This paper develops some general results about actions of finite groups on (infinite) abelian groups in the finite Morley rank category. They are linked to a range of problems on groups of finite Morley rank discussed in [16]. Crucially, these results are needed for the forthcoming work by Ayşe Berkman and myself [5] where we remove the `sharpness' assumption from [4]. Also, they yield a proof of the long standing conjecture of linearity of irreducible definable actions of simple algebraic groups on elementary abelian $p$-groups of finite Morley rank [16, Conjecture 12].
We consider groups of finite Morley rank with solvable local subgroups of even and mixed types. We also consider miscellaneous aspects of small groups of finite Morley rank of odd type.
We prove a general dichotomy theorem for groups of finite Morley rank with solvable local subgroups and of Prüfer p-rank at least 2, leading either to some p-strong embedding, or to the Prüfer p-rank being exactly 2.
The paper contains versions of the Strong Embedding Theorem and the Uniqueness Subgroup Theorem for groups of finite Morley rank and odd type which are needed for the study of permutations actions and modules in the finite Morley rank category.
In this work, we give two characterisations of the general linear group as a group $G$ of finite Morley rank acting on an abelian connected group $V$ of finite Morley rank definably, faithfully and irreducibly. To be more precise, we prove that if the pseudoreflection rank of $G$ is equal to the Morley rank of $V$, then $V$ has a vector space structure over an algebraically closed field, $G\cong GL(V)$ and the action is the natural action. The same result holds also under the assumption of Prufer 2-rank of $G$ being equal to the Morley rank of $V$.
We classify a large class of small groups of finite Morley rank: $N_\circ^\circ$-groups which are the infinite analogues of Thompson's $N$-groups. More precisely, we constrain the $2$-structure of groups of finite Morley rank containing a definable, normal, non-soluble, $N_\circ^\circ$-subgroup.
We lay down the fundations of the theory of groups of finite Morley rank in which local subgroups are solvable and we proceed to the local analysis of these groups. We prove the main Uniqueness Theorem, analogous to the Bender method in finite group theory, and derive its corollaries. We also consider homogeneous cases as well as torsion.
We prove that if $G$ is a group of finite Morley rank which acts definably and generically sharply $n$-transitively on a connected abelian group $V$ of Morley rank $n$ with no involutions, then there is an algebraically closed field $F$ of characteristic $\ne 2$ such that $V$ has a structure of a vector space of dimension $n$ over $F$ and $G$ acts on $V$ as the group $\operatorname{GL}_n(F)$ in its natural action on $F^n$. This is the final pre-publication version of the paper: A. Berkman and A. Borovik, Groups of finite Morley rank with a generically sharply multiply transitive action, J. Alg…
We investigate the configuration where a group of finite Morley rank acts definably and generically $m$-transitively on an elementary abelian $p$-group of Morley rank $n$, where $p$ is an odd prime, and $m\geqslant n$. We conclude that $m=n$, and the action is equivalent to the natural action of $\operatorname{GL}_n(F)$ on $F^n$ for some algebraically closed field $F$. This strengthens our earlier result in arXiv:1802.05222, and partially answers two problems posed in [9].
By exploiting the geometry of involutions in $N_\circ^\circ$-groups of finite Morley rank, we show that any simple group of Morley rank $5$ is a bad group all of whose proper definable connected subgroups are nilpotent of rank at most $2$. The main result is then used to catalog the nonsoluble connected groups of Morley rank $5$.
We show that any simple group of Morley rank 4 must be a bad group with no proper definable subgroups of rank larger than 1. We also give an application to groups acting on sets of Morley rank 2.
We examine Weyl groups of minimal connected simple groups of finite Morley rank of degenerate type. We show that they are cyclic, and lift isomorphically to subgroups of the ambient group.
In this paper we study the algebraic structure of $ω$-stable bilinear maps, arbitrary rings and nilpotent groups. We will also provide rather complete structure theorems for the above structures in the finite Morley rank case.
We show that a non-algebraic simple group of finite Morley rank with a definable representation over a field has no involutions, and otherwise resembles a bad group. In particular, the modern form of the Cherlin-Zilber alebaricity conjecture hold for such groups.
We prove that in a connected group of finite Morley rank the centralizers of decent tori are connected. We then apply this result to the analysis of minimal connected simple groups of finite Morley rank. Our applications include general covering properties by Borel subgroups, the description of Weyl groups and the analysis of toral automorphisms.
Here we analyze a proper 2-generated core in a minimal counter example to the Cherlin-Zilber Algebraicity Conjecture for simple groups of finite Morley rank. We ultimately show that such a group is strongly embedded and the ambiant group is minimal connected simple.
We prove several results about groups of finite Morley rank without unipotent p-torsion: p-torsion always occurs inside tori, Sylow p-subgroups are conjugate, and p is not the minimal prime divisor of our approximation to the ``Weyl group.'' These results are quickly finding extensive applications within the classification project.
