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4 votes
0 answers
115 views

Complexity to find "short" (e.g. polynomial in diameter) decomposition of the permutation into the product of generators?

Question 1: Consider the symmetric group $S_n$ and some set of permutations $p_i$. Given permutation $g$ - what is known about the algorithmic complexity to decompose $g$ into product of $p_i$ ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
251 views

Diameter of the "Masterball-puzzle" permutation groups by a kind of Cartier-Foata enumeration?

There is an wonderful blog post by Jordan S. Ellenberg SHOULD YOU BE SURPRISED BY THE DIAMETER OF THE NXNXN RUBIK’S GROUP?. Which explains how one can come to $N^2log(N)$ estimate of the diameter of ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
450 views

abelian quotients of permutation groups

Let $G$ be a subgroup of the permutation group $S_n$, and let $H$ be a normal subgroup of $G$ such that the quotient group $G/H$ is abelian. What is the best known upper estimate for the cardinality $...
Yuri Bilu's user avatar
  • 1,294
7 votes
1 answer
582 views

Wreath product $S_k\wr S_n$ inside $S_{kn}$

I want to understand wreath products a little better. Currently, my intuition about them is as follows. Take $nk$ disks, pile them in order forming $n$ piles of $k$ disks (one pile contains disks {1,...
thedude's user avatar
  • 1,549
31 votes
2 answers
1k views

Does the symmetric group $S_{10}$ factor as a knit product of symmetric subgroups $S_6$ and $S_7$?

By knit product (alias: Zappa-Szép product), I mean a product $AB$ of subgroups for which $A\cap B=1$. In particular, note that neither subgroup is required to be normal, thus making this a ...
John McVey's user avatar
  • 1,068
10 votes
0 answers
194 views

Permutation groups with diameter $O(n \log n)$

I suspect that many permutation puzzles can be solved in $O(n \log n)$ moves, which has led me to the following question/conjecture: Suppose that 1. $P_i$ for $i<k=O(1)$ are permutations on an $n$ ...
Dmytro Taranovsky's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
242 views

Counting elements having a given cycle structure in maximal subgroups of a generalized symmetric group

Let $G$ be the wreath product $C_7\wr S_{18}$, where $C_7$ is the cyclic group of order 7 and $S_{18}$ is the symmetric group on 18 symbols. Consider $G$ to be embedded in the group $S_{126}=S_{7\cdot ...
352506's user avatar
  • 1,021
16 votes
1 answer
1k views

Tensor power of the natural representation of Sn

The symmetric group $S_n$ acts over $V=\mathbb{R}^n$ by permuting the canonical basis. So it acts over $V^{\otimes p}$ with a diagonal action (acts the same over each element of the tensor product). ...
MarcO's user avatar
  • 583
8 votes
2 answers
617 views

sum-sets in a finite field

Let $\mathbb{F}_p$ be a finite field, $A=\{a_1,\dots,a_k\}\subset\mathbb{F}_p^*$ a $k$-element set, for $k<p$. $\mathfrak{S}_k=$permutation gp. Question. Is it true there is always a $\pi\in\...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
137 views

Intransitive finite irreducible linear groups whose orbits are all large

I am interested in intransitive irreducible linear subgroups $G\subseteq\mathrm{GL}_n(\mathbb{F}_p)$ acting on $V-\{0\}=\mathbb{F}_p^n-\{0\}$ in the natural way, such that all of the orbits are very ...
Zeyu's user avatar
  • 537
12 votes
1 answer
682 views

A sum over characters of the symmetric group

Let $C_\mu$ be the size of the conjugacy class in $S_n$ of permutations whose cycletype is the partition $\mu\vdash n$. Let $\chi$ be the characters of the irreducible representations of $S_n$. Let $\...
thedude's user avatar
  • 1,549
7 votes
1 answer
146 views

Covering a set with images of a transversal

Let $G$ be a permutation group on a finite set $\Omega$ with orbits $\Omega_1,\ldots,\Omega_k$. By a transversal we mean a set $\lbrace\omega_1,\ldots,\omega_k\rbrace$ with $\omega_j\in\Omega_j$ for ...
Brendan McKay's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
586 views

How hard is it to compute the diameter and the growth function of a finite permutation group of small degree?

Let $G \leq {\rm S}_n$ be a finite permutation group, and let $S = \{g_1, \dots, g_k\}$ be a generating set for $G$ which is closed under inversion and which does not contain the identity. The growth ...
Stefan Kohl's user avatar
  • 19.6k
32 votes
3 answers
3k views

Order of products of elements in symmetric groups

Let $n \in \mathbb{N}$. Is it true that for any $a, b, c \in \mathbb{N}$ satisfying $1 < a, b, c \leq n-2$ the symmetric group ${\rm S}_n$ has elements of order $a$ and $b$ whose product has order $...
Stefan Kohl's user avatar
  • 19.6k