Let H be a reductive subgroup of a reductive group G over an algebraically closed field k. We consider the action of H on G^n, the n-fold Cartesian product of G with itself, by simultaneous conjugation. We give a purely algebraic characterization of the closed H-orbits in G^n, generalizing work of Richardson which treats the case H = G.
This characterization turns out to be a natural generalization of Serre's notion of G-complete reducibility. This concept appears to be new, even in characteristic zero. We discuss how to extend some key results on G-complete reducibility in this framework. We also consider some rationality questions.
Let $k$ be a nonperfect separably closed field. Let $G$ be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over $k$. We study rationality problems for Serre's notion of complete reducibility of subgroups of $G$. In particular, we present a new example of subgroup $H$ of $G$ of type $D_4$ in characteristic $2$ such that $H$ is $G$-completely reducible but not $G$-completely reducible over $k$ (or vice versa). This is new: all known such examples are for $G$ of exceptional type. We also find a new counterexample for Külshammer's question on representations of finite groups for $G$ of type $D_4$. A…
Let $G$ be a finite group. This expository article explores the subject of commuting probability in the group $G$ and its relation with simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting tuples in $G$. We also point out the relevance of this topic in context of topology where similar problems are studied when $G$ is a Lie group.
For a finite group $G$, we consider the problem of counting simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples and simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. Let $α_{G,n}$ denote the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples, and $β_{G,n}$ the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. The generating functions $A_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} α_{G,n}t^n,$ and $B_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} β_{G,n}t^n$ are rational functions of $t$. This paper concern studied of normalized functions $A_G(t/|G|)$ and $B_G(t/|G|)$ for finite $p$-groups of rank at most $5…
Let G be a reductive linear algebraic group over an algebraically closed field of characteristic p > 0. A subgroup of G is said to be separable in G if its global and infinitesimal centralizers have the same dimension. We study the interaction between the notion of separability and Serre's concept of G-complete reducibility for subgroups of G. The separability hypothesis appears in many general theorems concerning G-complete reducibility. We demonstrate that many of these results fail without this hypothesis. On the other hand, we prove that if G is a connected reductive group and p is very go…
Let $K$ be a reductive subgroup of a reductive group $G$ over an algebraically closed field $k$. The notion of relative complete reducibility, introduced in previous work of Bate-Martin-Roehrle-Tange, gives a purely algebraic description of the closed $K$-orbits in $G^n$, where $K$ acts by simultaneous conjugation on $n$-tuples of elements from $G$. This extends work of Richardson and is also a natural generalization of Serre's notion of $G$-complete reducibility. In this paper we revisit this idea, giving a characterization of relative $G$-complete reducibility which directly generalizes equi…
Let $G$ be a finite group. We consider the problem of counting simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples and simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. Let $α_{G,n}$ denote the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of $n$-tuples, and $β_{G,n}$ the number of simultaneous conjugacy classes of commuting $n$-tuples in $G$. The generating functions $A_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} α_{G,n}t^n,$ and $B_G(t) = \sum_{n\geq 0} β_{G,n}t^n$ are rational functions of $t$. We show that $A_G(t)$ determines and is completely determined by the class equation of $G$. We show that $α_{G,n}$ gro…
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group of type $E_n (n=6,7,8)$ defined over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $2$. We present examples of triples of closed reductive groups $H<M<G$ such that $H$ is $G$-completely reducible, but not $M$-completely reducible. As an application, we consider a question of Külshammer on representations of finite groups in reductive groups. We also consider a rationality problem for $G$-complete reducibility and a problem concerning conjugacy classes.
