Questions tagged [gr.group-theory]
Questions about the branch of algebra that deals with groups.
8,182 questions
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inverse limits of group algebras and profinite groups
For an inverse system {$G_i$} of finite groups, and a fixed field $\mathbb{k}$, one can consider the corresponding group algebras $\mathbb{k}[G_i]$. The latter form an inverse system of $\mathbb{k}$-...
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Finite-dimensional version of the word problem for groups
The (uniform) word problem for groups can be stated in several equivalent ways:
Word Problem for Groups (WP)
Instance: A finite presentation of a group G and an element w of G as a product of ...
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How many conjugacy classes of subgroups does GL(2,p) have?
How many conjugacy classes of subgroups does $\mathrm{GL}(2,p)$ have?
For instance the dihedral group of order $2n$ has $\tau(n)$ cyclic normal subgroups and $\sigma(n)$ "dihedral" subgroups (as in, ...
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Is there a finitely generated group with the same structure as ZFC?
Is there a finitely generated computably presentable group $G$ on generator set $A$ and a computable function $f$ from first-order formulas to words on $A$ such that $\mathsf{ZFC}\vdash\sigma\...
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Near permutation $n\mapsto n+1$ not conjugate to its inverse on the Stone-Čech remainder?
Let $\beta\omega$ be the Stone-Čech compactification of the discrete infinite countable space $\omega$, and $\beta^*\omega=\beta\omega\smallsetminus \omega$ is the Stone-Čech remainder.
The map $j:n\...
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Obstructions for a group to be the multiplicative group of a field [duplicate]
It is well known that every finite multiplicative subgroup of a field is cyclic.
I somehow got interested in a possible reverse implication:
Assume we have an abelian group $G$ whose every finite ...
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Subgroups of $SL_3(\mathbb{Z})$ that are finitely generated, Zariski-dense, infinite index, and torsion-free
My question stems from Misha's answer of a MathOverflow question. Misha supplied the following question in his answer:
Open question: Does there exist a finitely generated Zariski-dense torsion-...
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Deformations of p-divisible groups
Given a p-divisible group over $\mathbb{F}_p$, Grothendieck-Messing theory tells us that deforming the group to $\mathbb{Z}_p$ is the same as finding an admissible filtration of the Dieudonne-module ...
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Are acyclic subcomplexes of finite contractible 2-complexes contractible?
Let $Y$ be a contractible finite simplicial 2-complex.
Let $X$ be an acyclic subcomplex of $Y$ (i.e. $X$ connected, $H_1(X)=0$, $H_2(X)=0$).
Is $X$ contractible? (Equivalently, is $\pi_1(X)$ trivial?)...
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Finite vertex-transitive graphs that look like infinite vertex-transitive graphs
For a vertex-transitive graph $G$ and a positive integer $d$, and let $G(d)$ be the subgraph induced by all vertices of $G$ within distance $d$ of some given vertex $v$ (since $G$ is vertex-transitive,...
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(Non)free differential calculus [closed]
Let $G$ be a group and $R$ be a commutative ring. Recall that a derivation of the group ring $R[G]$ is a map $\delta : R[G] \rightarrow R[G]$ such that
$$\delta(x+y)=\delta(x)+\delta(y) \quad \text{...
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Affine Weyl groups as Coxeter groups
If G is a reductive algebraic group (say over ℂ), T a maximal torus, then we can consider its Weyl group W which acts on the abelian group Y of one parameter subgroups of T. Thus we may form the ...
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What is known about the structure of finite groups admitting an automorphism where all elements have "norm" one?
Let $G$ be a finite group admitting an automorphism $\sigma$ of prime order $p$. Define the norm map $N:G\rightarrow G$ with respect to $\sigma$ by $N(g)= g\sigma(g)\sigma^2(g)\dotsb\sigma^{p-1}(g)$.
...
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Associativity may fail by little?
It is a well-known result on group theory that if a group has many pairs of commuting elements then it is abelian.
This motivated the following pseudo-conjecture.
If a (possibly infinite) set $S$ ...
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Why is "The Higman Rope Trick" thus named?
I'm studiyng Higman's Embedding Theorem, and a fundamental part of the proof is the following lemma:
If R is a benign normal subgroup of finitely generated group F, then F/R can be embedded in a ...
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Distributivity of group topologies on $\Bbb Z$
Let $\mathcal L$ be the set of all group topologies on $\Bbb Z$.
