Characterizations of finite groups by sets of orders of their elements

For a finite group G, ω(G) denotes the set of orders of its elements. If ω is a subset of the set of natural numbers, h(ω) stands for the number of pairwise nonisomorphic finite groups G for which ω(G)=ɛ. We prove that h(ω(G))=1, if G is isomorphic to S₉, S₁₁, S₁₂, S₁₃, or A₁₂, and h(ω(G))=2 if G is isomorphic to S₂(6) or to O ₈ ⁺ (2). 01 Supported by RFFR grant No. 96-01-01893. Translated fromAlgebra i Logika, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 37–53, January–February, 1997.     

On strongly-non-reflexive groups

A strong negative answer is given to the old question of whether every dual group is reflexive. Using ◊_ω1 a groupA is constructed so thatA, A*, A**, andA*** are weakly ω₁-separable groups of cardinalityω ₁ andA* is not isomorphic toA***. Research partially supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-8400451. Research partially supported by NSERC Grant No. A8948.     

Around Solomon’s Descent Algebras

We study different problems related to the Solomon’s descent algebra Σ(W) of a finite Coxeter group (W,S): positive elements, morphisms between descent algebras, Loewy length... One of the main result is that, if W is irreducible and if the longest element is central, then the Loewy length of Σ(W) is equal to . Presented by Alain Verschoren.     

Involutive automorphism of symmetric groups

Let (𝔖_n,S) be a Coxeter system of the symmetric group, we show that the set of automorphisms of 𝔖_n which are involutions and leave S stable is a finite group of order less than 3.     

Eine Symmetrieeigenschaft von Solomons Algebra und der höheren Lie-Charaktere

Zusammenfassung  We prove here three results in chain: the result of Section 2 is a symmetry property of the higher Lie characters ofS _n (which are indexed by partitions) : their character table is essentially symmetric, up to well-known factors. This is established using plethystic methods in the algebra of symmetric functions. In Section 3, we show that for any elements ϕ,ωof the Solomon descent algebra ofS _n , one hasc( ϕ)(ω) =c(ω ϕ), wherec is the Solomon mapping from this algebra to the space of central functions onS _n (implicitly extended to its group algebra). We address also the question whether this is true for each finite Coxeter group. Then in the last section, we deduce a new proof of a result of Gessel and the second author that gives the number of permutations with given cycle type and descent set as scalar product of two special characters.     

Reflection Independence in Even Coxeter Groups

If (W,S) is a Coxeter system, then an element of W is a reflection if it is conjugate to some element of S. To each Coxeter system there is an associated Coxeter diagram. A Coxeter system is called reflection preserving if every automorphism of W preserves reflections in this Coxeter system. As a direct application of our main theorem, we classify all reflection preserving even Coxeter systems. More generally, if (W,S) is an even Coxeter system, we give a combinatorial condition on the diagram for (W,S) that determines whether or not two even systems for W have the same set of reflections. If (W,S) is even and (W,S) is not even, then these systems do not have the same set of reflections. A Coxeter group is said to be reflection independent if any two Coxeter systems (W,S) and (W,S) have the same set of reflections. We classify all reflection independent even Coxeter groups.Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000). 20F05, 20F55, 20F65, 51F15.     

Periodic groups saturated by finite simple groups <Emphasis Type="Italic">U</Emphasis><Subscript>3</Subscript>(2<Superscript>m</Superscript>)

Let {ie166-01} be a set of finite groups. A group G is said to be saturated by the groups in {ie166-02} if every finite subgroup of G is contained in a subgroup isomorphic to a member of {ie166-03}. It is proved that a periodic group G saturated by groups in a set {U₃(2^m) | m = 1, 2, …} is isomorphic to U₃(Q) for some locally finite field Q of characteristic 2; in particular, G is locally finite. __________ Translated from Algebra i Logika, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 288–306, May–June, 2008.     

