Probabilistically nilpotent groups

Abstract

We show that, for a finitely generated residually finite group $Γ$, the word $[x_1, \ldots, x_k]$ is a probabilistic identity of $Γ$ if and only if $Γ$ is virtually nilpotent of class less than $k$. Related results, generalizations and problems are also discussed.

To appear in Proc. Amer. Math. Soc