Are solvable groups Howson

combinatorial-group-theoryfinitely-generatedgroup-theoryinfinite-groups

A finitely generated group $G$ has the Howson property if the intersection of any two finitely generated subgroups is again finitely generated. (Finitely generated) free groups, nilpotent, and polycyclic groups all have the Howson property.

Are solvable groups Howson?

I cannot find a reference to this. I expect the answer to be negative, but can't think of any counterexample at the moment.

Best Answer

Let $H = {\rm BS}(1,k) = \langle a,b \mid b^{-1}ab=a^k \rangle$ for some $k>1$.

Then $H$ is solvable, and the normal subgroup $\langle a^H \rangle$ is abelian and not finitely generated.

Now let $G = \langle a,b,c \mid b^{-1}ab=a^k, [c,b] = [c,a] = 1\rangle \cong H \times {\mathbb Z}$.

Then the subgroups $\langle a,b \rangle$ and $\langle a,bc \rangle$ of $G$ are finitely generated, but their intersection $\langle a^H \rangle$ is not.