Questions tagged [gr.group-theory]
Questions about the branch of algebra that deals with groups.
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Criteria for irreducibility of polynomial
If $f, g\in \mathbb C[a,b]$ are polynomials in two variables, are there easy criteria that allow to see if $f(x,y)-g(t,z)\in \mathbb C[x,y,t,z]$ is irreducible?
Thank you very much,
best
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Generation in a group versus generation in its abelianization.
Background
I have been spending a lot of time in my research with subsets of groups that are very close to being generating sets. To make this precise:
Let $G$ be a group. If a subset $S$ of $G$ ...
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Generation of finite index subgroups
Related to a question by Mark Sapir (see here) and a question by Kate Juschenko (see here), let me ask the following:
Question: Let $G$ be a finitely generated group and let $\varepsilon>0$. Is ...
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Word maps on compact Lie groups
Let $w=w(a,b)$ be a non-trivial word in the free group $F_2 = \langle a,b \rangle$ and $w_G \colon G \times G \to G$ be the induced word map for some compact Lie group $G$.
Murray Gerstenhaber and ...
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Proofs of the Stallings-Swan theorem
It is a well-known and deep${}^\ast$ theorem that if a group $G$ has cohomological dimension one then it must be free. This was proved in the late 60's by Stallings (for finitely generated groups) and ...
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Faithful representations and tensor powers
The following result was mentionned earlier in this thread, I searched a bit in the related threads and couldn't find a proof. I would really like to see a proof of it:
Let $G$ be a finite group and $...
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Finite groups with the same character table
Say I have two finite groups $G$ and $H$ which aren't isomorphic but have the same character table (for example, the quaternion group and the symmetries of the square). Does this mean that the ...
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When is the torsion subgroup of an abelian group a direct summand?
For an abelian group $G$, let $G[\operatorname{tors}]$ be its torsion subgroup.
Consider the torsion sequence:
$0 \rightarrow G[\operatorname{tors}] \rightarrow G \rightarrow G/G[\operatorname{tors}] \...
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Is there a "universal group object"? (answered: yes!)
I want to say that a group object in a category (e.g. a discrete group, topological group, algebraic group...) is the image under a product-preserving functor of the "group object diagram", $D$. One ...
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Understanding groups that are not linear
I have a really hard time "feeling" what it means for a group to fail to be linear. Vaguely, I'd like to know how one should think about such groups. More precisely:
What are some interesting ...
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Without choice, can every homomorphism from a profinite group to a finite group be continuous?
In ZFC, some homomorphisms from profinite groups to finite groups are discontinuous. For instance, see the examples in this question. However, all three constructions given use consequences of the ...
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Finitely presented sub-groups of $\operatorname{GL}(n,C)$
Here are two questions about finitely generated and finitely presented groups (FP):
Is there an example of an FP group that does not admit a homomorphism to $\operatorname{GL}(n,C)$ with trivial ...
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The finite groups with a zero entry in each column of its character table (except the first one)
$\DeclareMathOperator\PSL{PSL}\DeclareMathOperator\Aut{Aut}$Consider the class of finite groups $G$ having a zero entry in each column of its character table (except the first one), i.e. for all $g \...
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How many elements does it take to normally generate a group?
$\DeclareMathOperator\nr{nr}\DeclareMathOperator\rank{rank}$This is a terminology question (I should probably know this, but I don't). Given a group $G$, consider the minimal cardinality $\nr(G)$ of a ...
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Estimate for the order of the outer automorphism group of a finite simple group
It is known (given CFSG) that all non-abelian finite simple groups have small outer automorphism groups. However, it's quite tedious to list all the possibilities. Does anyone know a reference for a ...
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Does the hypergraph of subgroups determine a group?
A hypergraph is a pair $H=(V,E)$ where $V\neq \emptyset$ is a set and $E\subseteq{\cal P}(V)$ is a collection of subsets of $V$. We say two hypergraphs $H_i=(V_i, E_i)$ for $i=1,2$ are isomorphic if ...
