Questions tagged [gr.group-theory]
Questions about the branch of algebra that deals with groups.
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When is $A$ isomorphic to $A^3$?
This is totally elementary, but I have no idea how to solve it: let $A$ be an abelian group such that $A$ is isomorphic to $A^3$. is then $A$ isomorphic to $A^2$? probably no, but how construct a ...
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Generalization of a theorem of Øystein Ore in group theory
Theorem (Øystein Ore, 1938): A finite group $G$ is cyclic iff its lattice of subgroups $\mathcal{L}(G)$ is distributive.
Proof: see below.
Let $(H \subset G)$ be an inclusion of finite groups and $\...
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Generating finite simple groups with $2$ elements
Here is a very natural question:
Q: Is it always possible to generate a finite simple group with only $2$ elements?
In all the examples that I can think of the answer is yes.
If the answer is ...
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Does $\DeclareMathOperator\Aut{Aut}\Aut(\Aut(\dots\Aut(G)\dots))$ stabilize?
Purely for fun, I was playing around with iteratively applying $\DeclareMathOperator{\Aut}{Aut}\Aut$ to a group $G$; that is, studying groups of the form
$$ {\Aut}^n(G):= \Aut(\Aut(\dots\Aut(G)\dots))....
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The finite subgroups of SU(n)
This question is inspired by the recent question "The finite subgroups of SL(2,C)". While reading the answers there I remembered reading once that identifying the finite subgroups of SU(3) is still an ...
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Does every non-empty set admit a group structure (in ZF)?
It is easy to see that in ZFC, any non-empty set $S$ admits a group structure: for finite $S$ identify $S$ with a cyclic group, and for infinite $S$, the set of finite subsets of $S$ with the binary ...
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$A$ is isomorphic to $A \oplus \mathbb{Z}^2$, but not to $A \oplus \mathbb{Z}$
Are there abelian groups $A$ with $A \cong A \oplus \mathbb{Z}^2$ and $A \not\cong A \oplus \mathbb{Z}$?
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Bijection between irreducible representations and conjugacy classes of finite groups
Is there some natural bijection between irreducible representations and conjugacy classes of finite groups (as in case of $S_n$)?
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Where are the second- (and third-)generation proofs of the classification of finite simple groups up to?
According the the Wikipedia page, the second generation proof is up to at least nine volumes: six by Gorenstein, Lyons and Solomon dated 1994-2005, two covering the quasithin business by Aschbacher ...
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Why are free groups residually finite?
Why is it that every nontrivial word in a free group (it's easy to reduce to the case of, say, two generators) has a nontrivial image in some finite group? Equivalently, why is the natural map from a ...
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Number of commuting pairs (triples, n-tuples) in GL_n(F_q) (and other groups)?
Question 1 What is the number of pairs of commuting elements in GL_n(F_q) ?
I am aware of many results concerning commuting elements in Mat_n(F_q), but I am interested in GL i.e. non-degenerate ...
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Jordan-Hölder theorem for subfactors?
All the subfactors $(N\subset M)$ are irreducible and finite index inclusions of II$_1$ factors.
First recall that in this paper, D. Bisch characterizes the Jones projections $e_K$ of the ...
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Fundamental groups of noncompact surfaces
I got fantastic answers to my previous question (about modern references for the fact that surfaces can be triangulated), so I thought I'd ask a related question. A basic fact about surface topology ...
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Examples of finite groups with "good" bijection(s) between conjugacy classes and irreducible representations?
For symmetric group conjugacy classes and irreducible representation both are parametrized by Young diagramms, so there is a kind of "good" bijection between the two sets. For general finite groups ...
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$q$-(and other)-analogs for counting index-$n$ subgroups in terms of Homs to $S_n$?
The following formula of astonishing beauty and power (imho):
$$ \sum_{n \ge 0} \frac{| \mathrm{Hom}(G,S_n) | }{n! } z^n = \exp\left( \sum_{n \ge 1} \frac{|\text{Index}~n~\text{subgroups of}~ G|}nz^...
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Is there a purely group-theoretic reformulation of an equivalence of subgroups?
There is an equivalence relation between inclusion of finite groups coming from the world of subfactors:
Definition: $(H_{1} \subset G_{1}) \sim(H_{2} \subset G_{2})$ if $(R^{G_{1}} \subset R^{H_{1}}...
