English

Permutations fixing a k-set

Combinatorics 2019-10-22 v4 Group Theory

Abstract

Let i(n,k)i(n,k) be the proportion of permutations πSn\pi\in\mathcal{S}_n having an invariant set of size kk. In this note we adapt arguments of the second author to prove that i(n,k)kδ(1+logk)3/2i(n,k) \asymp k^{-\delta} (1+\log k)^{-3/2} uniformly for 1kn/21\leq k\leq n/2, where δ=11+loglog2log2\delta = 1 - \frac{1 + \log \log 2}{\log 2}. As an application we show that the proportion of πSn\pi\in\mathcal{S}_n contained in a transitive subgroup not containing An\mathcal{A}_n is at least nδ+o(1)n^{-\delta+o(1)} if nn is even.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1507.04465,
  title  = {Permutations fixing a k-set},
  author = {Sean Eberhard and Kevin Ford and Ben Green},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1507.04465},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

17 pages. This is the final version accepted for publication incorporating the referees' suggestions. This version will differ from the published version

R2 v1 2026-06-22T10:12:52.495Z