In studying torsion-free nilpotent groups of class 2 it is a key fact that each central group extension Zn↣E↠Zmis representable by abilinearcocycle. So for investigating nilpotent groups of higher class it is natural to ask for a generalization of this fact, namely when Zmis replaced by sometorsion-free nilpotentgroupGand Znby sometorsion-free abeliangroupBwithnilpotent G-action. In this paper we study a suitable notion of (bi)polynomialcocycles (in the strong sense of polynomiality introduced by Passi) and prove the desiredrepresentability theorem(4.3). This was known before only forcentralextensions withdivisiblekernel and with kernel Z ifGis abelian, nilpotent of class 2 or if the quotients of the lower central series ofGare torsion-free. Our representability result implies aconvergence theoremfor an approximation ofH2(G, B) bypolynomial cohomology groups(4.4). Since the latter ones are well accessible to computation one obtains a formula forH2(G, B) in terms of a presentation ofGwhich can be evaluated by integral matrix calculus. More precisely, a given presentation ofGamounts to a three-term cochain complex consisting offinitely generated free Z-modulesif the groupsGandBare finitely generated; the cohomology of this complex is identified withH2(G, B) in such a way that representing 2-cocycles are explicitly given in terms of integer valued rational polynomial functions (6.4). As an application, we establish an explicitbijectionbetween torsion-free nilpotentgroupsand Z-torsion-free nilpotentLie ringsboth finitely generated and nilpotent ofclass≤3 (7.2). In case a given group extension is representable by a polynomial cocycle we also determine theminimal degreeof polynomiality for which this holds. Indeed, dropping the assumption thatGis torsion-free nilpotent, we give anintrinsic characterizationof all group extensions with torsion-free abelian kernel which are representable by a polynomial cocycle of degree ≤n, provided that the cokernel is finitely generated and acts nilpotently on the kernel (4.2). Thus a polynomiality theory for group extensions as asked for by Passi is now achieved in case the kernel istorsion-free. A motivation for this—apart from calculatingH2(G, B) explicitly—comes from a question posed by J. Milnor in 1977, namely whether all finitely generated, torsion-free virtually polycyclic groups arise as fundamental groups of compact, complete affinely flat manifolds. Even the case of torsion-free nilpotent groups is interesting but far from being understood, notably since counterexamples of this type have recently been discovered. A connection of Milnor's question for nilpotent groups with polynomial constructions was first indicated in the work of P. Igodt and K. B. Lee. Recently a very close connection of this type was established, and anobstruction theorydeveloped for the problem in terms of polynomial cohomology. On the other hand, polynomiality properties of extensions with atorsionkernel are closely related todimension subgroups, as was observed by Passi in the case ofcentralextensions. An extension of this idea to thenoncentralcase is provided by Theorem 3.4 below. This might be of interest in connection with the recent discovery of Gupta and Kuz'min that the quotient groupDn(G)/γn(G) is an abelian normal but in general noncentral subgroup ofG/γn(G). Moreover, we obtain afunctorial equivalencebetween extensions oftorsion-free nilpotent groupsand of Z-torsion-free nilpotent modules(5.1). This improves a general result of Reiner and Roggenkamp in the special situation of torsion-free nilpotent groups. As applications, it yields an inductive cohomological description ofautomorphism groupsof torsion-free nilpotent groups [9] and a generalization of the classicalDold-Kan equivalence—between simplicial abelian groups and chain complexes of abelian groups—to simplicial groups of class 2. Applications in localization theory are also to be expected, namely to questions concerning the genus of torsion-free nilpotent groups. All the above-mentioned results are based on the more technical work of the first section. There, also, generalizations of theorems of Witt and Quillen are obtained concerning certain Lie algebras associated with groups; these results might be of independent interest.
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