Totally disconnected locally compact groups locally of finite rank

Abstract

We study totally disconnected locally compact second countable (t.d.l.c.s.c.) groups that contain a compact open subgroup with finite rank. We show such groups that additionally admit a pro-$\pi$ compact open subgroup for some finite set of primes $\pi$ are virtually an extension of a finite direct product of topologically simple groups by an elementary group. This result, in particular, applies to l.c.s.c. $p$-adic Lie groups. We go on to prove a decomposition result for all t.d.l.c.s.c. groups containing a compact open subgroup with finite rank. In the course of proving these theorems, we demonstrate independently interesting structure results for t.d.l.c.s.c. groups with a compact open pro-nilpotent subgroup and for topologically simple l.c.s.c. $p$-adic Lie groups.Comment: Referee's suggestions incorporated. Main theorems for the general locally pro-nilpotent and the general locally of finite rank cases improve