We study finite transitive permutation groups $G\leqslant\operatorname{Sym}(Ω)$ such that all orbits of the conjugation action on $G$ of the normaliser of $G$ in $\operatorname{Sym}(Ω)$ have size bounded by some constant. Our results extend recent results, due to the first author, on finite abstract groups $G$ such that all orbits of the natural action of the automorphism group $\operatorname{Aut}(G)$ on $G$ have size bounded by some constant.
The computation of the normaliser of a permutation group in the full symmetric group is an important and hard problem in computational group theory. This article reports on an algorithm that builds a descending chain of overgroups to determine the normaliser. A detailed performance test in magma shows the improvement for large examples of intransitive and imprimitive groups.
We show that given generators for subgroups $G$ and $H$ of $\mathrm{S}_n$, if $G$ is primitive then generators for $\mathrm{N}_H(G)$ may be computed in quasipolynomial time, namely $2^{O(\log^3 n)}$. The previous best known bound was simply exponential.
We improve the upper bounds (in terms of $n$) in [9] and [13] on the minimal number of elements required to generate a minimally transitive permutation group of degree $n$.
A linear group G on a finite vector space V, (that is, a subgroup of GL(V)) is called (1/2)-transitive if all the G-orbits on the set of nonzero vectors have the same size. We complete the classification of all the (1/2)-transitive linear groups. As a consequence we complete the determination of the finite (3/2)-transitive permutation groups -- the transitive groups for which a point-stabilizer has all its nontrivial orbits of the same size. We also determine the finite (k+1/2)-transitive permutation groups for integers k > 1.
We investigate properties of finite transitive permutation groups $(G, Ω)$ in which all proper subgroups of $G$ act intransitively on $Ω.$ In particular, we are interested in reduction theorems for minimally transitive representations of solvable groups.
A Cayley Graph for a group $G$ is called normal edge-transitive if it admits an edge-transitive action of some subgroup of the Holomorph of $G$ (the normaliser of a regular copy of $G$ in $\operatorname{Sym}(G)$). We complete the classification of normal edge-transitive Cayley graphs of order a product of two primes by dealing with Cayley graphs for Frobenius groups of such orders. We determine the automorphism groups of these graphs, proving in particular that there is a unique vertex-primitive example, namely the flag graph of the Fano plane.
It is proved in [21] that there is a constant $c$ such that each transitive permutation group of degree $d\ge 2$ can be generated by $\lfloor cd/\sqrt{\log{d}}\rfloor$ elements. In this paper, we explicitly estimate $c$.
In this paper, we classify finite quasiprimitive permutation groups with a metacyclic transitive subgroup, solving a problem initiated by Wielandt in 1949. It also involves the classification of factorizations of almost simple groups with a metacyclic factor.
We determine the semi-regular subgroups of the 2-transitive permutation groups PGL(2,n), PSL(2,n), PGU(3,n), PSU(3,n), Sz(n) and Ree(n) with n a suitable power of a prime number p.
Let $G$ be a finite permutation group on a finite set $Ω$. The notion of $G$ being quasi-transitive on $Ω$ was defined by Alan Camina \cite{Camina}; in that paper conditions were established that ensured a quasi-transitive group on a finite set $Ω$ was transitive on $Ω$. The aim of this paper is to validate the conjecture made in \cite{Camina}: given any group $G$, if $G$ is quasi-transitive on a finite set $Ω$ then $G$ is transitive on $Ω$.
We prove an upper bound for the number of cyclic transitive subgroups in a finite permutation group and clarify the structure of the groups for which this bound becomes sharp. We also give an application in the theory of number fields.
Our aim is to describe the theory of Cartesian decompositions preserved by some member of a large family of finite transitive permutation groups called innatelytransitive groups.
We study Cartesian decompositions of sets that are acted upon intransitively by innately transitive permutation groups. We prove that such groups have at most three orbits on such a decomposition. A consequence of this result is that if $G$ is an innately transitive subgroup of a wreath product in product action then the natural projection of $G$ into the top group has at most 2 orbits.
