A theory of semiprimitive groups

The theory of vertex-transitive graphs has developed in parallel with the theory of transitive permutation groups. The chapter explores the way the two theories have influenced each other. Examples are drawn from the enumeration of vertex-transitive graphs of small order, the classification problem for finite distance transitive graphs, and the investigations of finite 2-arc transitive graphs, finite primitive and quasiprimitive permutation groups, and finite locally primitive graphs. The nature of the group theoretic techniques used range from elementary ones to some involving the finite simple group classification. In particular the theorem of O’Nan and Scott for finite primitive permutation groups, and a generalisation of it for finite quasiprimitive permutation groups is discussed.

Finite Permutation Groups

On graph-restrictive permutation groups

A transitive permutation group is called semiprimitive if each of its normal subgroups is either semiregular or transitive. The class of semiprimitive groups properly includes primitive groups, quasiprimitive groups and innately transitive groups. The latter three classes of rank 3 permutation groups have been classified, making significant progress towards solving the long-standing problem of classifying permutation groups of rank 3. In this paper, we complete the classification of finite semiprimitive groups of rank 3, building on the recent work of Huang, Li and Zhu. Examples include Schur coverings of certain almost simple 2-transitive groups and three exceptional small groups.

This paper unifies the following ideas for the study of chirality polynomials in transitive skeletons: (1) Generalization of chirality to permutation groups not corresponding to three-dimensional symmetry point groups leading to the concepts of signed permutation groups and their signed subgroups; (2) Determination of the total dimension of the chiral ligand partitions through the Frobenius reciprocity theorem; (3) Determination of signed permutation groups, not necessarily corresponding to three-dimensional point groups, of which a given ligand partition is a maximum symmetry chiral ligand partition by the Ruch-Schonhofer partial ordering, thereby allowing the determination of corresponding chirality polynomials depending only upon differences between ligand parameters; such permutation groups having the point group as a signed subgroup relate to qualitative completeness. In the case of transitive permutation groups on four sites, the tetrahedron and polarized square each have only one chiral ligand partition, but the allene and polarized rectangle skeletons each have two chiral ligand partitions related to their being signed subgroups of the tetrahedron and polarized square, respectively. The single transitive permutation group on five sites, the polarized pentagon, has a degenerate chiral ligand partition related to its being a signed subgroup of a metacyclic group with 20 elements. The octahedron has two chiral ligand partitions, both of degree six; a qualitatively complete chirality polynomial is therefore homogeneous of degree six. The cyclopropane (or trigonal prism or trigonal antiprism) skeleton is a signed subgroup of both the octahedron and a twist group of order 36; two of its six chiral ligand partitions come from the octahedron and two more from the twist group. The polarized hexagon is a signed subgroup of the same twist group but not of the octahedron and thus has a different set of six chiral ligand partitions than the cyclopropane skeleton. Two of its six chiral ligand partitions come from the above twist group of order 36 and two more from a signed permutation group of order 48 derived from the P3[P 2] wreath product group with a different assignment of positive and negative operations than the octahedron.

We give an overview of results on the orbit structure of finite group actions with an emphasis on abstract linear groups. The main questions considered are the number of orbits, the number of orbit sizes and the existence of large orbits, particularly regular orbits. Applications of such results to some important problems in group and representation theory are also discussed, such as the k ( GV )–problem and the Taketa problem. Introduction Ever since the beginning of abstract group theory the study of group actions has played a fundamental role in its development. In finite group theory this is all too obvious in that the fundamental theorems of Sylow – without which finite group theory would not get beyond its beginnings – are based on the study of various group actions. Group actions capture the fact that every group can be represented as a permutation group, and permutation groups were the first groups to be considered when the abstract term of a group had not yet been coined. Naturally information on the orbits induced by a group action is vital to an understanding of the action which is why a wealth of such results is scattered throughout the literature. Rarely however are the orbits the main focus of the investigation, and most results on orbits are proved with applications to other questions in mind.

Various lattices of subgroups of a finite transitive permutation group G can be used to define a set of ‘basic’ permutation groups associated with G that are analogues of composition factors for abstract finite groups. In particular G can be embedded in an iterated wreath product of a chain of its associated basic permutation groups. The basic permutation groups corresponding to the lattice L of all subgroups of G containing a given point stabiliser are a set of primitive permutation groups. We introduce two new subgroup lattices contained in L, called the seminormal subgroup lattice and the subnormal subgroup lattice. For these lattices the basic permutation groups are quasiprimitive and innately transitive groups, respectively.

