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56 votes
14 answers
21k views

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 ...
19 votes
4 answers
2k views

Non-split extensions of $GL_n(F_q)$ by $F_q^n$ ?

A very naive question : I just learned that there is a non-split extension of $GL_3(F_2)$ by $F_2^3$ (with standard action). It can be realized as the subgroup of the automorphism group $G_2$ of ...
BS.'s user avatar
  • 9,389
13 votes
2 answers
1k views

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 ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
13 votes
4 answers
5k views

Orthogonal Groups over finite fields

Hello Let $\mathbb{F}_p$ be the finite field with $p$ elements. One can show that over finite fields, there are just two non-degenerate quadratic forms. So here I want to pick any non-degenerate ...
M.B's user avatar
  • 2,508
13 votes
1 answer
603 views

Steinberg representation for sporadic simple groups?

The Steinberg representation is a remarkable irreducible representation of a reductive algebraic group over a finite field or local field, or a group with a BN-pair. It is analogous to the 1-...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
1k views

Maximal order of elements in SL(n,q)

The maximal order of an element of $\mathrm{GL}(n,\mathbb{F}_q)$ is $q^n-1$, where the characteristic of $\mathbb{F}_q$ is odd $p$. See here for a nice proof that uses the Cayley-Hamilton Theorem. ...
Sean Lawton's user avatar
  • 8,529
8 votes
0 answers
304 views

A strong sum-product "for translates" in finite fields

In the course of some recent research, I've sketched out a proof of the following result. My basis question is: is the result interesting? Proposition There exists an absolute constant $c$ such ...
Nick Gill's user avatar
  • 11.2k
6 votes
1 answer
1k views

orthogonal group in characteristic 2

Let $O(2,\mathbb{Z}_2)$ be the orthogonal group of order two matrices. On $\mathbb{Z}_2$ there should exist just one odd quadratic form, hence the stabilizer subgroup $O^-$ of an odd quadratic for ...
IMeasy's user avatar
  • 3,779
5 votes
2 answers
571 views

Exceptional isomorphisms between finite simple Chevalley groups

Steinberg's "Lectures on Chevalley Groups" https://math.depaul.edu/cdrupies/research/papers/chevalleygroups.pdf contain ``a complete list of isomorphisms" among the various finite simple Chevalley ...
Yuri Zarhin's user avatar
  • 5,050
5 votes
1 answer
603 views

Aschbacher classes and $\mathbb{F}_p$-subspace stabilizers in classical linear groups

I am reading the Kleidman–Liebeck book ("The subgroup structure of the finite classical groups") which is about the Aschbacher classification of maximal subgroups of the classical almost ...
Martino Garonzi's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
764 views

Conjugacy classes in $GL_{n}(Z / pZ)$

Let $p$ be a prime number and $G=GL_n ( \mathbb{Z} / p \mathbb{Z} )$. Consider the set $U$ of upper-triangular matrices of $G$ having entries of $1$ on the diagonal. The cardinality of $U$ is $p^{\...
Nourddine Snanou's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
203 views

Number of elements in $\mathrm{GL}(n,p)$ with maximal order

I learned reading this question that $\mathrm{GL}(n,p)$ elements have at most a multiplicative order of $p^n -1$. I would like to know how many matrices have an order of exactly $p^n -1$. Do they ...
Cyrius Nugier's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
491 views

What is the permutation group generated by those three given morphisms of the affine space $\mathbb{F}_q^3$?

Let $\mathbb{A}^3 = \mathbb{F}_q^3$. Consider the following three functions $\mathbb{A}^3\to\mathbb{A}^3$: \begin{eqnarray*} h: (x, y, z) &\mapsto& (x, y, xy - z) \\ u: (x, y, z) &\mapsto&...
user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
107 views

Finite transitive linear subgroups

Let $q$ be a prime power and $d$ an integer. I want to understand the classification of the transitive linear subgroups of $GL_d(\mathbb F_q)$. According to the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/...
Ferra's user avatar
  • 509
4 votes
0 answers
1k views

Representations of general linear groups GL_n(F_q) - decomposition of tensor product?

Let $V$ and $W$ be complex irreducible representations of $GL_n(F_q)$ where $F_q$ is finite field. Is the decomposition of $V \otimes W$ into irreducible representations known? PS Same question: ...
Pooja Singla's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
235 views

Do the irreducible modules of this finite group preserve a tensor product structure?

