Let q be a power of a prime and n a positive integer. Let P(q) be a parabolic subgroup of the finite general linear group GL(n,q). We show that the number of P(q)-conjugacy classes in GL(n,q) is, as a function of q, a polynomial in q with integer coefficients. This answers a question of J. Alperin.
We prove a formula connecting the number of unipotent conjugacy classes in a maximal parabolic subgroup of a finite general linear group with the numbers of unipotent conjugacy classes in various parabolic subgroups in smaller dimensions. We generalise this formula and deduce a number of corollaries; in particular, we express the number of conjugacy classes of unitriangular matrices over a finite field in terms of the numbers of unipotent conjugacy classes in maximal parabolic subgroups over the same field. We show how the numbers of unipotent conjugacy classes in parabolic subgroups of small …
We give a complete classification of conjugacy stable parabolic subgroups of Artin-Tits groups of spherical type. This answers a question posed by Ivan Marin and generalizes a theorem obtained by Juan González-Meneses in the specific case of Artin braid groups.
We extend the notion of induced conjugacy classes in reductive groups, introduced by Lusztig and Spaltenstein for unipotent classes, to arbitrary classes. We study properties of equivariant fibrations of prehomogeneous affine spaces, especially the existence of relative invariants. We also detect prehomogeneous affine spaces as subquotients of canonical parabolic subgroups attached to elements of reductive groups in the sense of Jacobson-Morozov. These results are prerequisites for making the geometric expansion of the Arthur-Selberg trace formula more explicit.
We prove that even Coxeter groups, whose Coxeter diagrams contain no (4,4,2) triangles, are conjugacy separable. In particular, this applies to all right-angled Coxeter groups or word hyperbolic even Coxeter groups. For an arbitrary Coxeter group W, we also study the relationship between Coxeter generating sets that give rise to the same collection of parabolic subgroups. As an application we show that if an automorphism of W preserves the conjugacy class of every sufficiently short element then it is inner. We then derive consequences for the outer automorphism groups of Coxeter groups.
We compute conjugacy classes in maximal parabolic subgroups of the general linear group. This computation proceeds by reducing to a ``matrix problem''. Such problems involve finding normal forms for matrices under a specified set of row and column operations. We solve the relevant matrix problem in small dimensional cases. This gives us all conjugacy classes in maximal parabolic subgroups over a perfect field when one of the two blocks has dimension less than 6. In particular, this includes every maximal parabolic subgroup of GL_n(k) for n < 12 and k a perfect field. If our field is finite of …
Let $q$ be a power of a prime $p$. Let $P$ be a parabolic subgroup of the general linear group $\GL_n(q)$ that is the stabilizer of a flag in $\FF_q^n$ of length at most 5, and let $U = O_p(P)$. In this note we prove that, as a function of $q$, the number $k(U)$ of conjugacy classes of $U$ is a polynomial in $q$ with integer coefficients.
Given an Artin group $A$ and a parabolic subgroup $P$, we study if every two elements of $P$ that are conjugate in $A$, are also conjugate in $P$. We provide an algorithm to solve this decision problem if $A$ satisfies three properties that are conjectured to be true for every Artin group. We partially solve the problem if $A$ has $FC$-type, and we totally solve it if $A$ is isomorphic to a free product of spherical Artin groups. In particular, we show that in this latter case, every element of $A$ is contained in a unique minimal (by inclusion) parabolic subgroup.
In this note, we provide a (super-exponential time) algorithm to solve the generalized conjugacy problem in relatively hyperbolic groups, given solvability of the generalized conjugacy problem in each of the parabolic subgroups.
The asymptotic bound for a length-based attack on the Conjugacy Search Problem in relatively hyperbolic groups is cubic for hyperbolic elements and a "small" polynomial for parabolic elements, depending on the Conjugacy Search Problem for the peripheral subgroups. The bound for relatively hyperbolic groups in this paper is a significant improvement on previous work.
Modelled on efficient algorithms for solving the conjugacy problem in hyperbolic groups, we define and study the permutation conjugacy length function. This function estimates the length of a short conjugator between words $u$ and $v$, up to taking cyclic permutations. This function might be bounded by a constant, even in the case when the standard conjugacy length function is unbounded. We give applications to the complexity of the conjugacy problem, estimating conjugacy growth rates, and languages. Our main result states that for a relatively hyperbolic group, the permutation conjugacy lengt…
By constructing, in the relative case, objects analoguous to Rips and Sela's canonical representatives, we prove that the set of images by morphisms without accidental parabolic, of a finitely presented group in a relatively hyperbolic group, is finite, up to conjugacy.