On the theory of groups with extremal layers

There is a familiar construction with two finite, transitive permutation groups as input and a finite, transitive permutation group, called their wreath product, as output. The corresponding ‘imprimitive wreath decomposition’ concept is the first subject of this paper. A formal definition is adopted and an overview obtained for all such decompositions of any given finite, transitive group. The result may be heuristically expressed as follows, exploiting the associative nature of the construction. Each finite transitive permutation group may be written, essentially uniquely, as the wreath product of a sequence of wreath-indecomposable groups, amid the two-factor wreath decompositions of the group are precisely those which one obtains by bracketing this many-factor decomposition.If both input groups are nontrivial, the output above is always imprimitive. A similar construction gives a primitive output, called the wreath product in product action, provided the first input group is primitive and not regular. The second subject of the paper is the ‘product action wreath decomposition’ concept dual to this. An analogue of the result stated above is established for primitive groups with nonabelian socle.Given a primitive subgroup G with non-regular socle in some symmetric group S, how many subgroups W of S which contain G and have the same socle, are wreath products in product action? The third part of the paper outlines an algorithm which reduces this count to questions about permutation groups whose degrees are very much smaller than that of G.

Let $G$ be a permutation group on a set $\Omega$. Then for each $g\in G$, we define the movement of $g$, denoted by $\move(g)$, the maximal cardinality $|\Delta^{g}\backslash \Delta|$ of $\Delta^{g}\backslash \Delta$ over all subsets $\Delta$ of $\Omega$. And the movement of $G$ is defined as the maximum of $\move(g)$ over all $g\in G$, denoted by $\move(G)$. A permutation group $G$ is said to have bounded movement if it has movement bounded by some positive integer $m$, that is $\move(G)\leq m$. In this paper, we consider the finite transitive permutation groups $G$ with movement $\move(G)=m$ for some positive integer $m>4$, where $G$ is not a $2$-group but in which every non-identity element has the movement $m$ or $m-4$, and there is at least one non-identity element that has the movement $m-4$. We give a characterization for elements of $G$ in Theorem\ref{thm-1}. Further, we apply Theorem \ref{thm-1} to character transitive permutation group $G$ in Theorem \ref{thm-2}. These results give a partial answer to the open problem posed by the authors in 2024.

The concept of an s-ply transitive (1 ≤ s ≤ n) permutation group on n symbols is of considerable importance in the classical theory of finite permutation groups, which was in the height of its development in the period around the turn of the century. The obvious generalization to a permutation group which is s set-transitive (i.e., a group which, for each pair of s-element unordered subsets S, T of the given n symbols, contains a permutation which carries S into T) seems to have received little attention.

The characterization of generalized wreath products

This chapter opens Part Two, devoted to the study of transformation theory, with some additional topics in group theory that arise in musical applications. Transformation groups on finite spaces may be regarded as permutation groups; permutation groups on pitch-class space include not only the groups of transpositions and inversions but also the multiplication group, the affine group, and the symmetric group. Another musical illustration of permutations involves the rearrangement of lines in invertible counterpoint. The structure of a finite group may be represented in the form of a group table or a Cayley diagram (a kind of graph). Other concepts discussed include homomorphisms and isomorphisms of groups, direct-product groups, normal subgroups, and quotient groups. Groups underlie many examples of symmetry in music, as formalized through the study of equivalence relations, orbits, and stabilizers.

Let G be a transitive permutation group on a set Ω such that, for ω∈Ω, the stabiliser Gω induces on each of its orbits in Ω∖{ω} a primitive permutation group (possibly of degree 1). Let N be the normal closure of Gω in G. Then (Theorem 1) either N factorises as N=GωGδ for some ω, δ∈Ω, or all unfaithful Gω-orbits, if any exist, are infinite. This result generalises a theorem of I. M. Isaacs which deals with the case where there is a finite upper bound on the lengths of the Gω-orbits. Several further results are proved about the structure of G as a permutation group, focussing in particular on the nature of certain G-invariant partitions of Ω. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification 20B07, 20B05.

In January 1969, Peter M. Neumann wrote a paper entitled “Primitive permutation groups of degree 3p”. The main theorem placed restrictions on the parameters of a primitive but not 2-transitive permutation group of degree three times a prime. The paper was never published, and the results have been superseded by stronger theorems depending on the classification of the finite simple groups, for example a classification of primitive groups of odd degree.However, there are further reasons for being interested in this paper. First, it was written at a time when combinatorial techniques were being introduced into the theory of finite permutation groups, and the paper gives a very good summary and application of these techniques. Second, like its predecessor by Helmut Wielandt on primitive groups of degree 2p, it can be re-interpreted as a combinatorial result concerning association schemes whose common eigenspaces have dimensions of a rather limited form. This result uses neither the primality of p nor the existence of a permutation group related to the combinatorial structure. We extract these results and give details of the related combinatorics.