We initiate the study of the class of profinite graphs Γ defined by the following geometric property: for any two vertices v and w of Γ, there is a (unique) smallest connected profinite subgraph of Γ containing them; such graphs are called tree-like. Profinite trees in the sense of Gildenhuys and Ribes are tree-like, but the converse is not true. A profinite group is then said to be dendral if ...

Let H be an abstract group and let C be a variety of finite groups (i.e., a class of finite groups closed under taking subgroups, quotients and finite direct products); for example the variety of all finite p-groups, for a fixed prime p. Consider the smallest topology on H such that all the homomorphism H −→ C from H to any group C ∈ C (endowed with the discrete topology) is continuous. We refe...

THEOREM. Let F be the free profinite group on a set X, where \X\ > 2, and let n be a non-empty set of primes. Then F has a maximal abelian subgroup isomorphic to HpEn Zp. The idea of the proof is the following: we show that A — Ylpe7I1p is a free factor of Pa, i.e. fia ^ A *B for some profinite group B. To conclude from this that A is a maximal abelian subgroup of Fa (the general case then foll...