Direct summands of class groups

Let G be a finite abelian group, and F a global field of characteristic prime to the order of G. Then there exists a finite extension of F whose class group has a direct summand isomorphic to G.     

Almost fixed-point-free automorphisms of order 2

Let φ be an automorphism of order 2 of the group G with C _G (φ) finite. We prove the following. If G has finite Hirsch number then G is (nilpotent of class at most 2)-by-finite but need not be abelian-by-finite. If G is a finite extension of a soluble group with finite abelian ranks, then G is abelian-by-finite.     

Uniqueness of orientation-preserving free actions of finite abelian groups on surfaces

Let G be a finite abelian group. We list all the cases where the topological equivalence class of orientation-preserving free G-actions on a closed surface is unique. Moreover, we obtain the classification of topological equivalence classes of orientation-preserving free actions of finite abelian groups of rank 2.     

On the rational spectra of graphs with abelian singer groups

Let G be a finite abelian group. We investigate those graphs $\text{G}$ admitting G as a sharply 1-transitive automorphism group and all of whose eigenvalues are rational. The study is made via the rational algebra $\text{P}$(G) of rational matrices with rational eigenvalues commuting with the regular matrix representation of G. In comparing the spectra obtainable for graphs in $\text{P}$(G) for various G's, we relate subschemes of a related association scheme, subalgebras of $\text{P}$(G), and the lattice of subgroups of G. One conclusion is that if the order of G is fifth-power-free, any graph with rational eigenvalues admitting G has a cospectral mate admitting the abelian group of the same order with prime-order elementary divisors.     

On the second commutants of finite Alperin groups

We refer to an Alperin group as a group in which the commutant of every 2-generated subgroup is cyclic. Alperin proved that if p is an odd prime then all finite p-groups with the property are metabelian. Nevertheless, finite Alperin 2-groups may fail to be metabelian. We prove that for each finite abelian group H there exists a finite Alperin group G for which G″ is isomorphic to H.     

Broué's conjecture for non-principal 3-blocks of finite groups

In representation theory of finite groups, there is a well-known and important conjecture due to M. Broué. He conjectures that, for any prime p, if a p-block A of a finite group G has an abelian defect group D, then A and its Brauer correspondent p-block B of N_G(D) are derived equivalent. We demonstrate in this paper that Broué's conjecture holds for two non-principal 3-blocks A with elementary abelian defect group D of order 9 of the O'Nan simple group and the Higman-Sims simple group. Moreover, we determine these two non-principal block algebras over a splitting field of characteristic 3 up to Morita equivalence.     

Grothendieck groups of abelian group rings

Let R be a noetherian ring, and G(R) the Grothendieck group of finitely generated modules over R. For a finite abelian group π, we describe G(Rπ) as the direct sum of groups G(R'). Each R' is the form R[ζ_n, 1/n], where n is a positive integer and ζ_n a primitive nth root of unity. As an application, we describe the structure of the Grothendiek group of pairs (H, u), where H is an abelian group and u is an automorphism of H of finite order.     

Embeddings of minimal non-abelian p-groups

By a quasi-permutation matrix we mean a square matrix over the complex field C with non-negative integral trace. For a given finite group G, let p(G) denote the minimal degree of a faithful representation of G by permutation matrices, and let c(G) denote the minimal degree of a faithful representation of G by quasi-permutation matrices. See [4]. It is easy to see that c(G) is a lower bound for p(G). Behravesh [H. Behravesh, The minimal degree of a faithful quasi-permutation representation of an abelian group, Glasg. Math. J. 39 (1) (1997) 51-57] determined c(G) for every finite abelian group G and also [H. Behravesh, Quasi-permutation representations of p-groups of class 2, J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2) 55 (2) (1997) 251-260] gave the algorithm of c(G) for each finite group G. In this paper, we first improve this algorithm and then determine c(G) and p(G) for an arbitrary minimal non-abelian p-group G.     

Some results on minimal sumset sizes in finite non-abelian groups

Let G be a group. We study the minimal sumset (or product set) size μG(r,s)=min{|A⋅B|}, where A,B range over all subsets of G with cardinality r,s respectively. The function μG has recently been fully determined in [S. Eliahou, M. Kervaire, A. Plagne, Optimally small sumsets in finite abelian groups, J. Number Theory 101 (2003) 338-348; S. Eliahou, M. Kervaire, Minimal sumsets in infinite abelian groups, J. Algebra 287 (2005) 449-457] for G abelian. Here we focus on the largely open case where G is finite non-abelian. We obtain results on μG(r,s) in certain ranges for r and s, for instance when r?3 or when r+s?|G|−1, and under some more technical conditions. (See Theorem 4.4.) We also compute μG for a few non-abelian groups of small order. These results extend the Cauchy-Davenport theorem, which determines μG(r,s) for G a cyclic group of prime order.     