It is known that $(\mathcal L,\subseteq)$ is a modular complete lattice [1].
Is $(\mathcal L,\subseteq)$ distributive?
$$~$$
[1] ...
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3-cocycle representatives for the dihedral group $D_{2n}$?
I am looking for a reference for a complete list of 3-cocycle representatives for $H^3(D_{2n},\mathbb{C}^\times)$, where
$$
D_{2n}=\langle a, b\mid a^2=b^2=(ab)^n=e\rangle
$$
is the dihedral group of ...
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Cohomology of lattice subgroups
I am trying to find a reference for lower cohomology groups $H^i(G, \mathbb{Z}),$ for $i=1, 2, 3$ for lattices in higher rank (for example, $SL(n, \mathbb{Z}), Sp(2n, \mathbb{Z}),$ and possibly ...
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Is it possible to reconstruct a finitely generated group from its category of representations?
Suppose $G$ is a finitely generated group, and suppose $Rep_k(G)$ is its category of representations over some field (or maybe even a ring) $k$, endowed with whatever extra structure is needed --- ...
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Amenability and ultrafilters
Among hundreds of equivalent definitions of amenability (for discrete, countable, groups), I would like to discuss two which are most common:
A1. A group $G$ is amenable if it admits a Folner ...
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Restriction of a branched cover to its branch locus
Assume that we have a smooth, compact, complex surface $X$, and a smooth and irreducible divisor $B \subset X$. Let $G$ be a finite group. For every group epimorphism $$\varphi \colon \pi_1(X-B) \to G,...
- 66.3k
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Groups which are only defined up to conjugation
I'm trying to understand what the right way is to think about "groups which are only well-defined up to conjugation." Since this is somewhat vague let me clarify it by pointing out the main examples ...
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Groups surjecting onto a free group
Is there something resembling a characterization of which groups can map onto a non-abelian free group? Obviously they cannot have property T, and should have nontrivial abelianization, but are there ...
- 96.4k
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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 ...
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Mappings of mapping class groups
Let $X$ be a compact non-orientable surface, maybe with boundary, and let $\tilde X$ be the orienting cover of $X$. If I understand correctly, any smooth automorphism of $X$ lifts naturally to an ...
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What is the first Pontryagin class of the $n$-dimensional representation of $S_n$?
The symmetric group $S_n$ has an $n$-dimensional defining representation, which splits as $n = (n-1) + 1$. Although this representation exists integrally, I would like to think of this as a real ...
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When is non amenablity witnessed by a single non measurable set?
Suppose $G$ is a finitely generated discrete group and that there is a subset $E$ of $G$ such that if
$\mu$ is a finitely additive probability measure on $G$, then there is a
$g$ in $G$ such that $\mu(...
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Almost but not quite a homomorphism
I'm interested in general heuristics where, for specific algebraic structures, we introduce new maps that are "almost" homomorphisms (or "almost" isomorphisms) but not quite so. Here are some that I ...
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A finite group that has no decomposition of given cardinality
Let $a,b$ be two positive integer numbers. A group $G$ is called $a{\times}b$-decomposable if there are subsets $A,B\subset G$ of cardinality $|A|=a$ and $|B|=b$ such that $AB=G$ where $AB=\{xy:x\in A,...
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Construction of representations of the Mathieu groups?
The Mathieu groups are beautiful simple finite groups. (They were the first sporadic groups to be discovered in 1861-1870).
They are related with many other miraculous constructions in mathematics:
...
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$\mathbb{Z}$-module structure of the subring generated by an algebraic number
Let $a$ and $b$ be algebraic numbers which are not necessarily algebraic integers. Is there some invariant that allows us to determine whether $\mathbb Z[a]$ and $\mathbb Z[b]$ are isomorphic as $\...
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(un)decidability in matrix groups
Given a collection of matrices $S=\{M_1, \dots, M_k\}$ in (say) $SL(n, Z), \ n>2$ does $S$ generate $SL(n, Z)?$
Similar are questions are undecidable for $n\geq 4$ (eg, given a set $S$ as above, ...
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Can a reductive group act non-linearly on a vector group?
Let $k$ be a field; I'm going to discuss linear algebraic groups over $k$. The question I'll pose is only interesting when the characteristic is $p>0$.
1. Some motivation
A vector group is an ...
