Related papers: The Hall--Paige conjecture, and synchronization fo…

Hall and Paige conjectured in 1955 that a finite group $G$ has a complete mapping if and only if its Sylow $2$-subgroups are trivial or noncyclic. This conjecture was proved in 2009 by Wilcox, Evans, and Bray using the classification of…

A complete mapping of a group $G$ is a permutation $\phi:G\rightarrow G$ such that $g\mapsto g\phi(g)$ is also a permutation. Complete mappings of $G$ are equivalent to tranversals of the Cayley table of $G$, considered as a latin square.…

Every synchronising permutation group is primitive and of one of three types: affine, almost simple, or diagonal. We exhibit the first known example of a synchronising diagonal type group. More precisely, we show that…

A complete mapping of a group $G$ is a bijection $\phi\colon G\to G$ such that $x\mapsto x\phi(x)$ is also bijective. Hall and Paige conjectured in 1955 that a finite group $G$ has a complete mapping whenever $\prod_{x\in G} x$ is the…

Let $\Omega$ be a set of cardinality $n$, $G$ a permutation group on $\Omega$, and $f:\Omega\to\Omega$ a map which is not a permutation. We say that $G$ synchronizes $f$ if the semigroup $\langle G,f\rangle$ contains a constant map. The…

Let $\Omega$ be a set of cardinality $n$, $G$ a permutation group on $\Omega$, and $f:\Omega\to\Omega$ a map which is not a permutation. We say that $G$ \emph{synchronizes} $f$ if the transformation semigroup $\langle G,f\rangle$ contains a…

Let $G$ be a finite primitive permutation group on a set $\Omega$ with nontrivial point stabilizer $G_{\alpha}$. We say that $G$ is extremely primitive if $G_{\alpha}$ acts primitively on each of its orbits in $\Omega \setminus \{\alpha\}$.…

We conjecture that if $G$ is a finite primitive group and if $g$ is an element of $G$, then either the element $g$ has a cycle of length equal to its order, or for some $r,m$ and $k$, the group $G\leq S_m\wr S_r$, preserving a product…

Let $G$ be a finite primitive permutation group on a set $\Omega$ with nontrivial point stabilizer $G_{\alpha}$. We say that $G$ is extremely primitive if $G_{\alpha}$ acts primitively on each of its orbits in $\Omega \setminus \{\alpha\}$.…

A group is sofic when every finite subset can be well approximated in a finite symmetric group. No example of a non-sofic group is known. Higman's group, which is a circular amalgamation of four copies of the Baumslag--Solitar group, is a…

According to Li, Nicholson and Zan, a group $G$ is said to be morphic if, for every pair $N_{1}, N_{2}$ of normal subgroups, each of the conditions $G/N_{1} \cong N_{2}$ and $G/N_{2} \cong N_{1}$ implies the other. Finite, homocyclic…

For a finite loop $Q$, let $P (Q)$ be the set of elements that can be represented as a product containing each element of $Q$ precisely once. Motivated by the recent proof of the Hall-Paige conjecture, we prove several universal…

We classify the regular maps $\mathcal M$ which have automorphism groups $G$ acting faithfully and primitively on their vertices. As a permutation group $G$ must be of almost simple or affine type, with dihedral point stabilisers. We show…

This paper concerns the general problem of classifying the finite deterministic automata that admit a synchronizing (or reset) word. (For our purposes it is irrelevant if the automata has initial or final states.) Our departure point is the…

We describe the methods and results of a classification of the non-synchronizing primitive permutation groups of degree up to 624. We make use of theory and computation to determine the primitive groups of degree up to 624 that are…

We say that a finite group $G$ satisfies the independence property if, for every pair of distinct elements $x$ and $y$ of $G$, either $\{x,y\}$ is contained in a minimal generating set for $G$ or one of $x$ and $y$ is a power of the other.…

The synchronisation hierarchy of finite permutation groups consists of classes of groups lying between 2-transitive groups and primitive groups. This includes the class of spreading groups, which are defined in terms of sets and multisets…

Let $\mathcal{D}$ be a non-trivial quasi-symmetric $2$-design with two block intersection numbers $x=0$ and $2\leq y\leq10$, and suppose that $G$ is an automorphism group of $\mathcal{D}$. If $G$ is flag-transitive and point-primitive, then…

A group $G$ is self-similar if it admits a triple $(G,H,f)$ where $H$ is a subgroup of $G$ and $f: H \to G$ a simple homomorphism, that is, the only subgroup $K$ of $H$, normal in $G$ and $f$-invariant ($K^f \leq K$) is trivial. The group…

Let $\mathcal{D} = (\mathcal{P}, \mathcal{B})$ be a $2$-$(v, k, \lambda)$ design, and let $G$ be a half-flag-transitive automorphism group of ${\cal D}$. In this article, we first establish three sufficient conditions for $G$ to be…