On minimal non-sofic and $\omega$-non-sofic groups

Abstract

We investigate structural properties of non-sofic groups, assuming that such groups exist. We introduce and study two classes: minimal non-sofic groups and $\omega$-non-sofic groups. For minimal non-sofic groups, we establish strong structural restrictions. In particular, we show that if $G$ is a minimal non-sofic group and $M$ is a finitely generated residually finite maximal normal subgroup of $G$, then $M$ is central and $G$ is a perfect central extension of a finitely generated non-amenable simple group. On the other hand, we show that locally graded non-sofic groups are necessarily $\omega$-non-sofic. More precisely, such groups contain finitely generated non-sofic subgroups admitting strictly decreasing chains of finitely generated normal subgroups whose intersection is nontrivial and lies in the profinite residual. Finally, using results on existentially closed groups, we prove that the existence of a non-sofic group implies the existence of a countable existentially closed non-sofic group whose centralizers form a densely ordered chain of non-sofic subgroups of order type $(\mathbb{Q},\leq)$. In particular, we show that if a non-sofic group exists, then the class of $\omega$-non-sofic groups is non-empty. Moreover, we prove that the existence of a non-sofic group implies the existence of a non-sofic group of unbounded exponent.