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1-st cohomology of multiplicative group in a vector space
Let $\mathbb k$ be a field of characteristic $p$ and let $\mathbb k_n$ be a 1-dimensional representation of $\mathbb k^\times$, where the action is given by $t\circ v= t^n v$. Is it known what are the ...
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Which finite simple groups can be characterized by their action on a small set?
It is well known that a finite 4-times transitive permutation group is Matthieu, symmetric, or alternating. Another way of stating this is that the set
$$
\Omega = \{(x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4), 1\leq x_i\...
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Computing homotopy groups of X such that pi_1(X) has solvable word problem
The paper
E. H. Brown, Jr., Finite computability of Postnikov complexes, Ann. of Math. (2) 65 (1957), 1-20.
proves that if $X$ is a finite simply-connected simplicial complex, then there is an ...
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Amenability of groups II
Are there any non-amenable group $G$ with the property:
There exists $C<1$ such that for every finite set $S\subset G$ there exists a set $F\subseteq S$ such that $|F|\geq C |S|$ and $F$ generates ...
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Distance to an apartment of the affine building of GL(N)
Here $F$ is a locally compact non-archimedean non-discrete field.
Let $X$ be the reduced (affine) Bruhat-Tits building of ${\rm GL}(n,F)$. Fix a maximal split torus $T$. Let $B$ be a Borel subgroup ...
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Distortion of malnormal subgroup of hyperbolic groups
Let $G$ be a countable, Gromov-hyperbolic group.
We say that $H$ is hyperbolically embedded in $G$ if $G$ is relatively hyperbolic to {$H$} (in the strong sense). This definition is due to Osin.
A ...
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On the iterated automorphism groups of the cyclic groups
Let $C_n$ be the cyclic group of order $n$. Its automorphism group $Aut(C_n)$ is a group of order $\varphi(n)$ isomorphic to $(\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z})^{\times}$ the multiplicative group of integer ...
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Is $Alt_\omega$ a dense subgroup of a non-discrete locally compact topological group?
Let $S_\omega$ be the group of bijections of the countable ordinal $\omega:=\{0,1,2,\dots\}$ and $Alt_\omega$ be the subgroup of $S_\omega$ consisting of even permutations of $\omega$ (i.e., the ...
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The number of involutions in a permutation group
If $G$ is a group let $I(G)$ be the number of involutions (elements of order 2) in $G$. My question is then easily stated: does there exists a constant $C > 1$ such that for every $n \ge 1$ and ...
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Subgroups of amenable periodic groups
Does every countable, infinite, amenable, periodic group $G$ contain an infinite locally finite subgroup?
Remarks:
I would be happy with an infinitely generated counterexample as long as it is ...
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Tuples of 2x2-matrices simultaneously conjugate to matrices with integer entries
I am interested in the following question: Given an $n$-tuple of matrices $(A_1, \dots, A_n)\in SL(2,\mathbb R)^n$, does there exist a matrix $B\in SL(2,\mathbb R)$ such that $BA_jB^{-1}\in SL(2,\...
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Identity involving zonal polynomials and $\operatorname O(N)$ irrep dimensions
$\DeclareMathOperator\U{U}\DeclareMathOperator\O{O}$Schur functions $s_\lambda(x)$ with $\lambda\vdash n$ are simultaneously the irreducible characters of the unitary group $\U(N)$ and proportional to ...
- 2,552
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Prime numbers dividing the orders of the sporadic groups
When we consider the list of the prime numbers that divide the order of the 26 (or 27 if you include Tits group T) sporadic groups, we find that they all are among the 20 smallest prime numbers.
In ...
- 2,655
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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 ...
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Group rings such that every (countably generated) module has a maximal submodule
Every (non-zero) finitely generated module over a ring has a maximal proper submodule by a simple application of Zorn's lemma.
I am interested in the following question, with two variants.
...
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Free generators for the fat commutator subgroup
There is a homomorphism $\langle x,y\rangle\to\langle x\rangle$ of free groups, sending $y$ to $1$. We can combine this with the other obvious homomorphism to get a surjective homomorphism
$$ \...
- 56.9k
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Is the monster group maximal in SO(196883)?
$\DeclareMathOperator\SO{SO}$The smallest degree of a nontrivial complex representation of the monster group $ M $ is $ 196883 $. This irrep has Schur indicator $ 1 $, so the image must lie in the ...
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