Given a finite group $\text{G}$ and a field $K$, the faithful dimension of $\text{G}$ over $K$ is defined to be the smallest integer $n$ such that $\text{G}$ embeds into $\operatorname{GL}_{n}(K)$. We address the problem of determining the faithful dimension of a $p$-group of the form $\mathscr{G}_{q}:=\exp (\mathfrak{g}\otimes _{\mathbb{Z}}\mathbb{F}_{q})$ associated to $\mathfrak{g}_{q}:=\mathfrak{g}\otimes _{\mathbb{Z}}\mathbb{F}_{q}$ in the Lazard correspondence, where $\mathfrak{g}$ is a nilpotent $\mathbb{Z}$-Lie algebra which is finitely generated as an abelian group. We show that in general the faithful dimension of $\mathscr{G}_{p}$ is a piecewise polynomial function of $p$ on a partition of primes into Frobenius sets. Furthermore, we prove that for $p$ sufficiently large, there exists a partition of $\mathbb{N}$ by sets from the Boolean algebra generated by arithmetic progressions, such that on each part the faithful dimension of $\mathscr{G}_{q}$ for $q:=p^{f}$ is equal to $fg(p^{f})$ for a polynomial $g(T)$. We show that for many naturally arising $p$-groups, including a vast class of groups defined by partial orders, the faithful dimension is given by a single formula of the latter form. The arguments rely on various tools from number theory, model theory, combinatorics and Lie theory.

Inspired by Gowers' seminal paper (W. T. Gowers, Comb. Probab. Comput.17(3) (2008), 363–387, we will investigate quasi-randomness for profinite groups. We will obtain bounds for the minimal degree of non-trivial representations of SLk(ℤ/(pnℤ)) and Sp2k(ℤ/(pnℤ)). Our method also delivers a lower bound for the minimal degree of a faithful representation of these groups. Using the suitable machinery from functional analysis, we establish exponential lower and upper bounds for the supremal measure of a product-free measurable subset of the profinite groups SLk(ℤp) and Sp2k(ℤp). We also obtain analogous bounds for a special subgroup of the automorphism group of a regular tree.