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What is the current status of the Kaplansky zero-divisor conjecture for group rings?
Let $K$ be a field and $G$ a group. The so called zero-divisor conjecture for group rings asserts that the group ring $K[G]$ is a domain if and only if $G$ is a torsion-free group.
A couple of good ...
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Whence “homomorphism” and “homomorphic”?
Today homomorphism (resp. isomorphism) means what Jordan (1870) had called isomorphism (resp. holoedric isomorphism). How did the switch happen?
“Homomorphic” (and “homomorphism” as “property of ...
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Have finite doubly transitive groups been classified?
I am trying to determine whether the literature contains a complete proof of the classification of finite 2-transitive groups. This is a fundamental result with important applications in many areas ...
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Orbit structures of conjugacy class set and irreducible representation set under automorphism group
let G be a finite group. Suppose C is the set of conjugacy classes of G and R is the set of (equivalence classes of) irreducible representations of G over the complex numbers.
The automorphism group ...
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Non-vanishing of group cohomology in sufficiently high degree
Atiyah in his famous paper , Characters and cohomology of finite groups, after proving completion of representation ring in augmentation ideal is the same as $ K(BG)$, gives bunch of corollaries of ...
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Groups generated by 3 involutions
Let $r(m)$ denote the residue class $r+m\mathbb{Z}$, where $0 \leq r < m$.
Given disjoint residue classes $r_1(m_1)$ and $r_2(m_2)$, let the class transposition
$\tau_{r_1(m_1),r_2(m_2)}$ be the ...
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General bound for the number of subgroups of a finite group
I am interested in the following:
Let $G$ be a finite group of order $n$. Is there an explicit function $f$ such that
$|s(G)| \leq f(n)$ for all $G$ and for all natural numbers $n$, where $s(G)$ ...
user13040
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answer
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A dual version of a theorem of Øystein Ore in group theory
This post is a dual version for the Generalization of a theorem of Øystein Ore in which it's proved:
Theorem: Let $[H, G]$ be a distributive interval of finite groups. Then $\exists g \in G$ such ...
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Factorization of a finite group by two subsets
I want to write a GAP program for checking the following question.
Let $G$ be a given finite group with order $n$. Is it true that for every factorization $n=ab$ there exist subsets $A$ and $B$ ...
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Powers of finite simple groups
I have heard about the following result: for each finite simple non-abelian group $S$ and each natural number $r\ge 2$ there exists a number $n=n(r,S)$ such that the power $S^n$ is $r$-generator but $...
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Products of maximal inclusions of finite groups with a non-obvious intermediate
Let $(H_1 \subset G_1)$ and $(H_2 \subset G_2)$ be core-free maximal inclusions of finite groups.
Their product, the inclusion $(H_1 \times H_2 \subset G_1 \times G_2)$, admits four obvious ...
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5/8 bound in group theory
The odds of two random elements of a group commuting is the number of conjugacy classes of the group
$$ \frac{ \{ (g,h): ghg^{-1}h^{-1} = 1 \} }{ |G|^2} = \frac{c(G)}{|G|}$$
If this number exceeds ...
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Nontrivial finite group with trivial group homologies?
I stumbled across this question in a seminar-paper a long time ago:
Does there exist a positive integer $N$ such that if $G$ is a finite group with $\bigoplus_{i=1}^NH_i(G)=0$ then $G=\lbrace 1\...
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Definition of "finite group of Lie type"?
The list of finite simple groups of Lie type has been understood for half a century, modulo some differences in notation (and identifications between some of the very small groups coming from ...
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Why are there so few quaternionic representations of simple groups?
Having spent many hours looking through the Atlas of Finite Simple Groups while in Grad school, I recall being rather intrigued by the fact that among the sporadic groups, only one (McLaughlin as I ...
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Measures of non-abelian-ness
Let $G$ be a finite non-abelian group of $n$ elements.
I would like a measure that intuitively captures the
extent to which $G$ is non-commutative.
One easy measure is a count of the non-commutative ...
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Is every abelian group a colimit of copies of Z?
More precisely, is every abelian group a colimit $\text{colim}_{j \in J} F(j)$ over a diagram $F : J \to \text{Ab}$ where each $F(j)$ is isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}$?
Note that this does not follow ...
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Smallest permutation representation of a finite group?