Let $G=G(K)$ be a simple algebraic group defined over an algebraically closed field $K$ of characteristic $p>0$. A subgroup $X$ of $G$ is said to be $G$-completely reducible if, whenever it is contained in a parabolic subgroup of $G$, it is contained in a Levi subgroup of that parabolic. A subgroup $X$ of $G$ is said to be $G$-irreducible if $X$ is in no parabolic subgroup of $G$; and $G$-reducible if it is in some parabolic of $G$. In this thesis, we consider the case that $G$ is of exceptional type. When $G$ is of type $G_2$ we find all conjugacy classes of closed, connected, reductive subgr…
Let k be a separably closed field. Let G be a reductive algebraic k-group. In this paper, we study Serre's notion of complete reducibility of subgroups of G over k. In particular, using the recently proved center conjecture of Tits, we show that the centralizer of a k-subgroup H of G is G-completely reducible over k if it is reductive and H is G-completely reducible over k. We also show that a regular reductive k-subgroup of G is G-completely reducible over k. Various open problems concerning complete reducibility are discussed. We present examples where the number of overgroups of irreducible…
Let $G$ be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over an algebraically closed field $k$. The aim of this paper is to present a method to find triples $(G,M,H)$ with the following three properties. Property 1: $G$ is simple and $k$ has characteristic 2. Property 2: $H$ and $M$ are closed reductive subgroups of $G$ such that $H<M<G$, and $(G,M)$ is a reductive pair. Property 3: $H$ is $G$-completely reducible, but not $M$-completely reducible. We exhibit our method by presenting a new example of such a triple in $G=E_7$. Then we consider a rationality problem and a problem concerning con…
A group G is a vGBS group if it admits a decomposition as a finite graph of groups with all edge and vertex groups finitely generated and free abelian. We prove that the multiple conjugacy problem is solvable between two n-tuples A and B of elements of G whenever the elements of A does not generate an elliptic subgroup. When the edge and vertex groups are infinite cyclic, i.e. G is a Generalized Baumslag-Solitar group, we prove that the multiple conjugacy problem is fully solvable.
Let $k$ be a nonperfect separably closed field. Let $G$ be a (possibly non-connected) reductive group defined over $k$. We study rationality problems for Serre's notion of complete reducibility of subgroups of $G$. In our previous work, we constructed examples of subgroups $H$ of $G$ that are $G$-completely reducible but not $G$-completely reducible over $k$ (and vice versa). In this paper, we give a theoretical underpinning of those constructions. To illustrate our result, we present a new such example in a non-connected reductive group of type $D_4$ in characteristic $2$. Then using Geometri…
We study the notion of weak amalgamation in the context of diagonal conjugacy classes. Generalizing results of Kechris and Rosendal, we prove that for every countable structure $M$, Polish group $G$ of permutations of $M$, and $n \geq 1$, $G$ has a comeager $n$-diagonal conjugacy class iff the family of all $n$-tuples of $G$-extendable bijections between finitely generated substructures of $M$, has the joint embedding property and the weak amalgamation property. We characterize limits of weak Fraïssé classes that are not homogenizable. Finally, we investigate $1$- and $2$-diagonal conjugacy cl…
We present a metric condition ${\LARGEτ}'$ which describes the geometry of classical small cancellation groups and applies also to other known classes of groups such as two-dimensional Artin groups. We prove that presentations satisfying condition ${\LARGEτ}'$ are diagrammatically reducible in the sense of Sieradski and Gersten. In particular we deduce that the standard presentation of an Artin group is aspherical if and only if it is diagrammatically reducible. We show that, under some extra hypotheses, ${\LARGEτ}'$-groups have quadratic Dehn functions and solvable conjugacy problem. In the s…
In this paper we determine the precise extent to which the classical sl_2-theory of complex semisimple finite-dimensional Lie algebras due to Jacobson--Morozov and Kostant can be extended to positive characteristic. This builds on work of Pommerening and improves significantly upon previous attempts due to Springer--Steinberg and Carter/Spaltenstein. Our main advance arises by investigating quite fully the extent to which subalgebras of the Lie algebras of semisimple algebraic groups over algebraically closed fields k are G-completely reducible, a notion essentially due to Serre. For example i…
Machine learning and pattern recognition techniques have been successfully applied to algorithmic problems in free groups. In this paper, we seek to extend these techniques to finitely presented non-free groups, with a particular emphasis on polycyclic and metabelian groups that are of interest to non-commutative cryptography. As a prototypical example, we utilize supervised learning methods to construct classifiers that can solve the conjugacy decision problem, i.e., determine whether or not a pair of elements from a specified group are conjugate. The accuracies of classifiers created using d…
We study some geometric properties of actions on nonpositively curved spaces related to complete reducibility and semisimplicity, focusing on representations of a finitely generated group in the group G of rational points of a reductive group over a local field, acting on the associated space (symmetric space or affine building). We prove that the space of completely reducible classes is the maximal Hausdorff quotient space for the conjugacy action of G on the representation space.
This paper concerns the enumeration of simultaneous conjugacy classes of tuples of commuting unitary matrices and of commuting symplectic matrices over a finite field $\mathbf{F}_q$ of odd size. For any given conjugacy class, the orbits for the action of its centralizer group on itself by conjugation are called branches. We determine the branching rules for the unitary groups $U_2(\mathbf{F}_q), U_3(\mathbf{F}_q)$, and for the symplectic groups $Sp_2(\mathbf{F}_q), Sp_4(\mathbf{F}_q)$.
