Existence of infinite finitely presented torsion groups
Status Partially solved · unsolvedmath.comLLM status Open unverified
Top Open Problems unknownunknown Not reported cataloguedPartially solvedOpenStatement
Definitions and mathematical statement
Shared notation.
$\mathbb N$, $\mathbb Z$, $\mathbb Q$, $\mathbb R$, and $\mathbb C$ denote the natural numbers, integers, rationals, reals, and complex numbers, respectively. All additional parameters and hypotheses are specified in the question.Statement recorded in the supplied source.
Is there an infinite finitely presented torsion group, meaning a group in which every element has finite order? The stated Grigorchuk conjecture predicts that no such group exists.Formulation references: [S1], [S2].
Short English statement
Is there an infinite finitely presented torsion group, meaning a group in which every element has finite order? The stated Grigorchuk conjecture predicts that no such group exists.Sources
- S1 ULAM.AI and the UnsolvedMath Contributors, UnsolvedMath: A Curated Collection of Open Mathematics Problems, record 20001620 (AIM-GEOMETRIC_GROUP_THEORY-0129). Catalogue attribution under CC BY 4.0. https://huggingface.co/datasets/ulamai/UnsolvedMath.
- S2 Original problem formulation and mathematical context. http://aimpl.org/amenablediscrete/5/.
Statement licence: CC-BY-4.0 · Source file
Contributions 1
OpenAI claim summary for Math-2295
The recorded existence question has an affirmative answer under the claimed construction: an infinite finitely presented group with every element of finite order. The same example contradicts the separately stated Grigorchuk conjecture predicting nonexistence. The residual-finiteness companion strengthens the construction. The full label therefore refers to the existence question being answered and the negative conjecture being refuted.
Existence of infinite finitely presented torsion groups
OpenAI's claim
The linked manuscripts present the following claims by OpenAI: An infinite ordinarily finitely presented periodic group and an infinite-dimensional finitely presented nil algebra over $\mathbb F_2$ are claimed to exist; The periodic group of the companion is claimed residually finite, with an infinite finite-index finitely presented subgroup whose element orders are finite powers of two and unbounded. Together they claim an affirmative answer to the existence question and a counterexample to the nonexistence conjecture.Mathematical statement of the claimed result
Result 1.
For a constructed unital associative algebra $R$ over $\mathbb F_2$, the Steinberg group $G=\operatorname{St}_{12}(R)$ is claimed to satisfy \[ |G|=\infty,\qquad G\text{ finitely presented},\qquad \forall g\in G\ \exists n\ge1:\ g^n=1. \] The companion corollary also assigns $G$ Kazhdan property $(T)$, hence nonamenability. Periodicity here permits element orders to vary.Result 2.
The source claims existence of a group $G$ with an ordinary finite presentation such that \[ |G|=\infty,\qquad G\text{ residually finite},\qquad \forall g\in G\ \exists k\ge0:\ g^{2^k}=1. \] Thus all elements have finite order, and each order is a power of two; no common bounded exponent is asserted.Outline of the argument
Finite local rules encode a hierarchy and a faithful computation tableau in admissible words. The resulting graded algebra has nil behavior without global nilpotence; a Steinberg-type group construction then transports these finite relations into an infinite group while forcing each element to have finite order.Phases of long graded words make finite-degree truncations detect group elements. Faithful Steinberg strips, cyclic-shift comparisons, and long-entry commutator calculations treat the central kernel as well, so residual finiteness survives passage to the periodic two-group subgroup.
Formal verification
For family 247, the selected entry gives an infinite ordinarily finitely presented periodic group. A uniform exponent, the nil-algebra conclusions, and the later residual-finiteness strengthening are not part of it. The listed Comparator files arePeriodicGroup.lean. The inventory does not supply a named declaration for these Comparator entries. This site has not executed the Lean code. The scope descriptions do not certify the remaining manuscript arguments.Status caveat
OpenAI attributes these manuscripts to work by an internal model. Its release cautions that arguments without formalization can contain mistakes. This catalogue has not independently checked the proofs; the labels report the mathematical claims attributed to OpenAI.Sources
- OpenAI, An infinite finitely presented periodic group, 2026-09-23; citation key
OAI:An-infinite-finitely-presented-periodic-group-September-23-2026. PDF (GitHub); PDF (direct); Manuscript page and citation; Latest version; Statement source: thm:main; Statement source: cor:kazhdan. - OpenAI, An infinite finitely presented residually finite 2-group, 2026-10-05; citation key
OAI:An-infinite-finitely-presented-residually-finite-2-group-October-5-2026. PDF (GitHub); PDF (direct); Manuscript page and citation; Latest version; Statement source: thm:main. - Family 247: Lean scope.
- Comparator PeriodicGroup.json.
- Comparator PeriodicGroup.lean.
- OpenAI catalogue entry.