The purpose of this paper is to prove that if $G$ is a transitive permutation group of degree $n\geq 2$, then $G$ can be generated by $\lfloor cn/\sqrt{\log{n}}\rfloor$ elements, where $c:=\sqrt{3}/2$. Owing to the transitive group $D_8\circ D_8$ of degree $8$, this upper bound is best possible. Our new result improves a 2018 paper by the author, and makes use of the recent classification of transitive groups of degree $48$.
In this paper we analyze the structure of transitive permutation groups that have trivial four point stabilizers, but some nontrivial three point stabilizer. In particular we give a complete, detailed classification when the group is simple or quasisimple. This paper is motivated by questions concerning the relationship between fixed points of automorphisms of Riemann surfaces and Weierstrass points and is a continuation of the authors' earlier work.
A permutation group is innately transitive if it has a transitive minimal normal subgroup, and this subgroup is called a plinth. In this paper we study three special types of inclusions of innately transitive permutation groups in wreath products in product action. This is achieved by studying the natural Cartesian decomposition of the underlying set that correspond to the product action of a wreath product. Previously we identified six classes of Cartesian decompositions that can be acted upon transitively by an innately transitive group with a non-abelian plinth. The inclusions studied in th…
The first main result of this paper is that a finite transitive nonabelian characteristically simple subgroup of a wreath product in product action must lie in the base group of the wreath product. This allows us to characterize nonabelian transitive characteristically simple subgroups $H$ of finite quasiprimitive permutation groups $G$. If the socle of $G$, denoted by $\mbox{soc}(G)$, is nonabelian, then $H$ lies in $\mbox{soc}(G)$. An explicit description is given for the possibilities of $H$ under the condition that $H$ does not contain a nontrivial normal subgroup of $\mbox{soc}(G)$.
We use Müller and Nagy's method of contradicting subsets to give a new proof for the non-existence of sharply $2$-transitive subsets of the symplectic groups $\mathrm{Sp}(2d,2)$ in their doubly-transitive actions of degrees $2^{2d-1}\pm 2^{d-1}$. The original proof by Grundhöfer and Müller was rather complicated and used some results from modular representation theory, whereas our new proof requires only simple counting arguments.
A transitive permutation group of prime degree is doubly transitive or solvable. We give a direct proof of this theorem by Burnside which uses neither S-ring type arguments, nor representation theory.
In this short note we present a simple combinatorial trick which can be effectively applied to show the non--existence of sharply transitive sets of permutations in certain finite permutation groups.
Backtrack search is a fundamental technique for computing with finite permutation groups, which has been formulated in terms of points, ordered partitions, and graphs. We provide a framework for discussing the most common forms of backtrack search in a generic way. We introduce the concept of perfect refiners to better understand and compare the pruning power available in these different settings. We also present a new formulation of backtrack search, which allows the use of graphs with additional vertices, and which is implemented in the software package Vole. For each setting, we classify th…
Given two positive integers n and c, we determine an upper bound, as a function of n and c, for the maximum order of a finite nilpotent transitive group of degree n and nilpotency class at most c.
A permutation group is innately transitive if it has a transitive minimal normal subgroup, which is referred to as a plinth. We study the class of finite, innately transitive permutation groups that can be embedded into wreath products in product action. This investigation is carried out by observing that such a wreath product preserves a natural Cartesian decomposition of the underlying set. Previously we classified the possible embeddings in the case where the plinth is simple. Here we extend that classification and identify several different types of Cartesian decompositions that can be pre…
We refer to $d(G)$ as the minimal cardinality of a generating set of a finite group $G$, and say that $G$ is $d$-generated if $d(G)\leq d$. A transitive permutation group $G$ is called $\frac{3}{2}$-transitive if a point stabilizer $G_α$ is nontrivial and its orbits distinct from $\{α\}$ are of the same size. We prove that $d(G)\leq4$ for every primitive $\frac{3}{2}$-transitive permutation group $G$, moreover, $G$ is $2$-generated except for the very particular solvable affine groups that we completely describe. In particular, all finite $2$-transitive and $2$-homogeneous groups are $2$-gener…
In the first paper in this series we estimated the probability that a random permutation $π\in\mathcal{S}_n$ has a fixed set of a given size. In this paper, we elaborate on the same method to estimate the probability that $π$ has $m$ disjoint fixed sets of prescribed sizes $k_1,\dots,k_m$, where $k_1+\cdots+k_m=n$. We deduce an estimate for the proportion of permutations contained in a transitive subgroup other than $\mathcal{S}_n$ or $\mathcal{A}_n$. This theorem consists of two parts: an estimate for the proportion of permutations contained in an imprimitive transitive subgroup, and an estim…
Let $(Ω, \leq)$ be a totally ordered set. We prove that if $\Aut(Ω,\leq)$ is transitive and satisfies the same first-order sentences as $\Aut(\RR,\leq)$ (in the language of lattice-ordered groups) then $Ω$ and $\RR$ are isomorphic ordered sets. This improvement of a theorem of Gurevich and Holland is obtained as one of many consequences of a study of centralizers and coloured chains associated with certain transitive subgroups of $\Aut(Ω,\leq)$.
