Related papers: Bounding the degree of generic sharp transitivity
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…
Let $G$ be a transitive permutation group on a finite set of size at least $2$. By a well known theorem of Fein, Kantor and Schacher, $G$ contains a derangement of prime power order. In this paper, we study the finite primitive permutation…
We give a review of one of the lines in development of the theory of groups of finite Morley rank. These groups naturally appear in model theory as model-theoretic analogues of Galois groups, therefore their actions and their role as…
We show that a non-algebraic simple group of finite Morley rank with a definable representation over a field has no involutions, and otherwise resembles a bad group. In particular, the modern form of the Cherlin-Zilber alebaricity…
Ostrom and Wagner (1959) proved that if the automorphism group $G$ of a finite projective plane $\pi$ acts $2$-transitively on the points of $\pi$, then $\pi$ is isomorphic to the Desarguesian projective plane and $G$ is isomorphic to…
We prove a version of the weight part of Serre's conjecture for mod $p$ Galois representations attached to automorphic forms on rank 2 unitary groups which are non-split at $p$. More precisely, let $F/F^+$ denote a CM extension of a totally…
We give examples of countable linear groups in $SL_{n}(R)$ for $n \ge 3$, with no nontrivial normal abelian subgroups, that admit a faithful sharply 2-transitive action on a set. Without the linearity assumption, such groups were recently…
We prove Cherlin's conjecture, concerning binary primitive permutation groups, for those groups with socle isomorphic to $\mathrm{PSL}_2(q)$, ${^2\mathrm{B}_2}(q)$, ${^2\mathrm{G}_2}(q)$ or $\mathrm{PSU}_3(q)$. Our method uses the notion of…
Let $\mathcal{D}$ be a non-trivial $G$-block-transitive $3$-$(v,k,1)$ design, where $T\leq G \leq \mathrm{Aut}(T)$ for some finite non-abelian simple group $T$. It is proved that if $T$ is a simple exceptional group of Lie type, then $T$ is…
Let $G\leqslant\mathrm{Sym}(\Omega)$ be a finite transitive permutation group with point stabiliser $H$. We say that a subgroup $K$ of $G$ is a fixer if every element of $K$ has fixed points, and we say that $K$ is large if $|K| \geqslant…
Here is a simplified proof that every sharply transitive subset of $\mathrm{PGL}_2(K)$ is a coset of a subgroup.
This article proves a version of the Feit-Thompson theorem for simple groups of finite Morley rank: a connected groups of finite Morley rank with a finite Sylow 2-subgroup has a trivial Sylow 2-subgroups.
We consider an experimental design problem for permutations: given a fixed set $X$, and an integer $t$, construct a list $L$ of permutations of $X$ such that every ordered $t$-tuple of distinct elements of $X$ occurs as a consecutive…
We consider faithful actions of simple algebraic groups on self-dual irreducible modules, and on the associated varieties of totally singular subspaces, under the assumption that the dimension of the group is at least as large as the…
Let $A$ be an elementary abelian $r$-group with rank at least $3$ that acts faithfully on the finite $r'$-group $G$. Assume that $G$ is $A$-simple, so that $G = K_{1} \times\cdots\times K_{n}$ where $K_{1},\ldots,K_{n}$ is a collection of…
An affine variety $X$ of dimension $\ge 2$ is called {\em flexible} if its special automorphism group SAut$(X)$ acts transitively on the smooth locus $X_{reg}$ \cite{AKZ}. Recall that the special automorphism group SAut$(X)$ is the subgroup…
We study closed subgroups $G$ of the automorphism group of a locally finite tree $T$ acting doubly transitively on the boundary. We show that if the stabiliser of some end is metabelian, then there is a local field $k$ such that…
Let $G$ be a finite permutation group of degree $n$ and let ${\rm ifix}(G)$ be the involution fixity of $G$, which is the maximum number of fixed points of an involution. In this paper we study the involution fixity of almost simple…
We show that a minimal nonalgebraic simple groups of finite Morley rank has Prufer rank at most 2, and eliminates tameness from Cherlin and Jaligot's past work on minimal simple groups. The argument given here begins with the strongly…
Let $\Gamma$ be a finite connected graph and $G$ a vertex-transitive group of its automorphisms. The pair $(\Gamma, G)$ is said to be locally-$L$ if the permutation group induced by the action of the vertex-stabiliser $G_v$ on the set of…