Related papers: A character theoretic formula for base size II
Let $G \leq \mathrm{GL}(V)$ be a group with a unique subnormal quasisimple subgroup $E(G)$ that acts absolutely irreducibly on $V$. A base for $G$ acting on $V$ is a set of vectors with trivial pointwise stabiliser in $G$. In this paper we…
Let $G$ be a transitive permutation group acting on $\Omega$. In this paper, we introduce and study the parameter ${\bf m}(G)$, which denotes the size of the smallest set of points $A$ such that, for every permutation $g\in G$, $A \cap A^g$…
For a subgroup $L$ of the symmetric group $S_\ell$, we determine the minimal base size of $GL_d(q)\wr L$ acting on $V_d(q)^\ell$ as an imprimitive linear group. This is achieved by computing the number of orbits of $GL_d(q)$ on spanning…
Given a finite group $R$, we investigate the base size of the action of the automorphism group of $R$ on the lattice of subgroups of $R$. Our main result shows that this base size is $1$ if and only if $R$ is cyclic. Our motivation arises…
Given a transitive permutation group G of degree n , we seek to determine whether or not G is primitive, and to find a system of blocks of imprimitivity in the case that G is imprimitive. An algorithm of Atkinson solves this problem in time…
Fix a positive integer $d$ and let $\Gamma_d$ be the class of finite groups without sections isomorphic to the alternating group $A_d$. The groups in $\Gamma_d$ were studied by Babai, Cameron and P\'{a}lfy in the 1980s and they determined…
In this note we present a simplified and slightly generalized version of a lemma the authors published in 1987. The lemma as stated here asserts that if the order of a permutation of $n$ elements is greater than $n^{\alpha}$ then some…
It is known that for any permutation group $G$ of odd order one can find a subset of the permuted set whose stabilizer in $G$ is trivial, and if $G$ is primitive, then also a base of size at most 3. Both of these results are generalized to…
This article began as a study of the structure of infinite permutation groups G in which point stabilisers are finite and all infinite normal subgroups are transitive. That led to two variations. One is the generalisation in which point…
Let G be a linear group acting on the finite vector space V and assume that (|G|,|V|)=1. In this paper we prove that G has a base size at most two and this estimate is sharp. This generalizes and strengthens several former results…
We revisit Haiman's conjecture on the relations between characters of Kazdhan-Lusztig basis elements of the Hecke algebra over the symmetric group. The conjecture asserts that, for purposes of character evaluation, any Kazhdan-Lusztig basis…
In [Baumeister, H., Nill, Paffenholz, On permutation polytopes, Adv. Math. 222 (2009), 431-452 / arXiv:0709.1615] we conjectured a characterization of subgroups H of a permutation group G so that, on the level of permutation polytopes, P(H)…
A minimal permutation representation of a finite group G is a faithful G-set with the smallest possible size. We study the structure of such representations and show that for certain groups they may be obtained by a greedy construction. In…
Let $G$ be a group acting on a finite set $\Omega$. Then $G$ acts on $\Omega\times \Omega$ by its entry-wise action and its orbits form the basis relations of a coherent configuration (or shortly scheme). Our concern is to consider what…
For a finite non cyclic group $G$, let $\gamma(G)$ be the smallest integer $k$ such that $G$ contains $k$ proper subgroups $H_1,\dots,H_k$ with the property that every element of $G$ is contained in $H_i^g$ for some $i \in \{1,\dots,k\}$…
A transitive group $G$ of permutations of a set $\Omega$ is primitive if the only $G$-invariant equivalence relations on $\Omega$ are the trivial and universal relations. If $\alpha \in \Omega$, then the orbits of the stabiliser $G_\alpha$…
For a finite group $G$ we investigate the smallest positive integer $e(G)$ such that the map sending $g\in G$ to $e(G)|G:C_G(g)|$ is a generalized character of $G$. It turns out that $e(G)$ is strongly influenced by local data, but behaves…
We establish new bounds on character values and character ratios for finite groups $G$ of Lie type, which are considerably stronger than previously known bounds, and which are best possible in many cases. These bounds have the form…
Let $G$ be a finite group and recall that the Frattini subgroup ${\rm Frat}(G)$ is the intersection of all the maximal subgroups of $G$. In this paper, we investigate the intersection number of $G$, denoted $\alpha(G)$, which is the minimal…
Let G be any of the complex classical groups GL(n), SO(2n+1), Sp(2n), O(2n), let g denote the Lie algebra of G, and let Z(g) denote the subalgebra of G-invariants in the universal enveloping algebra U(g). We derive a Taylor-type expansion…