The minimal degree of a permutation group $G$ is defined as the minimal number of non-fixed points of a non-trivial element of $G$. In this paper we show that if $G$ is a transitive permutation group of degree $n$ having no non-trivial normal $2$-subgroups such that the stabiliser of a point is a $2$-group, then the minimal degree of $G$ is at least $\frac{2}{3}n$. The proof depends on the classification of finite simple groups.
We design an algorithm to find certain partial permutation representations of a finitely presented group $G$ (the bricks) that may be combined to a transitive permutation representation of $G$ (the mosaic) on the disjoint union.
We study $(G,2)$-arc-transitive graphs for innately transitive permutation groups $G$ such that $G$ can be embedded into a wreath product $\symΓ\wr\sy\ell$ acting in product action on $Γ^\ell$. We find two such connected graphs: the first is Sylvester's double six graph with 36 vertices, while the second is a graph with $120^2$ vertices whose automorphism group is $\aut\sp 44$. We prove that under certain conditions no more such graphs exist.
We give examples of countable linear groups in $SL_{n}(R)$ for $n \ge 3$, with no nontrivial normal abelian subgroups, that admit a faithful sharply 2-transitive action on a set. Without the linearity assumption, such groups were recently constructed by Rips, Segev, and Tent. Our examples are of permutational characteristic $2$, in the sense that involutions do not fix a point in the $2$-transitive action.
We show that, there exists a constant $a$ such that, for every subgroup $H$ of a finite group $G$, the number of maximal subgroups of $G$ containing $H$ is bounded above by $a|G:H|^{3/2}$. In particular, a transitive permutation group of degree $n$ has at most $an^{3/2}$ maximal systems of imprimitivity. When $G$ is soluble, generalizing a classic result of Tim Wall, we prove a much stroger bound, that is, the number of maximal subgroups of $G$ containing $H$ is at most $|G:H|-1$.
We explicitly determine all of the transitive groups of degree p-squared, p a prime, whose Sylow p-subgroup is not the wreath product of two cyclic groups of order p. Furthermore, we provide a general description of the transitive groups of degree p-squared whose Sylow p-subgroup is such a wreath product, and explicitly determine most of them. As applications, we solve the Cayley Isomorphism problem for Cayley objects of an abelian group of order p-squared, explicitly determine the full automorphism group of Cayley graphs of abelian groups of order p-squared, and find all nonnormal Cayley grap…
A classification is given of rank 3 group actions which are quasiprimitive but not primitive. There are two infinite families and a finite number of individual imprimitive examples. When combined with earlier work of Bannai, Kantor, Liebler, Liebeck and Saxl, this yields a classification of all quasiprimitive rank 3 permutation groups. Our classification is achieved by first classifying imprimitive almost simple permutation groups which induce a 2-transitive action on a block system and for which a block stabiliser acts 2-transitively on the block. We also determine those imprimitive rank 3 pe…
A permutation group acting transitively on certain collections of models
E. T. S. I. I. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid（马德里理工大学）；Einstein Institute of Mathematics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem（耶路撒冷希伯来大学爱因斯坦数学研究所）；Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University（罗格斯大学数学系）
基于 σ-centered 的 Martin 公理，构造可数无限集对称群的真正稠密子群，使其传递作用于足够灵活的关系结构，从而一致性地肯定 Neumann 的相关问题。
A permutation group is called semiprimitive if each of its normal subgroups is either transitive or semiregular. Given nontrivial finite transitive permutation groups $L_1$ and $L_2$ with $L_1$ not semiprimitive, we construct an infinite family of rank two amalgams of permutation type $[L_1,L_2]$ and Borel subgroups of strictly increasing order. As an application, we show that there is no bound on the order of edge-stabilisers in locally $[L_1,L_2]$ graphs. We also consider the corresponding question for amalgams of rank $k\geq 3$. We completely resolve this by showing that the order of the Bo…
