Related papers: Probabilistic Generation of Finite Almost Simple G…

Let $G$ be a finite simple group. In this paper we consider the existence of small subsets $A$ of $G$ with the property that, if $y \in G$ is chosen uniformly at random, then with high probability $y$ invariably generates $G$ together with…

A generating set for a finite group $G$ is said to be minimal if no proper subset generates $G$, and $m(G)$ denotes the maximal size of a minimal generating set for $G$. We prove a conjecture of Lucchini, Moscatiello and Spiga by showing…

Every finite simple group can be generated by two elements, and in 2000, Guralnick and Kantor resolved a 1962 question of Steinberg by proving that in a finite simple group every nontrivial element belongs to a generating pair. Groups with…

A subset of a group invariably generates the group if it generates even when we replace the elements by any of their conjugates. In a 2016 paper, Pemantle, Peres and Rivin show that the probability that four randomly selected elements…

Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group over the algebraic closure of $GF(p)$ ($p$ prime), and let $G(q)$ denote a corresponding finite group of Lie type over $GF(q)$, where $q$ is a power of $p$. Let $X$ be an irreducible subvariety of $G^r$…

Famously, every finite simple group $G$ can be generated by a pair of elements. Moreover, Liebeck and Shalev (1995) proved that the probability that a pair of elements generate $G$ tends to $1$ as $|G| \to \infty$. More generally, work of…

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…

Let $G$ be a finite almost simple group. It is well known that $G$ can be generated by 3 elements, and in previous work we showed that 6 generators suffice for all maximal subgroups of $G$. In this paper we consider subgroups at the next…

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 <…

We prove that every finite simple group of Lie type $G$ can be generated by three regular unipotent elements. In certain cases we show that two regular unipotents are sufficient to generate $G$.

We first obtain explicit upper bounds for the proportion of elements in a finite classical group G with a given characteristic polynomial. We use this to complete the proof that the proportion of elements of a finite classical group G which…

We study `good elements' in finite $2n$-dimensional classical groups $G$: namely $t$ is a `good element' if $o(t)$ is divisible by a primitive prime divisor of $q^n-1$ for the relevant field order $q$, and $t$ fixes pointwise an $n$-space.…

We investigate some properties of the $p$-elements of a profinite group $G$. We prove that if $p$ is odd and the probability that a randomly chosen element of $G$ is a $p$-element is positive, then $G$ contains an open prosolvable subgroup.…

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…

A group $G$ is said to be $\frac{3}{2}$-generated if every nontrivial element belongs to a generating pair. It is easy to see that if $G$ has this property then every proper quotient of $G$ is cyclic. In this paper we prove that the…

We show that a finitely generated soluble group is virtually nilpotent if and only if the diameter of its finite coset spaces admits a uniform polynomial lower bound in terms of their size. We obtain the same conclusion for certain finitely…

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…

We prove a natural generalization of Szep's conjecture. Given an almost simple group $G$ with socle not isomorphic to an orthogonal group having Witt defect zero, we classify all possible group elements $x,y\in G\setminus\{1\}$ with $G={\bf…

In 2001 Liebeck and Pyber showed that a finite simple group of Lie type is a product of $ 25 $ carefully chosen unipotent Sylow subgroups. Later, in a series of works it was shown that $ 4 $ unipotent Sylow subgroups suffice. We prove that…

We prove that if $G$ is a finite simple group of Lie type and $S$ a subset of $G$ of size at least two then $G$ is a product of at most $c\log|G|/\log|S|$ conjugates of $S$, where $c$ depends only on the Lie rank of $G$. This confirms a…