English

Infinite $\frac{3}{2}$-generated groups

Group Theory 2020-06-24 v2

Abstract

Every finite simple group can be generated by two elements, and Guralnick and Kantor proved that, moreover, every nontrivial element is contained in a generating pair. Groups with this property are said to be 32\frac{3}{2}-generated. Thompson's group VV was the first finitely presented infinite simple group to be discovered. The Higman--Thompson groups VnV_n and the Brin--Thompson groups mVmV are two families of finitely presented groups that generalise VV. In this paper, we prove that all of the groups VnV_n, VnV_n' and mVmV are 32\frac{3}{2}-generated. As far as the authors are aware, the only previously known examples of infinite noncyclic 32\frac{3}{2}-generated groups are the pathological Tarski monsters. We conclude with several open questions motivated by our results.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1907.05498,
  title  = {Infinite $\frac{3}{2}$-generated groups},
  author = {Casey Donoven and Scott Harper},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.05498},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

18 pages; to appear in Bull. Lond. Math. Soc

R2 v1 2026-06-23T10:19:06.077Z