English

Conjugacy class sizes in arithmetic progression

Group Theory 2020-06-09 v4

Abstract

Let cs(G){\rm cs}(G) denote the set of conjugacy class sizes of a group GG, and let cs(G)=cs(G){1}{\rm cs}^*(G)={\rm cs}(G)\setminus\{1\} be the sizes of non-central classes. We prove three results. We classify all finite groups GG with cs(G)={a,a+d,,a+rd}{\rm cs}(G)=\{a, a+d, \dots ,a+rd\} an arithmetic progression with r2r\geqslant 2. (We show that cs(G)={1,2,3}{\rm cs}(G)=\{1,2,3\}.) Our most substantial result classifies all GG with cs(G)={2,4,6}{\rm cs}^*(G)=\{2,4,6\}. Finally, we classify all groups GG whose largest two non-central conjugacy class sizes are coprime. (Here it is not obvious but it is true that cs(G){\rm cs}^*(G) has two elements, and so is an arithmetic progression.)

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2003.03906,
  title  = {Conjugacy class sizes in arithmetic progression},
  author = {Mariagrazia Bianchi and Cheryl E. Praeger and S. P. Glasby},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.03906},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

13 pages; v4 correct typo: C_B(A) changed to C_A(B) on p3. Also last paragraph of Introduction modified slightly

R2 v1 2026-06-23T14:08:13.913Z