By a linear group we mean essentially a group of invertible matrices with entries in some commutative field. A phenomenon of the last twenty years or so has been the increasing use of properties of infinite linear groups in the theory of (abstract) groups, although the story of infinite linear groups as such goes back to the early years of this century with the work of Burnside and Schur particularly. Infinite linear groups arise in group theory in a number of contexts. One of the most common is via the automorphism groups of certain types of abelian groups, such as free abelian groups of finite rank, torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank and divisible abelian p-groups of finite rank. Following pioneering work of Mal'cev many authors have studied soluble groups satisfying various rank restrictions and their automor phism groups in this way, and properties of infinite linear groups now play the central role in the theory of these groups. It has recently been realized that the automorphism groups of certain finitely generated soluble (in particular finitely generated metabelian) groups contain significant factors isomorphic to groups of automorphisms of finitely generated modules over certain commutative Noetherian rings. The results of our Chapter 13, which studies such groups of automorphisms, can be used to give much information here.

The development of algebraic geometry over groups, geometric group theory and group-based cryptography, has led to there being a tremendous recent interest in infinite group theory. This volume presents a good collection of papers detailing areas of current interest.

The central concept in this monograph is that of a soluble group - a group which is built up from abelian groups by repeatedly forming group extensions. It covers all the major areas, including finitely generated soluble groups, soluble groups of finite rank, modules over group rings, algorithmic problems, applications of cohomology, and finitely presented groups, whilst remaining fairly strictly within the boundaries of soluble group theory. An up-to-date survey of the area aimed at research students and academic algebraists and group theorists, it is a compendium of information that will be especially useful as a reference work for researchers in the field.

This book gives an advanced overview of several topics in infinite group theory. It can also be considered as a rigorous introduction to combinatorial and geometric group theory. The philosophy of the book is to describe the interaction between these two important parts of infinite group theory. In this line of thought, several theorems are proved multiple times with different methods either purely combinatorial or purely geometric while others are shown by a combination of arguments from both perspectives. The first part of the book deals with Nielsen methods and introduces the reader to results and examples that are helpful to understand the following parts. The second part focuses on covering spaces and fundamental groups, including covering space proofs of group theoretic results. The third part deals with the theory of hyperbolic groups. The subjects are illustrated and described by prominent examples and an outlook on solved and unsolved problems.

Wholeheartedly recommended to every student and user of mathematics, this is an extremely original and highly informative essay on algebra and its place in modern mathematics and science. From the fields studied in every university maths course, through Lie groups to cohomology and category theory, the author shows how the origins of each concept can be related to attempts to model phenomena in physics or in other branches of mathematics. Required reading for mathematicians, from beginners to experts.

The book, based on a course of lectures by the authors at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, covers aspects of infinite permutation groups theory and some related model-theoretic constructions. There is basic background in both group theory and the necessary model theory, and the following topics are covered: transitivity and primitivity; symmetric groups and general linear groups; wreatch products; automorphism groups of various treelike objects; model-theoretic constructions for building structures with rich automorphism groups, the structure and classification of infinite primitive Jordan groups (surveyed); applications and open problems. With many examples and exercises, the book is intended primarily for a beginning graduate student in group theory.

Infinite Abelian Groups