Related papers: Almost simple groups as flag-transitive automorphi…

The purpose of this paper is to classify all pairs $(\mathcal{D}, G)$, where $\mathcal{D}$ is a non-trivial $2$-$(v, k, 2)$ design, and $G\leq Aut(\mathcal{D})$ acts transitively on the set of blocks of $\mathcal{D}$ and primitively on the…

The automorphism group $\Sigma$ of a compact topological projective plane with a $16$-dimensional point space is a locally compact group. If the dimension of $\Sigma$ is at least $29$, then $\Sigma$ is known to be a Lie group. For the…

In this paper we examine embeddings of alternating groups and symmetric groups into almost simple groups of exceptional type. In particular, we prove that unless the alternating or symmetric group has degree 6 or 7, there is no maximal…

We give an explicit characterization of solvable factors in factorizations of finite classical groups of Lie type. This completes the classification of solvable factors in factorizations of almost simple groups, finishing the program…

The finite sharply $2$-transitive groups were classified by Zassenhaus in the 1930's. They essentially all look like the group of affine linear transformations $x\mapsto ax+b$ for some field (or at least near-field) $K$. However, the…

A digraph is $s$-arc-transitive if its automorphism group is transitive on directed paths with $s$ edges, that is, on $s$-arcs. Although infinite families of finite $s$-arc transitive digraphs of arbitrary valency were constructed by the…

We show that the sporadic simple group $\M(22)$, the exceptional group of Lie type ${}^2\E_6(2)$ and their automorphism groups are uniquely determined by the approximate structure of the centralizer of an element of order 3 together with…

A group $G$ is said to be totally $2$-closed if in each of its faithful permutation representations, say on a set $\Omega$, $G$ is the largest subgroup of $\mathrm{Sym}(\Omega)$ which leaves invariant each of the $G$-orbits for the induced…

Recent classification of $\frac{3}{2}$-transitive permutation groups leaves us with six families of groups which are $2$-transitive, or Frobenius, or one-dimensional affine, or the affine solvable subgroups of $ \mathrm{AGL}(2, q)$, or…

We extend the notion of quasi-transitive orientations of graphs to 2-edge-coloured graphs. By relating quasi-transitive $2$-edge-colourings to an equivalence relation on the edge set of a graph, we classify those graphs that admit a…

We say that a finite almost simple $G$ with socle $S$ is admissible (with respect to the spectrum) if $G$ and $S$ have the same sets of orders of elements. Let $L$ be a finite simple linear or unitary group of dimension at least three over…

In this manuscript, for $q:=2^n$ with $n\geq2$, we study two primitive maximal subgroups of the alternating group ${\sf A}_{q-1}$. These subgroups are the full automorphism groups of $2$-designs which are constructed from algebraic curves…

We characterise the primitive 2-closed groups $G$ of rank at most four that are not the automorphism group of a graph or digraph and show that if the degree is at least 2402 then there are just two infinite families or $G\leqslant…

We work with a finite relational vocabulary with at least one relation symbol with arity at least 2. Fix any integer $m > 1$. For almost all finite structures (labelled or unlabelled) such that at least $m$ elements are moved by some…

More than $30$ years ago, Delandtsheer and Doyen showed that the automorphism group of a block-transitive $2$-design, with blocks of size $k$, could leave invariant a nontrivial point-partition, but only if the number of points was bounded…

Let $G:=G_2(K)$ be a simple algebraic group of type $G_2$ defined over an algebraically closed field $K$ of characteristic $p>0$. Let $\sigma$ denote a standard Frobenius automorphism of $G$ such that $G_\sigma\cong G_2(q)$ with $q\geq 4$.…

A $2-(n,4,\lambda)$ design $(\Omega, \mathcal{B})$ is said to be supersimple if distinct lines intersect in at most two points. From such a design, one can construct a certain subset of Sym$(\Omega)$ called a "Conway groupoid". The…

This paper studies the long-standing open problem of the reduction of Steiner 3-designs admitting a block-transitive automorphism group. We prove that if G acts as a point-primitive, block-transitive automorphism group of a nontrivial…

This paper begins the classification of all edge-primitive 3-arc-transitive graphs by classifying all such graphs where the automorphism group is an almost simple group with socle an alternating or sporadic group, and all such graphs where…

A group G is sharply 2-transitive if it admits a faithful permutation representation that is transitive and free on pairs of distinct points. Conjecturally, for all such groups there exists a near-field N (i.e. a skew field that is…