English

Probability of generation by random permutations of given cycle type

Group Theory 2022-05-17 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

Suppose π\pi and π\pi' are two random elements of SnS_n with constrained cycle types such that π\pi has xn1/2x n^{1/2} fixed points and yn/2yn/2 two-cycles, and likewise π\pi' has xn1/2x' n^{1/2} fixed points and yn/2y'n/2 two-cycles. We show that the events that G=π,πG = \langle \pi, \pi' \rangle is transitive and GAnG \geq A_n both have probability approximately (1yy)1/2exp(xx+12x2y+12x2y1yy),(1 - yy')^{1/2} \exp\left(- \frac{xx' + \frac12 x^2 y' + \frac12 {x'}^2 y}{1 - yy'}\right), provided (x,x)(x, x') is not close to (0,)(0, \infty) or (,0)(\infty, 0). This formula is derived from some preliminary results in a recent paper (arXiv:1904.12180) of the authors. As an application, we show that two uniformly random elements of uniformly random conjugacy classes of SnS_n generate the group with probability about 51%.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2205.07573,
  title  = {Probability of generation by random permutations of given cycle type},
  author = {Sean Eberhard and Daniele Garzoni},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.07573},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

4 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-24T11:18:21.441Z