Length-type parameters of finite groups with almost unipotent automorphisms

Let α be an automorphism of a finite group G. For a positive integer n, let E _G,n (α) be the subgroup generated by all commutators [...[[x,α],α],…,α] in the semidirect product G 〈α〉 over x ∈ G, where α is repeated n times. By Baer’s theorem, if E _G,n (α)=1, then the commutator subgroup [G,α] is nilpotent. We generalize this theorem in terms of certain length parameters of E _G,n (α). For soluble G we prove that if, for some n, the Fitting height of E _G,n (α) is equal to k, then the Fitting height of [G,α] is at most k + 1. For nonsoluble G the results are in terms of the nonsoluble length and generalized Fitting height. The generalized Fitting height h*(H) of a finite group H is the least number h such that F _h* (H) = H, where F ₀* (H) = 1, and F _i+1* (H) is the inverse image of the generalized Fitting subgroup F*(H/F _i *(H)). Let m be the number of prime factors of the order |α| counting multiplicities. It is proved that if, for some n, the generalized Fitting height E _G,n (α) of is equal to k, then the generalized Fitting height of [G,α] is bounded in terms of k and m. The nonsoluble length λ(H) of a finite group H is defined as the minimum number of nonsoluble factors in a normal series each of whose factors either is soluble or is a direct product of nonabelian simple groups. It is proved that if λE _G,n (α)= k, then the nonsoluble length of [G,α] is bounded in terms of k and m. We also state conjectures of stronger results independent of m and show that these conjectures reduce to a certain question about automorphisms of direct products of finite simple groups.     

On the length of a finite group and of its 2-generator subgroups

The nonsoluble length λ(G) of a finite group G is defined as the minimum number of nonsoluble factors in a normal series of G each of whose quotients either is soluble or is a direct product of nonabelian simple groups. The generalized Fitting height of a finite group G is the least number h = h* (G) such that F* _h (G) = G, where F* ₁ (G) = F* (G) is the generalized Fitting subgroup, and F* _i+1(G) is the inverse image of F* (G/F*_i (G)). In the present paper we prove that if λ(J) ≤ k for every 2-generator subgroup J of G, then λ(G) ≤ k. It is conjectured that if h* (J) ≤ k for every 2-generator subgroup J, then h* (G) ≤ k. We prove that if h* (〈x, x^g 〉) ≤ k for allx, g ∈ G such that 〈x, x^g 〉 is soluble, then h* (G) is k-bounded.     

On the pronormality of subgroups of odd index in finite simple symplectic groups

A subgroup H of a group G is pronormal if the subgroups H and H ^g are conjugate in 〈H,H ^g 〉 for every g ∈ G. It was conjectured in [1] that a subgroup of a finite simple group having odd index is always pronormal. Recently the authors [2] verified this conjecture for all finite simple groups other than PSL _n (q), PSU _n (q), E ₆(q), ² E ₆(q), where in all cases q is odd and n is not a power of 2, and P Sp_2n (q), where q ≡ ±3 (mod 8). However in [3] the authors proved that when q ≡ ±3 (mod 8) and n ≡ 0 (mod 3), the simple symplectic group P Sp²ⁿ (q) has a nonpronormal subgroup of odd index, thereby refuted the conjecture on pronormality of subgroups of odd index in finite simple groups.The natural extension of this conjecture is the problem of classifying finite nonabelian simple groups in which every subgroup of odd index is pronormal. In this paper we continue to study this problem for the simple symplectic groups P Sp_2n (q) with q ≡ ±3 (mod 8) (if the last condition is not satisfied, then subgroups of odd index are pronormal). We prove that whenever n is not of the form 2 ^m or 2 ^m (2^2k +1), this group has a nonpronormal subgroup of odd index. If n = 2 ^m , then we show that all subgroups of P Sp_2n (q) of odd index are pronormal. The question of pronormality of subgroups of odd index in P Sp_2n (q) is still open when n = 2 ^m (2^2k + 1) and q ≡ ±3 (mod 8).     

