Nilpotent groups have polynomially bounded homological filling invariants

Abstract

Gromov claimed, with a sketch of proof, that simply connected nilpotent Lie groups have polynomially bounded filling invariants. The literature establishes this, often with a stronger conclusion where the exponent of polynomiality is computed or estimated, for some classes of nilpotent groups, or ranges of filling degrees. We provide a proof, in part based on Gromov's hints, yielding at once (non-optimal) polynomial upper bounds on the homological filling invariants in every degree for all finitely generated nilpotent groups, or equivalently, for all simply connected nilpotent Lie groups having lattices.