The conjugacy classes of so-called special involutions parameterize the constituents of the action of a finite Coxeter group on the cohomology of the complement of its complexified hyperplane arrangement. In this note we give a short intrinsic characterisation of special involutions in terms of so-called bulky parabolic subgroups.
We characterize the double centralizer of all parabolic subgroups of the braid groups. We apply this result to provide a new and potentially more efficient solution to the subgroup conjugacy problem for parabolic subgroups. In the course of the proof we also characterize the centralizer for all parabolic subgroups.
We present a normal form for outer automorphisms $ϕ$ of a non-abelian free group $F_N$ which grow quadratically (measured through the maximal growth of conjugacy classes in $F_N$ under iteration of $ϕ$). In analogy to the known normal form for linearly growing automorphisms as efficient Dehn twist, our normal form for $ϕ$ is given in terms of a 2-level Dehn twist on a graph-of-groups $\cal{G}$ with $π_1 {\cal{G}} \cong F_N$, where a conjugacy class of $F_N$ grows at most linearly if and only if it is contained in a vertex group of $\cal{G}$. Our proof is based on earlier work of the second aut…
In a finite Coxeter group $W$ and with two given conjugacy classes of parabolic subgroups $[X]$ and $[Y]$, we count those parabolic subgroups of $W$ in $[Y]$ that are full support, while simultaneously being simple extensions (i.e., extensions by a single reflection) of some standard parabolic subgroup of $W$ in $[X]$. The enumeration is given by a product formula that depends only on the two parabolic types. Our derivation is case-free and combines a geometric interpretation of the "full support" property with a double counting argument involving Crapo's beta invariant. As a corollary, this a…
We investigate Levi subgroups of a connected reductive algebraic group G, over a ground field K. We parametrize their conjugacy classes in terms of sets of simple roots and we prove that two Levi K-subgroups of G are rationally conjugate if and only if they are geometrically conjugate. These results are generalized to arbitrary connected linear algebraic K-groups. In that setting the appropriate analogue of a Levi subgroup is derived from the notion of a pseudo-parabolic subgroup.
In which it is proven that, for each parabolic quasi-Coxeter element in a finite real reflection group, the orbits of the Hurwitz action on its reflection factorizations are distinguished by the two obvious invariants
If $u$ and $v$ are two conjugate elements of a hyperbolic group then the length of a shortest conjugating element for $u$ and $v$ can be bounded by a linear function of the sum of their lengths, as was proved by Lysenok. Bridson and Haefliger showed that in a hyperbolic group the conjugacy problem can be solved in polynomial time. We extend these results to relatively hyperbolic groups. In particular, we show that both the conjugacy problem and the conjugacy search problem can be solved in polynomial time in a relatively hyperbolic group, whenever the corresponding problem can be solved in pol…
We show that the geometric realisation of the poset of proper parabolic subgroups of a large-type Artin group has a systolic geometry. We use this geometry to show that the set of parabolic subgroups of a large-type Artin group is stable under arbitrary intersections and forms a lattice for the inclusion. As an application, we show that parabolic subgroups of large-type Artin groups are stable under taking roots and we completely characterise the parabolic subgroups that are conjugacy stable. We also use this geometric perspective to recover and unify results describing the normalisers of para…
Using generating functions, we enumerate regular semisimple conjugacy classes in the finite classical groups. For the general linear, unitary, and symplectic groups this gives a different approach to known results; for the special orthogonal groups the results are new.
