Torsion-free abelian group

In mathematics, specifically in abstract algebra, a torsion-free abelian group is an abelian group which has no non-trivial torsion elements; that is, a group in which the group operation is commutative and the identity element is the only element with finite order.

While finitely generated abelian groups are completely classified, not much is known about infinitely generated abelian groups, even in the torsion-free countable case.[1]

  1. ^ See for instance the introduction to Thomas, Simon (2003), "The classification problem for torsion-free abelian groups of finite rank", J. Am. Math. Soc., 16 (1): 233–258, doi:10.1090/S0894-0347-02-00409-5, Zbl 1021.03043