Some Existence Theorems on All Fractional (<Emphasis Type="Italic">g</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>)-factors with Prescribed Properties

Let G be a graph, and g, f: V (G) → Z⁺ with g(x) ≤ f(x) for each x ∈ V (G). We say that G admits all fractional (g, f)-factors if G contains an fractional r-factor for every r: V (G) → Z⁺ with g(x) ≤ r(x) ≤ f(x) for any x ∈ V (G). Let H be a subgraph of G. We say that G has all fractional (g, f)-factors excluding H if for every r: V (G) → Z⁺ with g(x) ≤ r(x) ≤ f(x) for all x ∈ V (G), G has a fractional r-factor F _h such that E(H) ∩ E(F _h ) = θ, where h: E(G) → [0, 1] is a function. In this paper, we show a characterization for the existence of all fractional (g, f)-factors excluding H and obtain two sufficient conditions for a graph to have all fractional (g, f)-factors excluding H.     

Joint spectrum and the infinite dihedral group

A subgroup H of a group G is called pronormal if, for any element g ∈ G, the subgroups H and H ^g are conjugate in the subgroup <H,H ^g >. We prove that, if a group G has a normal abelian subgroup V and a subgroup H such that G = HV, then H is pronormal in G if and only if U = N _U (H)[H,U] for any H-invariant subgroup U of V. Using this fact, we prove that the simple symplectic group PSp_6n (q) with q ≡ ±3 (mod 8) contains a nonpronormal subgroup of odd index. Hence, we disprove the conjecture on the pronormality of subgroups of odd indices in finite simple groups, which was formulated in 2012 by E.P. Vdovin and D.O. Revin and verified by the authors in 2015 for many families of simple finite groups.     

Semistability of Frobenius Direct Image of Representations of Cotangent Bundles

Let k be an algebraically closed field of characteristic p > 0, X a smooth projective variety over k with a fixed ample divisor H, F_X : X → X the absolute Frobenius morphism on X. Let E be a rational GL_n(k)-bundle on X, and ρ : GL_n(k) → GL_m(k) a rational GL_n(k)-representation of degree at most d such that ρ maps the radical RGL_n(k)) of GL_n(k) into the radical R(GL_m(k)) of GL_m(k). We show that if \(F_X^{N*}(E)\) is semistable for some integer \(N \ge {\max {_{0 < r < m}}}(_r^m) \cdot {\log _p}(dr)\), then the induced rational GL_m(k)-bundle E(GL_m(k)) is semistable. As an application, if dimX = n, we get a sufficient condition for the semistability of Frobenius direct image \(F_{X*}(\rho*(\Omega_X^1))\), where \(\rho*(\Omega_X^1)\) is the vector bundle obtained from \(\Omega_X^1\) via the rational representation ρ.     

Conditional connectivity of bubble sort graphs

A subset F ? V (G) is called an R ^k -vertex-cut of a graph G if G ? F is disconnected and each vertex of G ? F has at least k neighbors in G ? F. The R ^k -vertex-connectivity of G, denoted by κ ^k (G), is the cardinality of a minimum R ^k -vertex-cut of G. Let B _n be the bubble sort graph of dimension n. It is known that κ _k (B _n ) = 2 ^k (n ? k ? 1) for n ≥ 2k and k = 1, 2. In this paper, we prove it for k = 3 and conjecture that it is true for all k ∈ N. We also prove that the connectivity cannot be more than conjectured.     

Hopf Modules and Representations of Finite Wreath Products

For a finite group G and nonnegative integer n ≥ 0, one may consider the associated tower \(G \wr S_{n} := S_{n} \ltimes G^{n}\) of wreath product groups. Zelevinsky associated to such a tower the structure of a positive self-adjoint Hopf algebra (PSH-algebra) R(G) on the direct sum over integers n ≥ 0 of the Grothendieck groups K ₀(R e p?G?S _n ). In this paper, we study the interaction via induction and restriction of the PSH-algebras R(G) and R(H) associated to finite groups H ? G. A class of Hopf modules over PSH-algebras with a compatibility between the comultiplication and multiplication involving the Hopf k ^{t h} -power map arise naturally and are studied independently. We also give an explicit formula for the natural PSH-algebra morphisms R(H) → R(G) and R(G) → R(H) arising from induction and restriction. In an appendix, we consider a family of subgroups of wreath product groups analogous to the subgroups G(m, p, n) of the wreath product cyclotomic complex reflection groups G(m, 1, n).     