Let $\bfG$ be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over $\F_q$, where $q$ is a power of a prime $p$ that is good for $\bfG$. Let $F$ be the Frobenius morphism associated with the $\FF_q$-structure on $\bfG$ and set $G = \bfG^F$, the fixed point subgroup of $F$. Let $\bfP$ be an $F$-stable parabolic subgroup of $\bfG$ and let $\bfU$ be the unipotent radical of $\bfP$; set $P = \bfP^F$ and $U = \bfU^F$. Let $G_\uni$ be the set of unipotent elements in $G$. In this note we show that the number of conjugacy classes of $U$ in $G_\uni$ is given by a polynomial in $q$ with integer coefficien…
Suppose that a finitely generated group $G$ is hyperbolic relative to a collection of subgroups $\mathbb{P}=\{P_1,\dots,P_m\}$. Let $H_1,H_2$ be subgroups of $G$ such that $H_1$ is relatively quasiconvex with respect to $\mathbb{P}$ and $H_2$ is not parabolic. Suppose that $H_2$ is elementwise conjugate into $H_1$. Then there exists a finite index subgroup of $H_2$ which is conjugate into $H_1$. The minimal length of the conjugator can be estimated. In the case where $G$ is a limit group, it is sufficient to assume only that $H_1$ is a finitely generated and $H_2$ is an arbitrary subgroup of $…
Let $\ell$ be a prime divisor of the order of a finite unitary reflection group. We classify up to conjugacy the parabolic and reflection subgroups that are minimal with respect to inclusion, subject to containing an $\ell$-Sylow subgroup. The classification assists in describing the $\ell$-Sylow subgroups of unitary reflection groups up to group isomorphism. This classification also relates to the modular representation theory of finite groups of Lie type. We observe that unless a parabolic subgroup minimally containing an $\ell$-Sylow subgroup is $G$ itself, the reflection subgroup within th…
A non-elementary Möbius group generated by two-parabolics is determined up to conjugation by one complex parameter and the parameter space has been extensively studied. In this paper, we use the results of \cite{GW} to obtain an additional structure for the parameter space, which we term the {\sl two-parabolic space}. This structure allows us to identify groups that contain additional conjugacy classes of primitive parabolics, which following \cite{Indra} we call {\sl parabolic dust groups}, non-free groups off the real axis, and groups that are both parabolic dust and non-free; some of these …
We show that for any $n$ and $q$, the number of real conjugacy classes in $\mathrm{PGL}(n, \mathbb{F}_q)$ is equal to the number of real conjugacy classes of $\mathrm{GL}(n, \mathbb{F}_q)$ which are contained in $\mathrm{SL}(n, \mathbb{F}_q)$, refining a result of Lehrer, and extending the result of Gill and Singh that this holds when $n$ is odd or $q$ is even. Further, we show that this quantity is equal to the number of real conjugacy classes in $\mathrm{PGU}(n, \mathbb{F}_q)$, and equal to the number of real conjugacy classes of $\mathrm{U}(n, \mathbb{F}_q)$ which are contained in $\mathrm{…
We investigate the conjugacy growth of finitely generated linear groups. We show that finitely generated non-virtually-solvable subgroups of GL_d have uniform exponential conjugacy growth and in fact that the number of distinct polynomials arising as characteristic polynomials of the elements of the ball of radius n for the word metric has exponential growth rate bounded away from 0 in terms of the dimension d only.
We prove that the conjugacy problem in the first Grigorchuck group $Γ$ can be solved in linear time. Furthermore, the problem to decide if a list of elements $w_1,\ldots,w_k\inΓ$ contains a pair of conjugate elements can be solved in linear time. We also show that a conjugator for a pair of conjugate element $u,v\inΓ$ can be found in polynomial time.
In this paper we study twisted conjugacy classes and the $R_{\infty}$-property for classical linear groups. In particular, we prove that the general linear group ${\rm GL}_n(K)$ and the special linear group ${\rm SL}_n(K)$ possess $R_{\infty}$-property, if $n\geq3$ and $K$ is an infinite integral domain with trivial group of automorphisms (Theorem 1), or $K$ is an integral domain, which has a zero characteristic and for which ${\rm Aut}(K)$ is torsion (Theorem 2).
Given a finitely generated relatively hyperbolic group $G$, we construct a finite generating set $X$ of $G$ such that $(G,X)$ has the `falsification by fellow traveler property' provided that the parabolic subgroups $\{H_ω\}_{ω\in Ω}$ have this property with respect to the generating sets $\{X\cap H_ω\}_{ω\in Ω}$. This implies that groups hyperbolic relative to virtually abelian subgroups, which include all limit groups and groups acting freely on $\mathbb{R}^n$-trees, or geometrically finite hyperbolic groups, have generating sets for which the language of geodesics is regular, and the comple…
Let $k$ be an algebraically closed field, $G$ a linear algebraic group over $k$ and $φ\in Aut(G)$, the group of all algebraic group automorphisms of $G$. Two elements $x, y$ of $G$ are said to be $φ$-twisted conjugate if $y=gxφ(g)^{-1}$ for some $g\in G$. In this paper we prove that for a connected non-solvable linear algebraic group $G$ over $k$, the number of its $φ$-twisted conjugacy classes is infinite for every $φ\in Aut(G)$.
