Related papers: A note on the probability of generating alternatin…

Let $g$, $h$ be a random pair of generators of $G=Sym(n)$ or $G=Alt(n)$. We show that, with probability tending to $1$ as $n\to \infty$, (a) the diameter of $G$ with respect to $S = \{g,h,g^{-1},h^{-1}\}$ is at most $O(n^2 (\log n)^c)$, and…

We consider the probability $p(S_n)$ that a pair of random permutations generates either the alternating group $A_n$ or the symmetric group $S_n$. Dixon (1969) proved that $p(S_n)$ approaches $1$ as $n\to\infty$ and conjectured that…

We answer a question raised by Lanier about the possibility of generating $A_n$ and $S_n$ with two elements of order $k$, where $n \geqslant k \geqslant 3$. We show that this can always be done apart from some clear exceptions.

We consider the question of the largest possible combinatorial diameter among $(d-1)$-dimensional simplicial complexes on $n$ vertices, denoted $H_s(n, d)$. Using a probabilistic construction we give a new lower bound on $H_s(n, d)$ that is…

Let B(n) be the set of pairs of permutations from the symmetric group of degree n with a 3-cycle commutator, and let A(n) be the set of those pairs which generate the symmetric or the alternating group of degree n. We find effective…

Amit and Linial showed that a random lift of a graph with minimum degree $\delta\ge3$ is asymptotically almost surely $\delta$-connected, and mentioned the problem of estimating this probability as a function of the degree of the lift. We…

In this paper we investigate the minimum number of maximal subgroups H_i for i=1 ...k of the symmetric group S_n (or the alternating group A_n) such that each element in the group S_n (respectively A_n) lies in some conjugate of one of the…

We show that for any $n\geq 2$, two elements selected uniformly at random from a \emph{symmetrized} Euclidean ball of radius $X$ in $\textrm{SL}_n(\mathbb Z)$ will generate a thin free group with probability tending to $1$ as $X\rightarrow…

By now, we have a product theorem in every finite simple group $G$ of Lie type, with the strength of the bound depending only in the rank of $G$. Such theorems have numerous consequences: bounds on the diameters of Cayley graphs, spectral…

We show that for a finite group $G$, the commuting probability of $G$ can be explicitly bounded from below in a nontrivial way by a function in the maximum fraction of elements inverted resp. squared by an automorphism of $G$. Using these…

This work establishes a new probabilistic bound on the number of elements to generate finite nilpotent groups. Let $\varphi_k(G)$ denote the probability that $k$ random elements generate a finite nilpotent group $G$. For any $0 < \epsilon <…

There has been considerable interest in recent decades in questions of random generation of finite and profinite groups, and finite simple groups in particular. In this paper we study similar notions for finite and profinite associative…

The (strong) Bruhat order for permutations provides a partial ordering defined as follows: two permutations are comparable if one can be obtained from the other by a sequence of adjacent transpositions that each increase the number of…

A subset $A$ of a group $G$ is called product-free if there is no solution to $a=bc$ with $a,b,c$ all in $A$. It is easy to see that the largest product-free subset of the symmetric group $S_n$ is obtained by taking the set of all odd…

With high probability, among $O(\log n)$ independent randomly selected elements from a finite $n$-dimensional classical group, some pair of elements power to a $2$-element generating set for a naturally embedded classical subgroup of…

Let $\gamma(S_n)$ be the minimum number of proper subgroups $H_i$ of the symmetric group $S_n$ such that each element in $S_n$ lies in some conjugate of one of the $H_i.$ In this paper we conjecture that…

In this paper, we prove that the symmetric group $\mathrm{S}_n$ has $2^{n^2/16+o(n^2)}$ subgroups, settling a conjecture of Pyber from 1993. We also derive asymptotically sharp upper and lower bounds on the number of subgroups of…

We study random generation in the symmetric group when cycle type restrictions are imposed. Given $\pi, \pi' \in S_n$, we prove that $\pi$ and a random conjugate of $\pi'$ are likely to generate at least $A_n$ provided only that $\pi$ and…

We show that the wreath product of two finite symmetric or alternating groups is 2-generated.

Let $G$ be the alternating group of degree $n$. Let $\omega(G)$ be the maximal size of a subset $S$ of $G$ such that $\langle x,y \rangle = G$ whenever $x,y \in S$ and $x \neq y$ and let $\sigma(G)$ be the minimal size of a family of proper…