Related papers: A note on invariable generation of nonsolvable per…

Picking permutations at random, the expected number of k-cycles is known to be 1/k and is, in particular, independent of the size of the permuted set. This short note gives similar size-independent statistics of finite general linear…

We say that a loop is unbreakable when it does not have nontrivial subloops. While the cyclic groups of prime order are the only unbreakable finite groups, we show that nonassociative unbreakable loops exist for every order n >= 5. We…

A finite group $G$ is \emph{coprimely-invariably generated} if there exists a set of generators $\{g_1, ..., g_u\}$ of $G$ with the property that the orders $|g_1|, ..., |g_u|$ are pairwise coprime and that for all $x_1, ..., x_u \in G$ the…

Let $G$ be a finite additive abelian group with exponent $n>1$, and let $a_1,\ldots,a_{n-1}\in G$. We show that there is a permutation $\sigma\in S_{n-1}$ such that all the elements $sa_{\sigma(s)}\ (s=1,\ldots,n-1)$ are nonzero if and only…

Let G(q) be the group of permutations of the finite field F_q which is generated by those permutations that can be written as c-->ac^m+bc^n with 0<m<n<q and a,b in F_q with ab nonzero. We show that there are infinitely many q for which G(q)…

The number of subgroups and the number of cyclic subgroups are natural combinatorial invariants of a finite group. We investigate how restrictions on these quantities, together with the number of distinct prime divisors of $|G|$, enforce…

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…

Motivated by a problem from behavioral economics, we study subgroups of permutation groups that have a certain strong symmetry. Given a fixed permutation, consider the set of all permutations with disjoint inversion sets. The group is…

A group $G$ is invariably generated (IG) if there is a subset $S \subseteq G$ such that for every subset $S' \subseteq G$, obtained from $S$ by replacing each element with a conjugate, $S'$ generates $G$. $G$ is finitely invariably…

Let f(x) be a monic polynomial in Z[x] with no rational roots but with roots in Q_p for all p, or equivalently, with roots mod n for all n. It is known that f(x) cannot be irreducible but can be a product of two or more irreducible…

We give upper bounds on the numbers of various classes of polynomials reducible over the integers and over integers modulo a prime and on the number of matrices in SL(n), GL(n) and Sp(2n) with reducible characteristic polynomials, and on…

In a 1937 paper B.H. Neumann constructed an uncountable family of $2$-generated groups. We prove that all of his groups are permutation stable by analyzing the structure of their invariant random subgroups.

Let $K$ be a number field with ring of integers $\mathcal O_K$, and let $\{f_k\}_{k\in \mathbb N}\subseteq \mathcal O_K[x]$ be a sequence of monic polynomials such that for every $n\in \mathbb N$, the composition $f^{(n)}=f_1\circ…

We determine a set of permutation patterns $q$ so that the number of permutations with $r$ occurrences of $q$ is asymptotically $n^r$ times the number of permutations avoiding $q$, partially settling a conjecture of Conway and Guttman. We…

Let $G$ be a finite nilpotent group and $n\in \{3,4, 5\}$. Consider $S_n\times G$ as a subgroup of $S_n\times S_{|G|}\subset S_{n|G|}$, where $G$ embeds into the second factor of $S_n\times S_{|G|}$ via the regular representation. Over any…

Let $H$ be a subgroup of a group $G$. The permutizer $P_G(H)$ is the subgroup generated by all cyclic subgroups of $G$ which permute with $H$. A subgroup $H$ of a group $G$ is strongly permutable in $G$ if $P_U(H)=U$ for every subgroup $U$…

We study the distribution of the Galois group of a random $q$-additive polynomial over a rational function field: For $q$ a power of a prime $p$, let $f=X^{q^n}+a_{n-1}X^{q^{n-1}}+\ldots+a_1X^q+a_0X$ be a random polynomial chosen uniformly…

Given a power $q$ of a prime number $p$ and "nice" polynomials $f_1,...,f_r\in\bbF_q[T,X]$ with $r=1$ if $p=2$, we establish an asymptotic formula for the number of pairs $(a_1,a_2)\in\bbF_q^2$ such that…

A numerical semigroup is a subset of the non-negative integers that is closed under addition. For a randomly generated numerical semigroup, the expected number of minimum generators can be expressed in terms of a doubly-indexed sequence of…

We prove that every polycyclic group of nonlinear growth admits a strongly aperiodic SFT and has an undecidable domino problem. This answers a question of [4] and generalizes the result of [2].