I am interested in a particular group $G$, where $$ (A_4\times C_\ell) \lhd G \lhd S_4 \times D_\ell$$ Here, $C_\ell$ is cyclic, $D_\ell$ is dihedral of order $2\ell$, and the two inclusions both have ...
Nick Gill's user avatar
  • 11.2k
3 votes
1 answer
53 views

describing embedding $U_3(q)<O_6^-(q)$, $q$ even

Let $q=2^k$. I need to explicitly construct $U_3(q)$ as a subgroup of $G=GO_6^-(q)$. It is well-known that $G\cong U_4(q)$, and as a subgroup of the latter one has $U_3(q)$ fixing a non-isotropic ...
Dima Pasechnik's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
236 views

Intersections of products of Sylow $p$-subgroups

Motivated by the work of Cohn, Umans and collaborators on bounding the complexity of matrix multiplication, a student and I have been investigating the following problem. For subsets $X$ and $Y$ of a ...
Padraig Ó Catháin's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
128 views

embedding of $O_4^-(q)$ in $U_4(q)$

For $q$ an odd prime power, one can construct $H:=O_4^-(q)<U_4(q)$ by treating the $H$-invariant bilinear form as Hermitean. On the other hand $U_4(q)$ is isomorphic to $O_6^-(q)$; I need to ...
Dima Pasechnik's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
99 views

Unitary matrices $p$-root of identity such that the Fourier transform matrices are $p$-root of identity

Take a prime number $p$ and $\omega=e^{2i\pi/p}$. Assume we have p complex matrices (in finite dimension $n$) $A_0, \dotsc, A_{p-1}$ such that $\forall i, A_i^p=I$. Define the $p$ fourrier transform ...
MarcO's user avatar
  • 583
2 votes
1 answer
166 views

Subgroups of $\mathrm{SO}(A_0, \mathbb{F}_p)$

Let $n \geq 3$. Let $A_0$ denote the $n \times n$ symmetric matrix with $1$'s on the antidiagonal and $0$'s everywhere else. We can define the associated special orthogonal group $$ \mathrm{SO}(A_0, \...
davidlowryduda's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
168 views

Centralizer of PSL in PGL and of SL in GL: reference request

$\DeclareMathOperator\GL{GL}\DeclareMathOperator\SL{SL}\DeclareMathOperator\PGL{PGL}\DeclareMathOperator\PSL{PSL}$Consider the general linear group $\GL(n,q)$ over a finite field with $q$ elements and ...
Nick Belane's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
154 views

Reference request - obtaining finite simple groups from algebraic groups

I'm looking for references for the following statements, which I believe are true: Let $G$ be a simply connected simple linear algebraic group over a finite field $k$ of cardinality $q\ge 4$. Let $Z\...
stupid_question_bot's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
203 views

Can the relation between count of commuting pairs and conjugacy classes for finite groups be generalized to semigroups?

It is well-known that number of pairs of commuting elements in finite group G is equal to number of conjugacy classes multiplied by cardinality of G. More generally here (MO275769) Qiaochu Yuan ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
502 views

When is PSU(2,q^2) = PSL(2,q) ?

The context for this question is from page 284 - 287 of Berger's paper: http://pdn.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=MiamiImageURL&_cid=272332&_user=209810&_pii=S0021869398976785&_check=y&...
Will Chen's user avatar
  • 10.7k
1 vote
0 answers
69 views

On equality of two quotients of a congruence subgroup

Related question: Non-torsion part of the abelianisation of congruence subgroups Let $A = \mathbb{F}_q[T]$ be the ring of polynomials with coefficients in a finite field, with $N$ a nonconstant ...
Liam Baker's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

Chains of numbers generated by 2 involutions

$\DeclareMathOperator\GF{GF}$Consider the finite field $\GF(p)$ for prime $p$. Consider the pair of involutions $f(x) = 1-x$ , $g(x) = 1/x$, and the chain of numbers generated by these 2 involutions ...
Alexander's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
172 views

A characterisation of full subgroups of $\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbf{F}_p)$

Let $p\geq 5$ be a prime and $\mathbf{F}_p$ a finite field of characteristic $p$. A subgroup of ${\rm GL}_n(\mathbf{F}_p)$ is full if it contains ${\rm{SL}}_n(\mathbf{F}_p)$. When $n=2$, we have the ...
stupid boy's user avatar