English

Symmetric groups and conjugacy classes

Group Theory 2007-08-03 v1

Abstract

Let S_n be the symmetric group on n-letters. Fix n>5. Given any nontrivial α,βSn\alpha,\beta\in S_n, we prove that the product αSnβSn\alpha^{S_n}\beta^{S_n} of the conjugacy classes αSn\alpha^{S_n} and βSn\beta^{S_n} is never a conjugacy class. Furthermore, if n is not even and nn is not a multiple of three, then αSnβSn\alpha^{S_n}\beta^{S_n} is the union of at least three distinct conjugacy classes. We also describe the elements α,βSn\alpha,\beta\in S_n in the case when αSnβSn\alpha^{S_n}\beta^{S_n} is the union of exactly two distinct conjugacy classes.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0708.0225,
  title  = {Symmetric groups and conjugacy classes},
  author = {Edith Adan-Bante and Helena Verrill},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0708.0225},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

7 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:04:04.389Z