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Relationship between the cohomology of a group and the cohomology of its associated Lie algebra
Let $G$ be a group and let $k$ be a field (characteristic 0 if you want). Let $L$ be the graded Lie ring associated to the lower central series of $G$, that is, $L$, as a graded abelian group is $\...
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Are extensions of linear groups linear?
A group $G$ is said to be linear if there exists a field $k$, an integer $n$ and an injective homomorphism $\varphi: G \to \text{GL}_n(k).$
Given a short exact sequence
$1 \to K \to G \to Q \to 1$ ...
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(weak?) BN-Pair / Tits System for Sporadic Groups
The structure of finite simple groups of Lie type of arbitrary rank can be described well via BN-pairs. BN-pairs basically generalize the Bruhat decomposition of matrices into monomial $N$ and ...
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How is this group theoretic construct called?
Let $G$ be a finite group, $S\subset G$ a generating set, $|g| = |g|_S = $ word length with respect to $S$. Define the "defect" of $g,h$ to be
$$\psi(g,h) = |g|+|h|-|gh|$$
Then $\psi:G\times G \...
user6671
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A character identity
This is related to my question, but it concerns a specific point of the proof of Schur's Theorem.
Let $G$ be a finite group and $\chi$ an irreducible character of $G$. Is it true that
$$\forall g\in ...
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Are there Hamilton paths in Cayley graphs of Coxeter groups?
Hi everyone.
I want to optimize certain computation on finite Coxeter groups $(W,S)$. Basically I compute the matrices $\rho(T_w)$ for all $w\in W$ of a matrix representation $H\to K^{d\times d}$ of ...
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Is Hopf property a quasi-isometry invariant?
Recall that a group $G$ is called Hopfian if every surjective endomorphism $G\to G$ is injective. Malcev observed that all finitely-generated (f.g.) residually finite groups are Hopfian. It is well-...
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Abelianization of a semidirect product
I believe there is a straightforward formula for the abelianization of a semi-direct product: if $G$ acts on $H$, and we form the semi-direct product of $G$ and $H$ in the usual way, and the ...
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Cogroup objects
Pretty much anyone who does algebra is familiar with group objects in categories, but what about cogroup objects? Most of what I've been able to find about them is that they "arise naturally in ...
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How small can a group with an n-dimensional irreducible complex representation be?
More precisely, what is the smallest exponent e such that, for every n, there exists a group of size at most Cn^e for some absolute constant C and with an n-dimensional irreducible complex ...
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Is a retract of a free object free?
I wonder whether this is true in the categories of groups, monoids, commutative algebras, associative algebras, Lie algebras?
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In a compact lie group, can two closed connected subgroups generate a non-closed subgroup?
Let $H$,$K$ be closed connected subgroups of a compact Lie group $G$. Let $L:=\langle H,K \rangle$ be the subgroup they generate, ie, the smallest subgroup of $G$ containing them both. Must $L$ be ...
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Number of solutions to equations in finite groups
Suppose $G$ is a finite group and that $E$ is an equation of the form $x_1 x_2 ... x_n = e$, where each $x_i$ is in the set of symbols $\{x, y, x^{-1}, y^{-1}\}$.
Is it always true that the number ...
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Why do these two Monster-related calculations yield $163$?
Fact 1: (1979, Conway and Norton)$^{1}$
"There are $194-22-9=\color{blue}{163\,}$ $\mathbb{Z}$-independent McKay-Thompson series for the Monster."
Note: There are 194 (linear) irreducible ...
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What are the auto-equivalences of the category of groups?
My question is motivated by Are the inner automorphisms the only ones that extend to every overgroup?
What are the auto-equivalences of the category of groups? What kind of structure do they form?
...
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Finitely generated group with $\aleph_0<X_G<2^{\aleph_0}$ normal subgroups?
Let $X_G$ be the number of normal subgroups of a group $G$. Are there examples of finitely generated groups $G$ where it is consistent to have $\aleph_0<X_G<2^{\aleph_0}$ normal subgroups? Also ...
user35370
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Cohomological dimension of $G \times G$
$\DeclareMathOperator\cd{cd}$A question that I have already posted in the Mathematics section, but which seems to be too delicate for that section (see here and here):
Let $\cd(G)$ denote the ...