We prove that if the group of fixed points of a generic automorphism of a simple group of finite Morley rank is pseudofinite, then this group is an extension of a (twisted) Chevalley group over a pseudofinite field. On the way to obtain this result, we classify non-abelian definably simple pseudofinite groups of finite centralizer dimension (using the ideas of John S. Wilson).
We show that a minimal counter example to the Cherlin-Zilber Algebraicity Conjecture for simple groups of finite Morley rank has Prufer 2-rank at most two. This article covers the signalizer functor theory and identifies the groups of Lie rank at least three; leaving the uniqueness case analysis to previous articles. This result signifies the end of the general methods used to handle large groups; hereafter each individual group PSL$_2$, PSL$_3$, PSp$_4$, and G$_2$ will require its own identification theorem.
One of the central tools in the classification of simple algebraic groups is the distinction between semisimple subgroups and unipotent subgroups. It is not a priori clear how to make this distinction for torsion-free subgroups of a group of finite Morley rank. We exploit the ``graded'' notion of 0-unipotence to develop a Sylow theory for torsion-free subgroups of a solvable group of finite Morley rank. This Sylow theory provides a robust alternative to the usual theory of Carter subgroups, and will be used in the analysis of intersections of Borel subgroups in minimal simple groups.
We deal with two forms of the "uniqueness cases" in the classification of large simple $K^*$-groups of finite Morley rank of odd type, where large means the $m_2(G)$ at least three. This substantially extends results known for even larger groups having \Prufer 2-rank at least three, to cover the two groups $\PSp_4$ and $\G_2$. With an eye towards distant developments, we carry out this analysis for $L^*$-groups which is substantially broader than the $K^*$ setting.
We prove a Jordan decomposition theorem for minimal connected simple groups of finite Morley rank with non-trivial Weyl group. From this, we deduce a precise structural description of Borel subgroups of this family of simple groups. Along the way we prove a Tetrachotomy theorem that classifies minimal connected simple groups. Some of the techniques that we develop help us obtain a simpler proof of a theorem of Burdges, Cherlin and Jaligot.
We modify the Frecon-Jaligot construction of Carter subgroups to show that a degenerate type group has a Carter subgroup invariant under the Sylow 2-subgroup of a group of automorphisms; thus reducing the need to know that Carter subgroups are conjugate in degenerate type groups.
We show that a minimal nonalgebraic simple groups of finite Morley rank has Prufer rank at most 2, and eliminates tameness from Cherlin and Jaligot's past work on minimal simple groups. The argument given here begins with the strongly embedded minimal simple configuration of Borovik, Burdges and Nesin. The 0-unipotence machinery of Burdges's thesis is used to analyze configurations involving nonabelian intersections of Borel subgroups. The number theoretic punchline of Cherlin and Jaligot has been replaced with a new genericity argument.
We show that for a wide class of groups of finite Morley rank the presence of a split $BN$-pair of Tits rank $1$ forces the group to be of the form $\operatorname{PSL}_2$ and the $BN$-pair to be standard. Our approach is via the theory of Moufang sets. Specifically, we investigate infinite and so-called hereditarily proper Moufang sets of finite Morley rank in the case where the little projective group has no infinite elementary abelian $2$-subgroups and show that all such Moufang sets are standard (and thus associated to $\operatorname{PSL}_2(F)$ for $F$ an algebraically closed field of chara…
Jaligot's Lemma states that the Fitting subgroups of distinct Borel subgroups do not intersect in a tame minimal simple groups of finite Morley. Such a strong result appears hopeless without tameness. Here we use the 0-unipotence theory to build a toolkit for the analysis of nonabelian intersections of Borel subgroups. As a demonstration, we show that any connected nilpotent subgroup of an intersection of Borel subgroups, in a nontame minimal simple group, must actually be abelian.
The present survey aims at being a list of Conjectures and Problems in an area of model-theoretic algebra wide open for research, not a list of known results. To keep the text compact, it focuses on structures of finite Morley rank, although the same questions can be asked about other classes of objects, for example, groups definable in $ω$-stable and $o$-minimal theories. In many cases, answers are not known even in the classical category of algebraic groups over algebraically closed fields.
There is a longstanding conjecture, due to Gregory Cherlin and Boris Zilber, that all simple groups of finite Morley rank are simple algebraic groups. One of the major theorems in the area is Borovik's trichotomy theorem. The "trichotomy" here is a case division of the minimal counterexamples within odd type, i.e. groups with a divisibble connected component of the Sylow 2-subgroup. We introduce a charateristic zero notion of unipotence which can be used to obtain a connected nilpotent signalizer functor from any sufficiently non-trivial solvable signalizer functor. This result plugs seamlessl…
We show that the only transitive and generically $4$-transitive action of a group of finite Morley rank on a set of Morley rank $2$ is the natural action of $\operatorname{PGL}_3$ on the projective plane.
