English

Parabolic Normalizers in Finite Coxeter Groups as Subdirect Products

Group Theory 2026-03-30 v3

Abstract

We revisit the structure of the normalizer NW(P)N_W(P) of a parabolic subgroup PP in a finite Coxeter group WW, originally described by Howlett. Building on Howlett's Lemma, which provides canonical complements for reflection subgroups, and inspired by a recent construction of Serre for involution centralizers, we refine this understanding by interpreting NW(P)N_W(P) as a subdirect product via Goursat's Lemma. Central to our approach is a Galois connection on the lattice of parabolic subgroups, which leads to a new decomposition \begin{align*} N_W(P) \cong (P \times Q) \rtimes ((A \times B) \rtimes C)\text, \end{align*} where each subgroup reflects a structural feature of the ambient Coxeter system. This perspective yields a more symmetric description of NW(P)N_W(P), organized around naturally associated reflection subgroups on mutually orthogonal subspaces of the reflection representation of WW. Our analysis provides new conceptual clarity and includes a case-by-case classification for all irreducible finite Coxeter groups.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.15850,
  title  = {Parabolic Normalizers in Finite Coxeter Groups as Subdirect Products},
  author = {J. Matthew Douglass and Götz Pfeiffer and Gerhard Roehrle},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.15850},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

25 pages, v2 minor changes, v3 final version, small changes; to appear in the Journal of Group Theory

R2 v1 2026-07-01T05:45:36.105Z