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394 votes
115 answers
110k views

Not especially famous, long-open problems which anyone can understand

Question: I'm asking for a big list of not especially famous, long open problems that anyone can understand. Community wiki, so one problem per answer, please. Motivation: I plan to use this list in ...
87 votes
5 answers
10k views

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 ...
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

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 $\...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
50 votes
6 answers
11k views

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 ...
Hugo Chapdelaine's user avatar
174 votes
7 answers
17k views

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))....
Greg Muller's user avatar
113 votes
2 answers
16k views

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 ...
Konrad Swanepoel's user avatar
42 votes
8 answers
11k views

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 ...
Q.Q.J.'s user avatar
  • 2,123
42 votes
7 answers
10k views

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 $S_n$)?
Dan's user avatar
  • 1,318
94 votes
2 answers
7k views

$A$ 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 $A \not\cong A \oplus \mathbb{Z}$?
Martin Brandenburg's user avatar
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
65 votes
2 answers
9k views

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 ...
David Roberts's user avatar
  • 35.5k
43 votes
7 answers
8k views

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 ...
Owen Biesel's user avatar
  • 2,356
7 votes
3 answers
698 views

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 ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
62 votes
9 answers
9k views

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 ...
Andy Putman's user avatar
  • 44.8k
35 votes
2 answers
3k views

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 ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
20 votes
1 answer
587 views

$q$-(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^...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
17 votes
5 answers
7k views

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 $s(G)$ ...
user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
1k views

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}}...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
64 votes
4 answers
8k views

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 ...
Johan Öinert's user avatar
36 votes
1 answer
3k views

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 being ...
Francois Ziegler's user avatar
28 votes
1 answer
2k views

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 ...
Michael Zieve's user avatar
23 votes
4 answers
3k views

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 ...
Sam Nariman's user avatar
  • 1,003
23 votes
2 answers
2k views

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 ...
Vipul Naik's user avatar
  • 7,320
17 votes
0 answers
969 views

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 ...
Stefan Kohl's user avatar
  • 19.6k
13 votes
1 answer
2k views

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 ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
717 views

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 $B$ ...
M.H.Hooshmand's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
674 views

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 $...
user 59363's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
303 views

Growth functions of finite group - computation, typical behaviour, surveys?

Looking on the growth function for Rubik's group and symmetric group, one sees rather different behaviour: Rubik's growth in LOG scale (see MO322877): S_n n=9 growth and nice fit by normal ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
202 views

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 ...
Sebastien Palcoux's user avatar
263 votes
29 answers
89k views

Mathematical games interesting to both you and a 5+-year-old child

Background: My daughter is 6 years old now, once I wanted to think on some math (about some Young diagrams), but she wanted to play with me... How to make both of us to do what they want ? I guess ...
93 votes
20 answers
10k views

Short papers for undergraduate course on reading scholarly math

(I know this is perhaps only tangentially related to mathematics research, but I'm hoping it is worthy of consideration as a community wiki question.) Today, I was reminded of the existence of this ...
78 votes
3 answers
10k views

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 ...
john mangual's user avatar
  • 22.8k
70 votes
1 answer
5k views

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\...
Chris Gerig's user avatar
  • 17.5k
47 votes
2 answers
4k views

Collapsible group words

What is the length $f(n)$ of the shortest nontrivial group word $w_n$ in $x_1,\ldots,x_n$ that collapses to $1$ when we substitute $x_i=1$ for any $i$? For example, $f(2)=4$, with the commutator $[...
Bjorn Poonen's user avatar
  • 23.8k
46 votes
2 answers
8k views

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 ...
Jim Humphreys's user avatar
43 votes
0 answers
2k views

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 ...
ARupinski's user avatar
  • 5,191
42 votes
6 answers
4k views

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 ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
36 votes
2 answers
5k views

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 ...
Robin Saunders's user avatar
35 votes
3 answers
4k views

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 ...
Qiaochu Yuan's user avatar
33 votes
2 answers
1k views

Analogies supporting heuristic: Weyl groups = algebraic groups over field with one element?

There is well-known heuristic that Weyl groups are reductive algebraic groups over "field with one element". Probably the best known analogy supporting that heuristic is the limit $q\to1$ ...
Alexander Chervov's user avatar
31 votes
1 answer
3k views

Diameter of symmetric group

Let $\Sigma_n\subset G$ be a set of generators of the symmetric group $S_n$. It is a well-known conjecture that the diameter of the Cayley graph $\Gamma(S_n,\Sigma_n)$ is at most $n^C$ for some ...
H A Helfgott's user avatar
  • 20.2k
30 votes
2 answers
3k views

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, ...
Khalid Bou-Rabee's user avatar
29 votes
4 answers
3k views

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 \ge G_1 \ge ... \ge G_i ...
Anthony Bak's user avatar
27 votes
4 answers
2k views

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 ...
Ville Salo's user avatar
  • 6,652
19 votes
7 answers
3k views

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 ...
André Henriques's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
3k views

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 ...
Vipul Naik's user avatar
  • 7,320
14 votes
2 answers
748 views

Solving the Bring quintic using the Monster?

I. Method Hermite's method to solve the Bring quintic by functions that obey $x^8+y^8=1$ implicitly uses octahedral symmetry, while Emil Jann Fiedler's solution by the Rogers-Ramanujan continued ...
Tito Piezas III's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
2k views

Do all exact sequences $0 \rightarrow A \rightarrow A \oplus B \rightarrow B \rightarrow 0$ split for finitely generated abelian groups?

Suppose $A$ and $B$ are finitely generated Abelian groups. Are all exact sequences of the form $0 \rightarrow A \rightarrow A \oplus B \rightarrow B \rightarrow 0$ split? If not, is there an example?
Felix Y.'s user avatar
  • 307
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

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 ...
eins6180's user avatar
  • 1,312
7 votes
1 answer
506 views

$G$ 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 $\...
wonderich's user avatar
  • 10.5k

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