Approximating a group by its solvable quotients
  The solvable Farb growth of a group quantifies how well-approximated the group is by its finite solvable quotients. In this note we present a new characterization of polycyclic groups which are virtually nilpotent. That is, we show that a group has solvable Farb growth which is at most polynomial in $\log(n)$ if and only if the group is polycyclic and virtually nilpotent. We also give new results concerning approximating oriented surface groups by nilpotent quotients. As a consequence of this, we prove that a natural number $C$ exists so that any nontrivial element of the $Ck$th term of the lower central series of a finitely generated oriented surface group must have word length at least $k$. Here $C$ depends only on the choice of generating set. Finally, we give some results giving new lower bounds for the solvable Farb growth of some metabelian groups (including the Lamplighter groups). 
Khalid Bou-Rabee
math.GR