Skip to main content
3 of 3
Math Jaxed: I know that the practice of Math Jaxing these ol' posts is discouraged, but I was not able to resist this
Daniele Tampieri
  • 6.4k
  • 7
  • 30
  • 45

Elements living in the conjugacy class and in the centralizer of an $m$-cycle in $A_m$

Let $m>1$ be an odd natural number, $x$ a $m$-cycle in $A_m$, the alternating group in $m$ letters, $C$ the conjugacy class of $x$ in $A_m$.

Question: How can I describe the elements in the set $\{ j \mid x^j \in C\}$ in terms of $m$?

For instance, if $C^\prime$ is the conjugacy class of $x$ in $S_m$, the symmetric group in $m$ letters, then $$ \{ j \mid x^j \in C\} = \{ j \mid (j,m)=1 \}, $$ where $(j,m)$ is the greatest common divisor of $j$ and $m$. But in $A_m$, $C^\prime$ splits in two conjugacy classes of $A_m$ of the same size: $C$ and the conjugacy class of $(1 2)\times(1 2)$ in $A_m$.

Thank you in advance. Fernando.