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Word problems for finite nilpotent groups

Let $w$ be a word in $k$ variables. For a finite nilpotent group $G$, a conjecture of Amit states that $N_w(1) \ge |G|^{k-1}$, where $N_w(1)$ is the number of $k$-tuples $(g_1,...,g_k)\in G^{(k)}$ such that $w(g_1,...,g_k)=1$. Currently, this conjecture is known to be true for groups of nilpotency class 2. Here we consider a generalized version of Amit's conjecture, and prove that $N_w(g) \ge |G|^{k-2}$, where $g$ is a $w$-value in $G$, for finite groups $G$ of odd order and nilpotency class 2. If $w$ is a word in two variables, we further show that $N_w(g) \ge |G|$, where $g$ is a $w$-value in $G$ for finite groups $G$ of nilpotency class 2. In addition, for $p$ a prime, we show that finite $p$-groups $G$, with two distinct irreducible complex character degrees, satisfy the generalized Amit conjecture for words $w_k =[x_1,y_1]...[x_k,y_k]$ with $k$ a natural number; that is, for $g$ a $w_k$-value in $G$ we have $N_{w_k}(g) \ge |G|^{2k-1}$. Finally, we discuss the related group properties of being rational and chiral, and show that every finite group of nilpotency class 2 is rational.