Derangements in permutation groups with two orbits
Group Theory
2025-06-16 v1
Abstract
A classical theorem of Jordan asserts that if a group acts transitively on a finite set of size at least , then contains a derangement (a fixed-point free element). Generalisations of Jordan's theorem have been studied extensively, due in part to their applications in graph theory, number theory and topology. We address a generalisation conjectured recently by Ellis and Harper, which says that if has exactly two orbits and those orbits have equal length , then contains a derangement. We prove this conjecture in the case where is a product of two primes, and verify it computationally for .
Cite
@article{arxiv.2506.11396,
title = {Derangements in permutation groups with two orbits},
author = {Melissa Lee and Tomasz Popiel and Gabriel Verret},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.11396},
year = {2025}
}