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Which commutative groups are the group of units of some field?
Inspired by a recent question on the multiplicative group of fields. Necessary conditions include that there are at most $n$ solutions to $x^n = 1$ in such a group and that any finite subgroup is ...
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fundamental groups of complements to countable subsets of the plane
This question is a follow-up of this MSE post and a comment by Henno Brandsma:
Question 1. Let $S$ be the set of isomorphism classes of fundamental groups $\pi_1(E^2 - C)$, where $C$ ranges over all ...
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Tate Cohomology via stable categories
Situation
Let $G$ be a finite group and provide $G\text{-mod} := {\mathbb Z}G\text{-mod}$ with the Frobenius structure of ${\mathbb Z}$-split short exact sequences. Denote by $\underline{G\text{-mod}}...
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Countable subgroups of compact groups
What is known about countable subgroups of compact groups? More precisely, what countable groups can be embedded into compact groups (I mean just an injective homomorphism, I don't consider any ...
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Mapping class group and property (T) [closed]
Does anyone know what the current expert consensus is concerning the status of the question as to whether the mapping class group of a surface has property (T)?
There is a short (21 page) paper by J. ...
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Folner sequences of amenable groups of exponential growth
Let $G$ be an amenable group of exponential growth and let $S$ be a finite symmetric generating set. For each $k$, let $B_{k}$ be the closed ball of radius $k$ about the identity element in the ...
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Algorithm to test for discrete or quasi-Fuchsian subgroups of PSL(2,C)
Let $\Gamma = \pi_1(S)$ denote the fundamental group of a compact surface $S$ of genus $g>1$.
Given a representation $\rho : \Gamma \to \mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})$, specified by matrix ...
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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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Is there any criteria for whether the automorphism group of G is homomorphic to G itself?
In the elementary group theory we know that for the symmetric groups $S_n$, except $S_6$, we have $Aut(S_n) \cong S_n$. Then the following question is natural:
What is the necessary and sufficient ...
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Explicit cocycle for the central extension of the algebraic loop group G(C((t)))
Let $G$ be a simple Lie group and let $G(\mathbb{C}((t)))$ be its loop group.
The Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}[[t]][t^{-1}]$ has a well known central extension
(see e.g.
Wikipedia) given by the cocycle
...
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Non-split Aut(G) $\to$ Out(G)?
I'm looking for examples of outer automorphisms of a finite group $G$ which do not lift to automorphisms (i.e. non-split quotient map $\mathrm{Aut}(G)\to \mathrm{Out}(G)$, where $\mathrm{Out}(G) = \...
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Checking whether given binary operation is a group operation
Given a binary function $f: [1..n] \times [1..n] \to [1..n]$ how to check that this operation is a group operation on $[1..n]$?
It's obvious that this can be done in $O(n^3)$ time just by checking ...
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$n!$ divides a product: Part I
Question. The following is always an integer. Is it not?
$$\frac{(2^n-1)(2^n-2)(2^n-4)(2^n-8)\cdots(2^n-2^{n-1})}{n!}.$$
John Shareshian has supplied a cute proof. I'm encouraged to ask:
...
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Zero divisor conjecture and idempotent conjecture
Let $G$ be a torsion-free group and $C$ the ring of complex numbers. The zero divisor (idempotent, resp.) conjecture is that there is no nontrivial zerodivisor (idempotent, resp.) in $CG$.
The wiki ...
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The set of orders of elements in a group
Let $A$ be a subset of natural numbers. Consider the following problem:
Is there a group $G$ such that $\lbrace O(x) \; | \; x \in G \rbrace = A\cup\lbrace 1\rbrace$ ? (where $O(x)$ is the order of $...
user30230
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When taking the fixed points commutes with taking the orbits
Let $G$ and $H$ be groups, both acting on a set $X$ on the left, in such a way that the two actions commute. (Equivalently, let $G \times H$ act on $X$.)
The set $\text{Fix}_H(X)$ of $H$-fixed ...
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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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