Part 1 : We remark that the conjugacy problem for pairs of hyperbolic au- tomorphisms of a finitely presented group (typically a free group) is decidable. The solution that we propose uses the isomorphism problem for the suspensions, and the study of their automorphism group. Part 2 : In a previous work (part 1), we remarked that the conjugacy problem for pairs of atoroidal automorphisms of a free group was solvable by mean of the isomorphism problem for hyperbolic groups and an orbit problem for the automorphism group of their suspensions (i.e. their semidirect product with Z for the relevant…
Guba and Sapir asked if the simultaneous conjugacy problem was solvable in Diagram Groups or, at least, for Thompson's group F. We give a solution to the latter question using elementary techniques which rely purely on the description of F as the group of piecewise linear orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of the unit interval. The techniques we develop extend the ones used by Brin and Squier allowing us to compute roots and centralizers as well. Moreover, these techniques can be generalized to solve the same question in larger groups of piecewise-linear homeomorphisms.
We say that two elements of a group or semigroup are $\Bbbk$-linear conjugates if their images under any linear representation over $\Bbbk$ are conjugate matrices. In this paper we characterize $\Bbbk$-linear conjugacy for finite semigroups (and, in particular, for finite groups) over an arbitrary field $\Bbbk$.
Let G be a finite group. Define a relation ~ on the conjugacy classes of G by setting C ~ D if there are representatives c \in C and d \in D such that cd = dc. In the case where G has a normal subgroup H such that G/H is cyclic, two theorems are proved concerning the distribution, between cosets of H, of pairs of conjugacy classes of G related by ~. One of the proofs involves an interesting application of the famous Marriage Theorem of Philip Hall. The paper concludes by discussing some aspects of these theorems and of the relation ~ in the particular cases of symmetric and general linear grou…
Determining the length of short conjugators in a group can be considered as an effective version of the conjugacy problem. The conjugacy length function provides a measure for these lengths. We study the behaviour of conjugacy length functions under group extensions, introducing the twisted and restricted conjugacy length functions. We apply these results to show that certain abelian-by-cyclic groups have linear conjugacy length function and certain semidirect products $\Z^d \rtimes \Z^k$ have at most exponential (if $k >1$) or linear (if $k=1$) conjugacy length functions.
We extend previous results by Cumplido, Martin and Vaskou on parabolic subgroups of large-type Artin groups to a broader family of two-dimensional Artin groups. In particular, we prove that an arbitrary intersection of parabolic subgroups of a $(2,2)$-free two-dimensional Artin group is itself a parabolic subgroup. An Artin group is $(2,2)$-free if its defining graph does not have two consecutive edges labeled by $2$. As a consequence of this result, we solve the conjugacy stability problem for this family by applying an algorithm introduced by Cumplido. All of this is accomplished by consider…
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…
Given an automorphism $ϕ:Γ\to Γ$, one has an action of $Γ$ on itself by $ϕ$-twisted conjugacy, namely, $g.x=gxϕ(g^{-1})$. The orbits of this action are called $ϕ$-twisted conjugacy classes. One says that $Γ$ has the $R_\infty$-property if there are infinitely many $ϕ$-twisted conjugacy classes for every automorphism $ϕ$ of $Γ$. In this paper we show that SL$(n,\mathbb{Z})$ and its congruence subgroups have the $R_\infty$-property. Further we show that any (countable) abelian extension of $Γ$ has the $R_\infty$-property where $Γ$ is a torsion free non-elementary hyperbolic group, or SL$(n,\math…
In this paper, we set $η(G)$ to be the number of conjugacy classes of maximal cyclic subgroups of $G$. We prove that if $G$ is a $p$-group of order $p^n$ and nilpotence class $l$, then $η(G)$ is bounded below by a linear function in $n/l$.
