Vertex finiteness for splittings of relatively hyperbolic groups

Consider a group G and a family A of subgroups of G. We say that vertex finiteness holds for splittings of G over A if, up to isomorphism, there are only finitely many possibilities for vertex stabilizers of minimal G-trees with edge stabilizers in A.     

Products of F*(<Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis>)-subnormal subgroups of finite groups

A subgroup H of a finite group G is called F*(G)-subnormal if H is subnormal in HF*(G). We show that if a group Gis a product of two F*(G)-subnormal quasinilpotent subgroups, then G is quasinilpotent. We also study groups G = AB, where A is a nilpotent F*(G)-subnormal subgroup and B is a F*(G)-subnormal supersoluble subgroup. Particularly, we show that such groups G are soluble.     

Essential dimension of algebraic groups,including bad characteristic

Let A and G be finite groups of relatively prime orders and assume that A acts on G via automorphisms. We study how certain conditions on G imply its solvability when we assume the existence of a unique A-invariant Sylow p-subgroup for p equal to 2 or 3.     

Cycles in dense digraphs

Let G be a digraph (without parallel edges) such that every directed cycle has length at least four; let β(G) denote the size of the smallest subset X ? E(G) such that G?X has no directed cycles, and let γ(G) be the number of unordered pairs {u, v} of vertices such that u, v are nonadjacent in G. It is easy to see that if γ(G) = 0 then β(G) = 0; what can we say about β(G) if γ(G) is bounded?

We prove that in general β(G) ≤ γ(G). We conjecture that in fact β(G) ≤ ½γ(G) (this would be best possible if true), and prove this conjecture in two special cases:

• when V(G) is the union of two cliques
• when the vertices of G can be arranged in a circle such that if distinct u, v, w are in clockwise order and uw is a (directed) edge, then so are both uv, vw.

     

2-Recognizability by prime graph of <Emphasis Type="Italic">PSL</Emphasis>(2, <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>)

Let G be a finite group and let Γ(G) be the prime graph of G. Assume p prime. We determine the finite groups G such that Γ(G) = Γ(PSL(2, p ²)) and prove that if p ≠ 2, 3, 7 is a prime then k(Γ(PSL(2, p ²))) = 2. We infer that if G is a finite group satisfying |G| = |PSL(2, p ²)| and Γ(G) = Γ(PSL(2, p ²)) then G ? PSL(2, p ²). This enables us to give new proofs for some theorems; e.g., a conjecture of W. Shi and J. Bi. Some applications are also considered of this result to the problem of recognition of finite groups by element orders.     

Residually finite algorithmically finite groups,their subgroups and direct products

We construct a finitely generated infinite recursively presented residually finite algorithmically finite group G, thus answering a question of Myasnikov and Osin. The group G here is “strongly infinite” and “strongly algorithmically finite,” which means that G contains an infinite Abelian normal subgroup and all finite Cartesian powers of G are algorithmically finite (i.e., for any n, there is no algorithm writing out infinitely many pairwise distinct elements of the group G ⁿ ). We also formulate several open questions concerning this topic.     

Properly discontinuous group actions on affine homogeneous spaces

Let G be a real algebraic group, H ≤ G an algebraic subgroup containing a maximal reductive subgroup of G, and Γ a subgroup of G acting on G/H by left translations. We conjecture that Γ is virtually solvable provided its action on G/H is properly discontinuous and ΓG/H is compact, and we confirm this conjecture when G does not contain simple algebraic subgroups of rank ≥2. If the action of Γ on G/H (which is isomorphic to an affine linear space Aⁿ) is linear, our conjecture coincides with the Auslander conjecture. We prove the Auslander conjecture for n ≤ 5.     

A note on infinite aS-groups

Let G be a group. If every nontrivial subgroup of G has a proper supplement, then G is called an aS-group. We study some properties of aS-groups. For instance, it is shown that a nilpotent group G is an aS-group if and only if G is a subdirect product of cyclic groups of prime orders. We prove that if G is an aS-group which satisfies the descending chain condition on subgroups, then G is finite. Among other results, we characterize all abelian groups for which every nontrivial quotient group is an aS-group. Finally, it is shown that if G is an aS-group and |G| ≠ pq, p, where p and q are primes, then G has a triple factorization.     

On a classifying property of regular representations

We show that, for each connected compact Lie group G, the Hilbert G-space L ₂(G) and the Banach G-space C(G;?) classify the G-spaces.     