The relative fixity of a permutation group is the maximum proportion of the points fixed by a non-trivial element of the group and the relative fixity of a graph is the relative fixity of its automorphism group, viewed as a permutation group on the vertex-set of the graph. We prove in this paper that the relative fixity of connected $2$-arc-transitive graphs of a fixed valence tends to $0$ as the number of vertices grows to infinity. We prove the same result for the class of arc-transitive graphs of a fixed prime valence, and more generally, for any class of arc-transitive locally-$L$ graphs, …
In this article we look into characterizing primitive groups in the following way. Given a primitive group we single out a subset of its generators such that these generators alone (the so-called primitive generators) imply the group is primitive. The remaining generators ensure transitivity or comply with specific features of the group. We show that, other than the symmetric and alternating groups, there are infinitely many primitive groups with one primitive generator each. These primitive groups are certain Mathieu groups, certain projective general and projective special linear groups, and…
Let $Ω=\{1,2,...,n\}$ where $n \ge 2$. The {\em shape} of an ordered set partition $P=(P_1,..., P_k)$ of $Ω$ is the integer partition $λ=(λ_1,...,λ_k)$ defined by $λ_i = |P_i|$. Let G be a group of permutations acting on $Ω$. For a fixed partition $λ$ of n, we say that G is {\em $λ$-transitive} if G has only one orbit when acting on partitions P of shape $\la$. A corresponding definition can also be given when G is just a set. For example, if $λ=(n-t,1,...,1)$, then a $λ$-transitive group is the same as a t-transitive permutation group and if $λ=(n-t,t)$, then we recover the t-homogeneous perm…
Let G be a transitive group of permutations of a finite set X, and suppose that some element of G has at most two orbits on X. We prove that any two maximal chains of groups between G and a point-stabilizer of G have the same length, and the same sequence of relative indices between consecutive groups (up to permutation). We also deduce the same conclusion when G has a transitive quasi-Hamiltonian subgroup.
While every group is isomorphic to a transitive group of permutations, the analogous property fails for inverse semigroups: not all inverse semigroups are isomorphic to transitive inverse semigroups of one-to-one partial transformations of a set. We describe those inverse semigroups that are.
Let $p$ be a prime and let $L$ be either the intransitive permutation group $C_p\times C_p$ of degree $2p$ or the transitive permutation group $C_p \wr C_2$ of degree $2p$. Let $Γ$ be a connected $G$-vertex-transitive and $G$-edge-transitive graph and let $v$ be a vertex of $Γ$. We show that if the permutation group induced by the vertex-stabiliser $G_v$ on the neighbourhood $Γ(v)$ is isomorphic to $L$ then either $|V(Γ)|\geq p|G_v|\log_p\left(|G_v|/2\right)$, or $|V(Γ)|$ is bounded by a constant depending only on $p$, or $Γ$ is a very-well understood graph. This generalises a few recent resul…
A finite transitive permutation group is said to be 3/2-transitive if all the nontrivial orbits of a point stabilizer have the same size greater than 1. Examples include the 2-transitive groups, Frobenius groups and several other less obvious ones. We prove that 3/2-transitive groups are either affine or almost simple, and classify the latter. One of the main steps in the proof is an arithmetic result on the subdegrees of groups of Lie type in characteristic $p$: with some explicitly listed exceptions, every primitive action of such a group is either 2-transitive, or has a subdegree divisible …
