English

Jensen's Functional Equation on Involution-Generated Groups: An ($\mathrm{SR}_2$) Criterion and Applications

Group Theory 2025-11-18 v2

Abstract

We study the Jensen functional equations on a group GG with values in an abelian group HH: \begin{align} \tag{J1}\label{eq:J1} f(xy)+f(xy^{-1})&=2f(x)\qquad(\forall\,x,y\in G),\\ \tag{J2}\label{eq:J2} f(xy)+f(x^{-1}y)&=2f(y)\qquad(\forall\,x,y\in G), \end{align} with the normalization f(e)=0.f(e)=0. Building on techniques for the symmetric groups SnS_n, we isolate a structural criterion on GG -- phrased purely in terms of involutions and square roots -- under which every solution to \eqref{eq:J1} must also satisfy \eqref{eq:J2} and is automatically a group homomorphism. Our new criterion, denoted (SR2)(\mathrm{SR}_2), implies that S1(G,H)=S1,2(G,H)=Hom(G,H)S_1(G,H) = S_{1,2}(G,H) = \mathrm{Hom}(G,H), applies to many reflection-generated groups and, in particular, recovers the full solution on Sn.S_n. Furthermore, we give a transparent description of the solution space in terms of the abelianization G/[G,G],G/[G,G], and we treat dihedral groups DmD_m in detail, separating the cases mm odd and even. The approach is independent of division by 2 in HH and complements the classical complex-valued theory that reduces \eqref{eq:J1} to functions on G/[G,[G,G]].G/[G,[G,G]].

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.02870,
  title  = {Jensen's Functional Equation on Involution-Generated Groups: An ($\mathrm{SR}_2$) Criterion and Applications},
  author = {Dang Vo Phuc},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.02870},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

9 pages. Comments and suggestions are welcome!

R2 v1 2026-07-01T07:21:49.305Z