Related papers: Chowla's cosine problem

We show that if G is a finite group and A is a subset of G with no non-trivial solutions to xz=yy then |A| < |G|/(log log |G|)^c.

We consider two decision problems in infinite groups. The first problem is Subgroup Intersection: given two finitely generated subgroups $\langle \mathcal{G} \rangle, \langle \mathcal{H} \rangle$ of a group $G$, decide whether the…

Let $A\subset \mathbf{N}$ be a finite set of $n=|A|$ positive integers, and consider the cosine sum $f_A(x)=\sum_{a\in A}\cos ax$. We prove that $$\min_x f_A(x)\leqslant -n^{ 1/7-o(1)},$$ thereby establishing polynomial bounds for the…

Chowla's cosine problem concerns the largest minimum of an expression of the form $\cos a_1\theta + ... + \cos a_n\theta$ where the $a_i$ are distinct positive integers. We compute this largest minimum when $n$ is 2 or 3.

Let $G$ be a finite group and $H$ a core-free subgroup of $G$. We will show that if there exists a solvable, generating transversal of $H$ in $G$, then $G$ is a solvable group. Further, if $S$ is a generating transversal of $H$ in $G$ and…

An $integral$ of a group $G$ is a group $H$ whose derived group (commutator subgroup) is isomorphic to $G$. This paper discusses integrals of groups, and in particular questions about which groups have integrals and how big or small those…

We say that a subgroup $H$ is isolated in a group $G$ if for every $x\in G$ we have either $x\in H$ or $\langle x\rangle\cap H=1$. In this short note, we describe the set of isolated subgroups of a finite abelian group. The technique used…

Let $G$ be a finite group and $\alpha(G)=\frac{|C(G)|}{|G|}$\,, where $C(G)$ denotes the set of cyclic subgroups of $G$. In this short note, we prove that $\alpha(G)\leq\alpha(Z(G))$ and we describe the groups $G$ for which the equality…

A group $G$ is said to have restricted centralizers if for each $g \in G$ the centralizer $C_G(g)$ either is finite or has finite index in $G$. Shalev showed that a profinite group with restricted centralizers is virtually abelian. We take…

Let $H$ be a nonabelian finite simple group. Huppert's conjecture asserts that if $G$ is a finite group with the same set of complex character degrees as $H$, then $G\cong H\times A$ for some abelian group $A$. Over the past two decades,…

Let G be a group acting geometrically on a CAT(0) cube complex X. We prove first that G is hyperbolic relative to the collection P of subgroups if and only if the simplicial boundary of X is the disjoint union of a nonempty discrete set,…

Let v and w be nontrivial words in two free groups. We prove that, for all sufficiently large finite non-abelian simple groups G, there exist subsets C of v(G) and D of w(G) of size such that every element of G can be realized in at least…

For a finite group $G$, we associate the quantity $\beta(G)=\frac{|L(G)|}{|G|}$, where $L(G)$ is the subgroup lattice of $G$. Different properties and problems related to this ratio are studied throughout the paper. We determine the second…

Given a group $G$ and a subgroup $H$, we let $\mathcal{O}_G(H)$ denote the lattice of subgroups of $G$ containing $H$. This paper provides a classification of the subgroups $H$ of $G$ such that $\mathcal{O}_{G}(H)$ is Boolean of rank at…

Let G be a finite abelian group. For g in G and i an integer we define N(i,g) to be the number of subsets of G of size i which sum up to g. We will give a short proof, using character theory, of a formula for these N(i,g) due to Li and Wan.…

In this note we describe the finite groups $G$ having $|G|-2$ cyclic subgroups. This partially solves the open problem in the end of \cite{3}.

A group $G$ is said to have restricted centralizers if for every $x\in G$ the centralizer $C_G(x)$ either is finite or has finite index in $G$. Shalev showed that a profinite group with restricted centralizers is virtually abelian. Here we…

Let G be a finite group and cd(G) denote the set of complex irreducible character degrees of G. In this paper, we prove that if G is a finite group and H is an almost simple group whose socle is a sporadic simple group H0 such that cd(G) =…

Let $G$ be an additive abelian group. Let $A=\{a_{0}, a_{1},\ldots, a_{k-1}\}$ be a nonempty finite subset of $G$. For a positive integer $h$ satisfying $1\leq h\leq k$, we let \[h\hat{}_{\underline{+}}A:=\{\Sigma_{i=0}^{k-1}\lambda_{i}…

Following Isaacs (see [Isa08, p. 94]), we call a normal subgroup N of a finite group G large, if $C_G(N) \leq N$, so that N has bounded index in G. Our principal aim here is to establish some general results for systematically producing…