Given a finite group G, I'm interested to know the smallest size of a set X such that G acts faithfully on X. It's easy for abelian groups - decompose into cyclic groups of prime power order and add ...
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In any Lie group with finitely many connected components, does there exist a finite subgroup which meets every component?
This question concerns a statement in a short paper by S. P. Wang titled “A note on free subgroups in linear groups" from 1981. The main result of this paper is the following theorem.
Theorem (Wang, ...
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Geometric Interpretation of the Lower Central Series for the Fundamental Group?
For any group G we can form the lower central series of normal subgroups by taking $G_0 = G$, $G_1 = [G,G]$, $G_{i+1} = [G,G_i]$. We can check this gives a normal chain
$G_0 > G_1 > ... > ...
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Units in the group ring over fours group after Gardam
Giles Gardam recently found (arXiv link) that Kaplansky's unit conjecture fails on a virtually abelian torsion-free group, over the field $\mathbb{F}_2$.
This conjecture asserted that if $\Gamma$ is a ...
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Universal cover of SL2(R) admits no central extensions?
Is it true that the universal cover of $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})$ has no non-trivial central extensions... as an abstract group?
(that's certainly true as a Lie group)
Motivation:
I have a projective ...
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Example of Noetherian group (every subgroup is finitely generated) that is not finitely presented
A Noetherian group (also sometimes called slender groups) is a group for which every subgroup is finitely generated. (Equivalently, it satisfies the ascending chain condition on subgroups).
A ...
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Maximal order of finite subgroups of $GL(n,Z)$
I am interested in the finite subgroups of $GL(n,Z)$ of maximal order.
Except for the dimensions $n = 2,4,6,7,8,9,10$ they are -- up to conjugacy in $GL(n,Q)$ -- in each dimension the group of signed ...
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answer
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$G$ cocycle split to a coboundary in $J$, via a group extension
Consider a generic nontrivial $d$-cocycle $\omega_d^G \in H^d(G,U(1))$ in the cohomology group of a group $G$ with $U(1)=\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$ coefficient. In otherwords, here the $d$-cocycle $\...
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A finiteness property for semi-simple algebraic groups
Let $G$ be a semi-simple algebraic group over a field $K$, I am considering a question about whether there exists a finite set of semi-simple $K$-subgroups, say $H_1,...,H_r$, such that for any semi-...
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Representation theory of p-groups in particular upper tringular matrices over F_p
Finite p-groups - have p^n elements by definition. According to WP there is rich structure theory.
Question: How far is representation theory of p-groups is understood?
In case this question is too ...
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Metrics on finite groups and generalizations of central limit theorems for balls volumes (à la Diaconis-Graham)
In wonderful lectures by P. Diaconis "Group representations in probability and statistics, Chapter 6. Metrics on Groups, and Their Statistical Use" metrics on permutation groups are considered and ...
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How feasible is it to prove Kazhdan's property (T) by a computer?
Recently, I have proved that Kazhdan's property (T) is theoretically provable
by computers (arXiv:1312.5431,
explained below), but I'm quite lame with computers and have
no idea what they actually can ...
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answer
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Non-amenable groups with arbitrarily large Tarski number?
Just out of curiosity, I wonder whether there are non-amenable groups with arbitrarily large Tarski numbers. The Tarski number $\tau(G)$ of a discrete group $G$ is the smallest $n$ such that $G$ ...
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Is there a 0-1 law for the theory of groups?
Several months ago, Dominik asked the question Is there a 0-1 law for the theory of groups? on mathstackexchange, but although his question received attention there is still no answer. By asking the ...
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5
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Heuristic argument that finite simple groups _ought_ to be "classifiable"?
Obviously there exists a list of the finite simple groups, but why should it be a nice list, one that you can write down?
Solomon's AMS article goes some way toward a historical / technical ...
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Fantastic properties of Z/2Z
Recently I gave a lecture to master's students about some nice properties of the group with two elements $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$. Typically, I wanted to present simple, natural situations where the ...
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Is there a good mathematical explanation for why orbital lengths in the periodic table are perfect squares doubled?
$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}\newcommand{\R}{\mathbb{R}}\newcommand{\S}{\mathbb{S}}$The periodic table of elements has row lengths $2, 8, 8, 18, 18, 32, \ldots $, i.e., perfect squares doubled. The ...
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