N of a torsion-free nilpotent group G. Properties of this abelian group translate into properties of G/N. This approach allows one to give a simple purely group-theoretic proof of an old theorem of J. R. Stallings, namely that if Γ is a group, if H1(G,ℤ) is free abelian and if H2(G,ℤ) = 0, then any subset Y of G which is independent modulo the derived group of G, freely generates a free group. The ideas used admit to considerable generalization, yielding in particular, proofs of a number of theorems of U. Stammbach.