Related papers: On the p-width of finite simple groups

We construct words with small image in a given finite alternating or unimodular group. This shows that word width in these groups is unbounded in general.

We study the girth of Cayley graphs of finite classical groups G on random sets of generators. Our main tool is an essentially best possible bound we obtain on the probability that a given word w takes the value 1 when evaluated in G in…

For an element $x$ of a finite group $T$, the $\mathrm{Aut}(T)$-class of $x$ is the set $\{ x^\sigma\mid \sigma\in \mathrm{Aut}(T)\}$. We prove that the order $|T|$ of a finite nonabelian simple group $T$ is bounded above by a function of…

A group is called capable if it is a central factor group. For each prime $p$ and positive integer $c$, we prove the existence of a capable $p$-group of class $c$ minimally generated by an element of order $p$ and an element of order…

We give a short proof for an explicit upper bound on the proportion of permutations of a given prime order $p$, acting on a finite set of given size $n$, which is sharp for certain $n$ and $p$. Namely, we prove that if $n\equiv k\pmod{p}$…

Following partially a suggestion by Pyber, we prove that the diameter of a product of non-abelian finite simple groups is bounded linearly by the maximum diameter of its factors. For completeness, we include the case of abelian factors and…

In this short note we prove that, if $p$ is an odd prime dividing the order of a sporadic simple group, then with the exception of four groups for $p=3$, all sporadic simple groups are generated by an involution and an element of order $p$.

An unrefinable chain of a finite group $G$ is a chain of subgroups $G = G_0 > G_1 > \cdots > G_t = 1$, where each $G_i$ is a maximal subgroup of $G_{i-1}$. The length (respectively, depth) of $G$ is the maximal (respectively, minimal)…

The nonsoluble length $\lambda (G)$ of a finite group $G$ is defined as the number of nonsoluble factors in a shortest normal series each of whose factors either is soluble or is a direct product of nonabelian simple groups. The generalized…

Let G be a finite group. It has recently been proved that every nontrivial element of G is contained in a generating set of minimal size if and only if all proper quotients of G require fewer generators than G. It is natural to ask which…

We give a short proof of the fact that if all characteristic p simple modules of the finite group G have dimension less than p, then G has a normal Sylow p-subgroup.

Many common finite p-groups admit automorphisms of order coprime to p, and when p is odd, it is reasonably difficult to find finite p-groups whose automorphism group is a p-group. Yet the goal of this paper is to prove that the automorphism…

We determine for which known finite simple groups $G$ and which primes $p$ the $p$-fusion system of $G$ is simple. This means first collecting together the results that were already known (and correcting two errors made in an earlier study…

We describe a deterministic algorithm for finding a generating element of the multiplicative group of the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{p^n}$ where $p$ is a prime. In time polynomial in $p$ and $n$, the algorithm either outputs an element that…

Let $G$ be a finite group, $p$ a prime and $P$ a Sylow $p$-subgroup of $G$. In this note we give a cohomological criterion for the $p$-solvability of $G$ depending on the cohomology in degree $1$ with coefficients in $\mathbb F_p$ of both…

Let p be a prime larger than 3 and let G be a finite group. We prove that G is p-solvable of p-length at most 2 if there are at most two distinct character degrees relatively prime to p in the principal p-block of G. This generalizes a…

We obtain lower bounds for the maximum dimension of a simple FG-module, where G is a finite group and F is an algebraically closed field of characteristic p. The bounds are described in terms of properties of p-subgroups of G. When p is 2…

The question on connection between the structure of a finite group $G$ and the properties of the indices of elements of $G$ has been a popular research topic for many years. The $p$-index $|x^G|_p$ of an element $x$ of a group $G$ is the…

In this note we study sets of normal generators of finitely presented residually $p$-finite groups. We show that if an infinite, finitely presented, residually $p$-finite group $G$ is normally generated by $g_1,\dots,g_k$ with order…

The power graph of a group $G$ is the graph whose vertex set is $G$ and two distinct vertices are adjacent if one is a power of the other. This paper investigates the minimal separating sets of power graphs of finite groups. For power…