Large abelian normal subgroups

In this paper we study the family of finite groups with the property that every maximal abelian normal subgroup is self-centralizing. It is well known that this family contains all finite supersolvable groups, but it also contains many other groups. In fact, every finite group G is a subgroup of some member \(\Gamma \) of this family, and we show that if G is solvable, then \(\Gamma \) can be chosen so that every abelian normal subgroup of G is contained in some self-centralizing abelian normal subgroup of \(\Gamma \).     

On a class of finite solvable groups

A finite solvable group G is called an X-group if the subnormal subgroups of G permute with all the system normalizers of G. It is our purpose here to determine some of the properties of X-groups. Subgroups and quotient groups of X-groups are X-groups. Let M and N be normal subgroups of a group G of relatively prime order. If G/M and G/N are X-groups, then G is also an X-group. Let the nilpotent residual L of G be abelian. Then G is an X-group if and only if G acts by conjugation on L as a group of power automorphisms.     

The computable dimension of ordered abelian groups

Let G be a computable ordered abelian group. We show that the computable dimension of G is either 1 or ω, that G is computably categorical if and only if it has finite rank, and that if G has only finitely many Archimedean classes, then G has a computable presentation which admits a computable basis.     

On products of two nilpotent subgroups of a finite group

LetG be a finite group with an abelian Sylow 2-subgroup. LetA be a nilpotent subgroup ofG of maximal order satisfying class (A)≦k, wherek is a fixed integer larger than 1. Suppose thatA normalizes a nilpotent subgroupB ofG of odd order. ThenAB is nilpotent. Consequently, ifF(G) is of odd order andA is a nilpotent subgroup ofG of maximal order, thenF(G)?A.     

A theorem of Jon F. Carlson on filtrations of modules

We give an alternative proof to a theorem of Carlson [J.F. Carlson, Cohomology and induction from elementary abelian subgroups, Quart. J. Math. 51 (2000) 169-181] which states that if G is a finite group and k is a field of characteristic p, then any kG-module is a direct summand of a module which has a filtration whose sections are induced from elementary abelian p-subgroups of G. We also prove two new theorems which are closely related to Carlson’s theorem.     

Translation-invariant operators continuous in measure

Let G be a compact abelian group and let L(G) be the space of measurable functions on G, equipped with the topology of convergence in measure. The only continuous translation-invariant linear operators on L(G) are the finite linear combinations of the translations themselves.     

The Connectivity of addition Cayley graphs

For any finite abelian group G and any subset S ⊆ G, we determine the connectivity of the addition Cayley graph induced by S on G. Moreover, we show that if this graph is not complete, then it possesses a minimum vertex cut of a special, explicitly described form.     

Metaplectic operators for finite abelian groups and ?

The Segal-Shale-Weil representation associates to a symplectic transformation of the Heisenberg group an intertwining operator, called metaplectic operator. We develop an explicit construction of metaplectic operators for the Heisenberg group H(G) of a finite abelian group G, an important setting in finite time-frequency analysis. Our approach also yields a simple construction for the multivariate Euclidean case G = ?^d.     

On equality of central and class preserving automorphisms of finite p-groups

Let G be a finite non-abelian p-group, where p is a prime. Let Aut_c(G) and Aut_z(G) respectively denote the group of all class preserving and central automorphisms of G. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for G such that Aut_c(G) = Aut_z(G) and classify all finite non-abelian p-groups G with elementary abelian or cyclic center such that Aut_c(G) = Aut_z(G). We also characterize all finite p-groups G of order ≤ p ⁷ such that Aut_z(G) = Aut_z(G) and complete the classification of all finite p-groups of order ≤ p ⁵ for which there exist non-inner class preserving automorphisms.     

Group algebra series and coboundary modules

The shift action on the 2-cocycle group Z²(G,C) of a finite group G with coefficients in a finitely generated abelian group C has several useful applications in combinatorics and digital communications, arising from the invariance of a uniform distribution property of cocycles under the action. In this article, we study the shift orbit structure of the coboundary subgroup B²(G,C) of Z²(G,C). The study is placed within a well-known setting involving the Loewy and socle series of a group algebra over G. We prove new bounds on the dimensions of terms in such series. Asymptotic results on the size of shift orbits are also derived; for example, if C is an elementary abelian p-group, then almost all shift orbits in B²(G,C) are maximal-sized for large enough finite p-groups G of certain classes.