Distance domination of generalized de Bruijn and Kautz digraphs

Let G = (V,A) be a digraph and k ≥ 1 an integer. For u, v ∈ V, we say that the vertex u distance k-dominate v if the distance from u to v at most k. A set D of vertices in G is a distance k-dominating set if each vertex of V D is distance k-dominated by some vertex of D. The distance k-domination number of G, denoted by γ _k (G), is the minimum cardinality of a distance k-dominating set of G. Generalized de Bruijn digraphs G _B (n, d) and generalized Kautz digraphs G _K (n, d) are good candidates for interconnection networks. Denote Δ _k := (∑ _j=0 ^k d ^j )^?1. F. Tian and J. Xu showed that ?nΔ _k ? γ _k (G _B (n, d)) ≤?n/d ^k? and ?nΔ _k ? ≤ γ _k (G _K (n, d)) ≤ ?n/d ^k ?. In this paper, we prove that every generalized de Bruijn digraph G _B (n, d) has the distance k-domination number ?nΔ _k ? or ?nΔ _k ?+1, and the distance k-domination number of every generalized Kautz digraph G _K (n, d) bounded above by ?n/(d ^k?1+d ^k )?. Additionally, we present various sufficient conditions for γ _k (G _B (n, d)) = ?nΔ _k ? and γ _k (G _K (n, d)) = ?nΔ _k ?.     

Normal coverings of solvable groups

For a finite non cyclic group G, let γ(G) be the smallest integer k such that G contains k proper subgroups H ₁, . . . , H _k with the property that every element of G is contained in \({H_i^g}\) for some \({i \in \{1,\dots,k\}}\) and \({g \in G.}\) We prove that for every n ≥ 2, there exists a finite solvable group G with γ(G) = n.     

A cycle cover of a 2-edge-connected graph embedded with large face-width on an orientable surface

In 1985, Alon and Tarsi conjectured that the length of a shortest cycle cover of a bridgeless graph H is at most 7/5 |E(H|). The conjecture is still open. Let G be a 2-edge-connected graph embedded with face-width k on the non-spherical orientable surface S_g. We give an upper bound on the length of a cycle cover of G. In particular, if g = 1 and k ≥ 48, or g = 2 and k ≥ 427, or g ≥ 3 and k ≥ 288(4^g - 1), then the upper bound is 7/5 |E(G|), which means that Alon and Tarsi’s conjecture holds for such a graph.     

Super (<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>)-edge-antimagic total labelings of complete bipartite graphs

An (a, d)-edge-antimagic total labeling of a graph G is a bijection f from V(G) ∪ E(G) onto {1, 2,…,|V(G)| + |E(G)|} with the property that the edge-weight set {f(x) + f(xy) + f(y) | xy ∈ E(G)} is equal to {a, a + d, a + 2d,...,a + (|E(G)| ? 1)d} for two integers a > 0 and d ? 0. An (a, d)-edge-antimagic total labeling is called super if the smallest possible labels appear on the vertices. In this paper, we completely settle the problem of the super (a, d)-edge-antimagic total labeling of the complete bipartite graph K_m,n and obtain the following results: the graph K_m,n has a super (a, d)-edge-antimagic total labeling if and only if either (i) m = 1, n = 1, and d ? 0, or (ii) m = 1, n ? 2 (or n = 1 and m ? 2), and d ∈ {0, 1, 2}, or (iii) m = 1, n = 2 (or n = 1 and m = 2), and d = 3, or (iv) m, n ? 2, and d = 1.     