In 1933 B.~H.~Neumann constructed uncountably many subgroups of ${\rm SL}_2(\mathbb Z)$ which act regularly on the primitive elements of $\mathbb Z^2$. As pointed out by Magnus, their images in the modular group ${\rm PSL}_2(\mathbb Z)\cong C_3*C_2$ are maximal nonparabolic subgroups, that is, maximal with respect to containing no parabolic elements. We strengthen and extend this result by giving a simple construction using planar maps to show that for all integers $p\ge 3$, $q\ge 2$ the triangle group $Γ=Δ(p,q,\infty)\cong C_p*C_q$ has uncountably many conjugacy classes of nonparabolic maxima…
Given a group $G$ and a family of subgroups $\mathcal{F}$, we consider its classifying space $E_{\mathcal F}G$ with respect to $\mathcal{F}$. When $\mathcal F = \mathcal{VC}yc$ is the family of virtually cyclic subgroups, Juan-Pineda and Leary conjectured that a group admits a finite model for this classifying space if and only if it is virtually cyclic. By establishing a connection to conjugacy growth we can show that this conjecture holds for linear groups. We investigate a similar question that was asked by Lück--Reich--Rognes--Varisco for the family of cyclic subgroups. Finally, we constru…
We complete the program begun by Brin and Squier of characterising conjugacy in Thompson's group $F$ using the standard action of $F$ as a group of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the unit interval.
In this note we investigate the conjugacy problem in lamplighter groups with particular interest in the role of their geometry. In particular we show that the conjugacy length function is linear.
Let $K$ be a field and $n\geq 3$. Let $E_n(K)\leq H\leq GL_n(K)$ be an intermediate group and $C$ a noncentral $H$-class. Define $m(C)$ as the minimal positive integer $m$ such that $\exists i_1,\dots,i_m\in\{\pm 1\}$ such that the product $C^{i_1}\dots C^{i_m}$ contains all nontrivial elementary transvections. In this article we obtain a sharp upper bound for $m(C)$. Moreover, we determine $m(C)$ for any noncentral $H$-class $C$ under the assumption that $K$ is algebraically closed or $n=3$ or $n=\infty$.
We study the word and conjugacy problems in lacunary hyperbolic groups (briefly, LHG). In particular, we describe a necessary and sufficient condition for decidability of the word problem in LHG. Then, based on the graded small-cancellation theory of Olshanskii, we develop a general framework which allows us to construct lacunary hyperbolic groups with word and conjugacy problems highly controllable and flexible both in terms of computability and computational complexity. As an application, we show that for any recursively enumerable subset $\mathcal{L} \subseteq \mathcal{A}^*$, where $\mathca…
Let $G$ be a linear algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $k$ and $\mathrm{Aut}_{\mathrm{alg}}(G)$ the group of all algebraic group automorphisms of $G$. For every $φ\in \mathrm{Aut}_{\mathrm{alg}}(G)$ let $\mathcal{R}(φ)$ denote the set of all orbits of the $φ$-twisted conjugacy action of $G$ on itself (given by $(g,x)\mapsto gxφ(g^{-1})$, for all $g,x\in G$). We say that $G$ has the algebraic $R_\infty$-property if $\mathcal{R}(φ)$ is infinite for every $φ\in \mathrm{Aut}_{\mathrm{alg}}(G)$. In \citep{bb} we have shown that this property is satisfied by every connected non-solva…
The conjugacy problem for a finitely generated group $G$ is the two-variable problem of deciding for an arbitrary pair $(u,v)$ of elements of $G$, whether or not $u$ is conjugate to $v$ in $G$. We construct examples of finitely generated, computably presented groups such that for every element $u_0$ of $G$, the problem of deciding if an arbitrary element is conjugate to $u_0$ is decidable in quadratic time but the worst-case complexity of the global conjugacy problem is arbitrary: it can be any c.e. Turing degree , can exactly mirror the Time Hierarchy Theorem, or can be $\mathcal{NP}$-complet…
Let $G$ be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over the finite field $\FF_q$, where $q$ is a power of a good prime for $G$. We write $F$ for the Frobenius morphism of $G$ corresponding to the $\FF_q$-structure, so that $G^F$ is a finite group of Lie type. Let $P$ be an $F$-stable parabolic subgroup of $G$ and $U$ the unipotent radical of $P$. In this paper, we prove that the number of $U^F$-conjugacy classes in $G^F$ is given by a polynomial in $q$, under the assumption that the centre of $G$ is connected. This answers a question of J. Alperin in \cite{alperin}. In order to prove the…