Let $G$ be a topological group and let $μ$ be the Lebesgue measure on the interval $[0,1]$. We let $L_0(G)$ to be the topological group of all $μ$-equivalence classes of $μ$-measurable functions defined on [0,1] with values in $G$, taken with the pointwise multiplication and the topology of convergence in measure. We show that for a Polish group $G$, if $L_0(G)$ has ample generics, then $G$ has ample generics, thus the converse to a result of Kaïchouh and Le Maître. We further study topological similarity classes and conjugacy classes for many groups ${\rm{Aut}}(M)$ and $L_0({\rm{Aut}}(M))$, w…
Let $C_1,\ldots,C_e$ be noncentral conjugacy classes of the algebraic group $G=SL_n(k)$ defined over a sufficiently large field $k$, and let $Ω:=C_1\times \ldots \times C_e$. This paper determines necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a tuple $(x_1,\ldots,x_e)\inΩ$ such that $\langle x_1,\ldots,x_e\rangle$ is Zariski dense in $G$. As a consequence, a new result concerning generic stabilizers in linear representations of algebraic groups is proved, and existing results on random $(r,s)$-generation of finite groups of Lie type are strengthened.
The moduli space for a flat G-bundle over the two-torus is completely determined by its holonomy representation. When G is compact, connected, and simply connected, we show that the moduli space is homeomorphic to a product of two tori mod the action of the Weyl group, or equivalently to the conjugacy classes of commuting pairs of elements in G. Since the component group for a non-simply connected group is given by some finite dimensional subgroup in the centralizer of an n-tuple, we use diagram automorphisms of the extended Dynkin diagram to prove properties of centralizers of pairs of elemen…
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group over the algebraic closure of $GF(p)$ ($p$ prime), and let $G(q)$ denote a corresponding finite group of Lie type over $GF(q)$, where $q$ is a power of $p$. Let $X$ be an irreducible subvariety of $G^r$ for some $r\ge 2$. We prove a zero-one law for the probability that $G(q)$ is generated by a random $r$-tuple in $X(q) = X\cap G(q)^r$: the limit of this probability as $q$ increases (through values of $q$ for which $X$ is stable under the Frobenius morphism defining $G(q)$) is either 1 or 0. Indeed, to ensure that this limit is 1, one only needs $G(q)$ to be…
Let $G$ be a reductive algebraic group---possibly non-connected---over a field $k$ and let $H$ be a subgroup of $G$. If $G= GL_n$ then there is a degeneration process for obtaining from $H$ a completely reducible subgroup $H'$ of $G$; one takes a limit of $H$ along a cocharacter of $G$ in an appropriate sense. We generalise this idea to arbitrary reductive $G$ using the notion of $G$-complete reducibility and results from geometric invariant theory over non-algebraically closed fields due to the authors and Herpel. Our construction produces a $G$-completely reducible subgroup $H'$ of $G$, uniq…
Let $S_\infty$ denote the topological group of permutations of the natural numbers. We study the complexity of the isomorphism relation on classes of closed subgroups $S_\infty$ in the setting of Borel reducibility between equivalence relations on Polish spaces. Given a closed subgroup $G$ of $S_\infty$, the coarse group $\mathcal M(G)$ is the structure with domain the cosets of open subgroups of $G$, and a ternary relation $AB \sqsubseteq C$. If $G$ has only countably many open subgroups, then $\mathcal M(G)$ is a countable structure. Coarse groups form our main tool in studying such closed s…
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $k$ and let $C_1, \ldots, C_t$ be non-central conjugacy classes in $G$. In this paper, we consider the problem of determining whether there exist $g_i \in C_i$ such that $\langle g_1, \ldots, g_t \rangle$ is Zariski dense in $G$. First we establish a general result, which shows that if $Ω$ is an irreducible subvariety of $G^t$, then the set of tuples in $Ω$ generating a dense subgroup of $G$ is either empty or dense in $Ω$. In the special case $Ω= C_1 \times \cdots \times C_t$, by considering the dimensions of fixed point s…
It is known that the notion of a transitive subgroup of a permutation group $G$ extends naturally to subsets of $G$. We consider subsets of the general linear group $\operatorname{GL}(n,q)$ acting transitively on flag-like structures, which are common generalisations of $t$-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$ and bases of $t$-dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_q^n$. We give structural characterisations of transitive subsets of $\operatorname{GL}(n,q)$ using the character theory of $\operatorname{GL}(n,q)$ and interprete such subsets as designs in the conjugacy class association scheme …