Ideal Spaces of Measurable Operators Affiliated to A Semifinite Von Neumann Algebra

Suppose that M is a von Neumann algebra of operators on a Hilbert space H and τ is a faithful normal semifinite trace on M. Let E, F and G be ideal spaces on (M, τ). We find when a τ-measurable operator X belongs to E in terms of the idempotent P of M. The sets E+F and E·F are also ideal spaces on (M, τ); moreover, E·F = F·E and (E+F)·G = E·G+F·G. The structure of ideal spaces is modular. We establish some new properties of the L₁(M, τ) space of integrable operators affiliated to the algebra M. The results are new even for the *-algebra M = B(H) of all bounded linear operators on H which is endowed with the canonical trace τ = tr.     

Normal families of meromorphic functions and shared functions

The paper is devoted to the normal families of meromorphic functions and shared functions. Generalizing a result of Chang (2013), we prove the following theorem. Let h (≠≡ 0,∞) be a meromorphic function on a domain D and let k be a positive integer. Let F be a family of meromorphic functions on D, all of whose zeros have multiplicity at least k + 2, such that for each pair of functions f and g from F, f and g share the value 0, and f^(k) and g^(k) share the function h. If for every f ∈ F, at each common zero of f and h the multiplicities m_f for f and m_h for h satisfy m_f ≥ m_h + k + 1 for k > 1 and m_f ≥ 2m_h + 3 for k = 1, and at each common pole of f and h, the multiplicities nf for f and nh for h satisfy n_f ≥ n_h + 1, then the family F is normal on D.     

Asymptotic Analysis for Random Walks with Nonidentically Distributed Jumps Having Finite Variance

Let ξ₁,ξ₂,... be independent random variables with distributions F₁F₂,... in a triangular array scheme (F _i may depend on some parameter). Assume that Eξ _i = 0, Eξ _i ² < ∞, and put \(S_n = \sum {_{i = 1}^n \;} \xi _i ,\;\overline S _n = \max _{k \leqslant n} S_k\). Assuming further that some regularly varying functions majorize or minorize the “averaged” distribution \(F = \frac{1}{n}\sum {_{i = 1}^n F_i }\), we find upper and lower bounds for the probabilities P(S _n > x) and \(P(\bar S_n > x)\). We also study the asymptotics of these probabilities and of the probabilities that a trajectory {S _k } crosses the remote boundary {g(k)}; that is, the asymptotics of P(max_k≤n(S _k ? g(k)) > 0). The case n = ∞ is not excluded. We also estimate the distribution of the first crossing time.     

Polycyclic groups with automorphisms of order four

n this paper, we study the structure of polycyclic groups admitting an automorphism of order four on the basis of Neumann’s result, and prove that if α is an automorphism of order four of a polycyclic group G and the map φ: G → G defined by g^φ = [g,α] is surjective, then G contains a characteristic subgroup H of finite index such that the second derived subgroup H″ is included in the centre of H and C_H(α²) is abelian, both C_G(α²) and G/[G, α²] are abelian-by-finite. These results extend recent and classical results in the literature.     

Finite p-Groups with Few Non-major k-Maximal Subgroups

A subgroup of index p ^k of a finite p-group G is called a k-maximal subgroup of G. Denote by d(G) the number of elements in a minimal generator-system of G and by δ _k (G) the number of k-maximal subgroups which do not contain the Frattini subgroup of G. In this paper, the authors classify the finite p-groups with δ_d(G)(G) ≤ p² and δ_d(G)?1(G) = 0, respectively.     

On integral Cayley sum graphs

Let S be a subset of a finite abelian group G. The Cayley sum graph Cay⁺(G, S) of G with respect to S is a graph whose vertex set is G and two vertices g and h are joined by an edge if and only if g + h ∈ S. We call a finite abelian group G a Cayley sum integral group if for every subset S of G, Cay⁺(G, S) is integral i.e., all eigenvalues of its adjacency matrix are integers. In this paper, we prove that all Cayley sum integral groups are represented by Z₃ and Zn₂ ⁿ, n ≥ 1, where Z_k is the group of integers modulo k. Also, we classify simple connected cubic integral Cayley sum graphs.