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6 votes
1 answer
341 views

Sum of Young symmetrisers of a given shape

Preliminaries and notation: Let $n\in \mathbb{Z}_{>0}$ and $\lambda=(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\dots,\lambda_s)\vdash n$ be a partition. Given a Young diagram of shape $\lambda$, we can associate it ...
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

The number of subgroups of ${\frak S}_n$

Because of my interest in this question, I listed the subgroups of ${\frak S}_n$ for $1\le n\le4$. I found that the number of subgroups are, respectively, $1,2,6,24$. It might be a coincidence, or it ...
6 votes
2 answers
532 views

A question about (unicity of certain cycles in a Cayley graph of a) symmetric group

Let $S=\{(1,2),(1,2,3,\ldots,n),(1,2,3,\ldots,n)^{-1}=(1,n\ldots,2)\}$ be a subset of the symmetric group $S_n$. We know that $(1,2,\ldots,n)(1,2)=(2,3,\ldots,n)$, and thus $$[(1,2,\ldots,n)(1,2)]^{n-...
5 votes
1 answer
204 views

A decomposition of $w_0$ which is similar to the reduced decomposition

Some basic definitions about reduced decomposition: In the symmetric group $S_n$, let $s_i$ denote the adjacent transposition $(i,i+1),i\in \{1,2,\cdots,n-1\}.$ Since $S_n$ is generated by adjacent ...
12 votes
1 answer
510 views

Can a large transitive permutation group need many generators?

let $G$ be a transitive permutation group acting on $\{1, \ldots, n\}$, and let $d(G)$ be the minimal number of generators of $G$. Is it true, that for $n\rightarrow\infty$ we have $\frac{d(G)\log|G|}{...
15 votes
2 answers
838 views

factorization of the regular representation of the symmetric group

Let $\mathbb{C}[S_n]$ be the regular representation of the symmetric group $S_n$, and let $\mathbb{C}^n$ be the vector representation. Question: Does there exist a representation $V$ (of dimension $(...
73 votes
4 answers
4k views

Is ${\rm S}_6$ the automorphism group of a group?

The automorphism group of the symmetric group $S_n$ is $S_n$ when $n$ is not $2$ or $6$, in which cases it is respectively $1$ and the semidirect product of $S_6$ with the (cyclic) group of order $2$. ...
16 votes
2 answers
722 views

Minimal maximal subgroup of the symmetric group

The question is pretty much in the title: What is the maximal subgroup of $S_d$ of maximal index (so minimal size)? A slight variant (I am not sure if it leads to a different answer) is: what if we ...
21 votes
1 answer
1k views

Okounkov-Vershik approach to representation theory of $S_n$

This is a rather soft question. I was wondering if someone could explain on a fundamental and intuitive level, what the Okounkov-Vershik approach to representation theory of $S_n$ is all about. It's ...
14 votes
4 answers
2k views

Number of squares in a finite group

This was asked at MSE but never answered. Let $G$ be a finite group and denote by $sq(G)$ the number of squares in $G$ i.e. the number of elements in $G$ which possess a square root. For example, if ...
4 votes
1 answer
759 views

cohomology ring of symmetric group of order $3$

Let $S_3$ be the symmetric group of order $3$. What is the cohomology ring $$ H^*(S_3;\mathbb{Z})?$$ My attempt: I want to use mathematical induction on $n$ for $S_n$. For $n=1$, $S_1$ is trivial. ...
8 votes
1 answer
400 views

Decomposition of $\mathrm{End}(V)$ as $S_n\times S_n$-module

Let $V$ be a finite-dimensional, complex vector space and set $\newcommand{\Gl}{\mathrm{Gl}}G:=\Gl(V)\times\Gl(V)$. Let $E:=\mathrm{End}(V)$ and consider its coordinate ring $\mathbb C[E]$, the space ...
2 votes
0 answers
156 views

Special sets of involutions generating ${\rm S}_n$

For which positive integers $k$ and $r$ are there involutions $g_{n,i} \in {\rm S}_n$ $(n \in \mathbb{N}, \ i = 1, \dots, k)$ such that the following hold?: for any $n$, the $g_{n,i}$ $(i = 1, \dots, ...
1 vote
1 answer
226 views

Homomorphisms from irreducible spaces to reducible spaces

Let $P_{\lambda}$ be a Young symmetriser associated to the following tableau $(a_1 a_2 a_3 b_3 ; b_1 b_2)$ where the entries seperated by the ; belong to first and second COLUMNS of the tableau. Take $...
5 votes
1 answer
441 views

Minimum word length for an unusual set of generators of the symmetric group

Problem. Let $n\geq 2$ and let $T$ be the set of all permutations in $S_n$ of the form $$t_k:=\prod_{1\leq i\leq k/2}(i,k-i) \qquad \hbox{for $k=3,4,\ldots,n+1$}.$$ Find the least integer $f_n$...
9 votes
2 answers
860 views

What is natural about the well-known bijection between conjugacy classes and irreps of a symmetric group?

Symmetric groups possess a well-known bijection between conjugacy classes and irreducible representations. More precisely, both sets are indexed by Young diagrams. Question: To what extent is this ...
-3 votes
1 answer
267 views

A generalization of an old group problem [closed]

Here is an old exercise in group theory: (1) If $G$ is a group of order $2n$ with $n$ odd then $G$ is not simple and in fact $G$ has a normal subgroup of order $n$. I am going for one straight ...
5 votes
0 answers
418 views

What are the relation between Rep(G) and Rep(S_n)?

Let G be a finite group. We know it can be written as a subgroup of S_n. On the other hand, people sometimes say Rep(G) --- the category of all finite dimensional representations, are more interesting ...

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