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10 votes
2 answers
865 views

Is there a non-degenerate quadratic form on every finite abelian group?

Let $G$ be a finite abelian group. A quadratic form on $G$ is a map $q: G \to \mathbb{C}^*$ such that $q(g) = q(g^{-1})$ and the symmetric function $b(g,h):= \frac{q(gh)}{q(g)q(h)}$ is a bicharacter, ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
791 views

How nearly abelian are nilpotent groups?

It is not uncommon to read that "nilpotent groups are 'close to abelian'."1,2 Can this sentiment be made precise in the sense of the Turán and Erdős definition of "the probability that two elements of ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
313 views

Projective representations of a finite abelian group

Projective representations of a group $G$ are classified by the second group cohomology $H^2(G,U(1))$. If $G$ is finite and abelian, it is isomorphic to the direct product of cyclic groups $$ G\cong ...
Andrea Antinucci's user avatar