We show that the geometry associated to certain non-split sharply 2-transitive groups does not contain a proper projective plane. For a sharply 2-transitive group of finite Morley rank we improve known rank inequalities for this geometry and conclude that a sharply 2-transitive group of Morley rank 6 must be of the form $K\rtimes K^*$ for some algebraically closed field $K$.
There is no sad group of Morley rank 2n + 1 with an abelian Borel subgroup of rank n. In particular, Fr{é}con's Theorem follows: There is no bad group of Morely rank 3.
We revisit the geometry of involutions in groups of finite Morley rank. Our approach unifies and generalises numerous results, both old and recent, that have exploited this geometry; though in fact, we prove much more. We also conjecture that this path leads to a new identification theorem for $\operatorname{PGL}_2(\mathbb{K})$.
We study a model theoretic context (finite thorn rank, NIP, with finitely satisfiable generics) which is a common generalization of groups of finite Morley rank and definably compact groups in o-minimal structures. We show that assuming thorn rank 1, the group is abelian-by-finite, and assuming thorn rank 2 the group is solvable by finite. Also a field is algebraically closed.
In 2008, Borovik and Cherlin posed the problem of showing that the degree of generic transitivity of an infinite permutation group of finite Morley rank $(X,G)$ is at most $n+2$ where $n$ is the Morley rank of $X$. Moreover, they conjectured that the bound is only achieved (assuming transitivity) by $\operatorname{PGL}_{n+1}(\mathbb{F})$ acting naturally on projective $n$-space. We solve the problem under the two additional hypotheses that (1) $(X,G)$ is $2$-transitive, and (2) $(X-\{x\},G_x)$ has a definable quotient equivalent to $(\mathbb{P}^{n-1}(\mathbb{F}),\operatorname{PGL}_{n}(\mathbb{…
In this short note we give a formula for the factorization number $F_2(G)$ of a finite rank $3$ abelian $p$-group $G$. This extends a result in our previous work \cite{9}.
We show that a minimal counter example to the Cherlin-Zilber Algebraicity Conjecture for simple groups of finite Morley rank has normal 2-rank at most two, which is a tameness free version of Borovik's original trichotomy theorem. This result serves as a bridge by showing that there are no groups found strictly between the generic and quasithin cases, i.e. between groups of Lie rank at least three, and groups of Lie rank one and two. Again this result depends upon previous work for the uniqueness case analysis.
Let $A$ be a finite rank torsion--free abelian group. Then there exist direct decompositions $A=B\oplus C$ where $B$ is completely decomposable and $C$ has no rank 1 direct summand. In such a decomposition $B$ is unique up to isomorphism and $C$ unique up to near-isomorphism.
In this paper we prove that any strongly embedded subgroup of a K*-group G of finite Morley rank and odd type that does not interpret any bad field is solvable if its Pruefer 2-rank is at least 2. If the normal 2-rank of G is at least 3 this has two important consequences: If G contains a non-solvable centraliser of an involution, then G does not contain any proper 2-generated core and centralisers of involutions have trivial cores.
T. De Medts, Y. Segev and K. Tent [Special Moufang sets, their root groups and their μ-maps, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 96 (2008), 767-791] proved that the little projective group of a special Moufang set M(U,τ) is perfect provided that U has size at least 4. We give a short, elementary and self-contained argument when U is abelian, working with Timmesfeld's concept of special (abstract) rank one groups with abelian unipotent subgroups [Abstract root subgroups and simple groups of Lie type, Monographs in Mathematics, 95. Birkhäuser, 2001]. This simplifies Timmesfeld's (quasi) simplicity criter…
Let p be a prime and G be a torsion-free abelian group. A homomorphism from G to the p-adic integers is called a p-adic functional on G. If G has finite rank, then G can be represented as an inductive limit of an inductive sequence of free abelian groups of the same rank, and the group of all p-adic functionals on G is described in terms of this inductive sequence. If this inductive sequence is stationary--i.e., if the homomorphism is the same at every stage--then the group of p-adic functionals is described in particularly simple terms, as a right-submodule that is invariant under the module …
For an Abelian group $G$, any homomorphism $μ\colon G\otimes G\rightarrow G$ is called a \textsf{multiplication} on $G$. The set $\text{Mult}\,G$ of all multiplications on an Abelian group $G$ itself is an Abelian group with respect to addition; the group is called the \textsf{multiplication group} of $G$. Let $\mathcal{A}_0$ be the class of all reduced block-rigid almost completely decomposable groups of ring type with cyclic regulator quotient. In this paper, for groups $G\in \mathcal{A}_0$, we describe groups $\text{Mult}\,G$. We prove that for $G\in \mathcal{A}_0$, the group $\text{Mult}\,…