Novel polynomial Bernstein bases and Bézier curves based on a general notion of polynomial blossoming

We introduce the G-blossom of a polynomial by altering the diagonal property of the classical blossom, replacing the identity function by arbitrary linear functions G=G(t). By invoking the G-blossom, we construct G-Bernstein bases and G-Bézier curves and study their algebraic and geometric properties. We show that the G-blossom provides the dual functionals for the G-Bernstein basis functions and we use this dual functional property to prove that G-Bernstein basis functions form a partition of unity and satisfy a Marsden identity. We also show that G-Bézier curves share several other properties with classical Bézier curves, including affine invariance, interpolation of end points, and recursive algorithms for evaluation and subdivision. We investigate the effect of the linear functions G on the shape of the corresponding G-Bézier curves, and we derive some necessary and sufficient conditions on the linear functions G which guarantee that the corresponding G-Bézier curves are of Pólya type and variation diminishing. Finally we prove that the control polygons generated by recursive subdivision converge to the original G-Bézier curve, and we derive the geometric rate of convergence of this algorithm.     

Classification of finite groups satisfying a minimal condition

If H is a subgroup of a finite group G then we denote the normal closure of H in G by H ^G . We call G a PE-group if every minimal subgroup X of G satisfies N ^G (X) ∩ X ^G = X. The authors classify the finite non-PE-groups whose maximal subgroups of even order are PE-groups.     

On the coincidence of Grünberg-Kegel graphs of a finite simple group and its proper subgroup

Let G be a finite group. The spectrum of G is the set ω(G) of orders of all its elements. The subset of prime elements of ω(G) is denoted by π(G). The spectrum ω(G) of a group G defines its prime graph (or Grünberg-Kegel graph) Γ(G) with vertex set π(G), in which any two different vertices r and s are adjacent if and only if the number rs belongs to the set ω(G). We describe all the cases when the prime graphs of a finite simple group and of its proper subgroup coincide.     

The boundary of the outer space of a free product

Let G be a countable group that splits as a free product of groups of the form G = G ₁ *···* G _k * F _N , where F _N is a finitely generated free group. We identify the closure of the outer space PO(G, {G ₁,..., G _k }) for the axes topology with the space of projective minimal, very small (G, {G ₁,..., G _k })-trees, i.e. trees whose arc stabilizers are either trivial, or cyclic, closed under taking roots, and not conjugate into any of the G _i ’s, and whose tripod stabilizers are trivial. Its topological dimension is equal to 3N + 2k ? 4, and the boundary has dimension 3N + 2k ? 5. We also prove that any very small (G, {G ₁,..., G _k })-tree has at most 2N + 2k?2 orbits of branch points.     

Multiplication of conjugacy classes,colligations, and characteristic functions of matrix argument

We extend the classical construction of operator colligations and characteristic functions. Consider the group G of finitary block unitary matrices of order α+∞+···+∞ (m times) and its subgroup K ? U(∞), which consists of block diagonal unitary matrices with the identity block of order α and a matrix u ∈ U(∞) repeated m times. It turns out that there is a natural multiplication on the space G//K of conjugacy classes. We construct “spectral data” of conjugacy classes, which visualize the multiplication and are sufficient for reconstructing a conjugacy class.     

On weakly <Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>Φ-supplemented subgroups of finite groups

Let G be a finite group. We say that a subgroup H of G is weakly SΦ-supplemented in G if G has a subgroup T such that G = HT and H∩T ≤ Φ(H)H_sG, where H_sG is the subgroup of H generated by all those subgroups of H that are s-permutable in G. In this paper, we investigate the influence of weakly SΦ-supplemented subgroups on the structure of finite groups. Some new characterizations of p-nilpotency and supersolubility of finite groups are obtained.     

Variations on average character degrees and p-nilpotence

We prove that if p is an odd prime, G is a solvable group, and the average value of the irreducible characters of G whose degrees are not divisible by p is strictly less than 2(p + 1)/(p + 3), then G is p-nilpotent. We show that there are examples that are not p-nilpotent where this bound is met for every prime p. We then prove a number of variations of this result.     

On trees with total domination number equal to edge-vertex domination number plus one

An edge e∈E(G) dominates a vertex v∈V(G) if e is incident with v or e is incident with a vertex adjacent to v. An edge-vertex dominating set of a graph G is a set D of edges of G such that every vertex of G is edge-vertex dominated by an edge of D. The edge-vertex domination number of a graph G is the minimum cardinality of an edge-vertex dominating set of G. A subset D?V(G) is a total dominating set of G if every vertex of G has a neighbor in D. The total domination number of G is the minimum cardinality of a total dominating set of G. We characterize all trees with total domination number equal to edge-vertex domination number plus one.     

Schur multipliers and the Lazard correspondence

Let G be a finite p-group of nilpotency class less than p?1, and let L be the Lie ring corresponding to G via the Lazard correspondence. We show that the Schur multipliers of G and L are isomorphic as abelian groups and that every Schur cover of G is in Lazard correspondence with a Schur cover of L. Further, we show that the epicenters of G and L are isomorphic as abelian groups. Thus the group G is capable if and only if the Lie ring L is capable.