Relative hyperbolicity and Artin groups

This paper considers the question of relative hyperbolicity of an Artin group with regard to the geometry of its associated Deligne complex. We prove that an Artin group is weakly hyperbolic relative to its finite (or spherical) type parabolic subgroups if and only if its Deligne complex is a Gromov hyperbolic space. For a two-dimensional Artin group the Deligne complex is Gromov hyperbolic precisely when the corresponding Davis complex is Gromov hyperbolic, that is, precisely when the underlying Coxeter group is a hyperbolic group. For Artin groups of FC type we give a sufficient condition for hyperbolicity of the Deligne complex which applies to a large class of these groups for which the underlying Coxeter group is hyperbolic. The key tool in the proof is an extension of the Milnor-Svarc Lemma which states that if a group G admits a discontinuous, co-compact action by isometries on a Gromov hyperbolic metric space, then G is weakly hyperbolic relative to the isotropy subgroups of the action.      

Automorphisms of Coxeter groups of type <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Subscript>

A Coxeter system (W, S) is said to be of type K _n if the associated Coxeter graph Γ_S is complete on n vertices and has only odd edge labels. If W satisfies either of: (1) n = 3; (2) W is rigid; then the automorphism group of W is generated by the inner automorphisms of W and any automorphisms induced by Γ_S. Indeed, Aut(W) is the semidirect product of Inn(W) and the group of diagram automorphisms, and furthermore W is strongly rigid. We also show that if W is a Coxeter group of type K _n then W has exactly one conjugacy class of involutions and hence Aut(W) = Spec(W).     

An inductive approach to Coxeter arrangements and Solomon’s descent algebra

In our recent paper (Douglass et al. (2011)), we claimed that both the group algebra of a finite Coxeter group W as well as the Orlik–Solomon algebra of W can be decomposed into a sum of induced one-dimensional representations of centralizers, one for each conjugacy class of elements of W, and gave a uniform proof of this claim for symmetric groups. In this note, we outline an inductive approach to our conjecture. As an application of this method, we prove the inductive version of the conjecture for finite Coxeter groups of rank up to 2.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-rank of Ext<Subscript>ℤ</Subscript>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis>, ℤ) in certain models of <Emphasis Type="Italic">ZFC</Emphasis>

We prove that if the existence of a supercompact cardinal is consistent with ZFC, then it is consistent with ZFC that the p-rank of Ext _ℤ(G, ℤ) is as large as possible for every prime p and for any torsion-free Abelian group G. Moreover, given an uncountable strong limit cardinal μ of countable cofinality and a partition of Π (the set of primes) into two disjoint subsets Π₀ and Π₁, we show that in some model which is very close to ZFC, there is an almost free Abelian group G of size 2^μ = μ⁺ such that the p-rank of Ext _ℤ(G, ℤ) equals 2^μ = μ⁺ for every p ∈ Π₀ and 0 otherwise, that is, for p ∈ Π₁. Number 874 in Shelah’s list of publications. Supported by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research & Development project No. I-706-54.6/2001. Supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation DFG. __________ Translated from Algebra i Logika, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 369–397, May–June, 2007.     

Topological rigidity of Hamiltonian loops and quantum homology

This paper studies the question of when a loop φ={φ _t }_{0≤ t ≤1} in the group Symp(M,ω) of symplectomorphisms of a symplectic manifold (M,ω) is isotopic to a loop that is generated by a time-dependent Hamiltonian function. (Loops with this property are said to be Hamiltonian.) Our main result is that Hamiltonian loops are rigid in the following sense: if φ is Hamiltonian with respect to ω, and if φ′ is a small perturbation of φ that preserves another symplectic form ω′, then φ′ is Hamiltonian with respect to ω′. This allows us to get some new information on the structure of the flux group, i.e. the image of π₁(Symp(M,ω)) under the flux homomorphism. We give a complete proof of our result for some manifolds, and sketch the proof in general. The argument uses methods developed by Seidel for studying properties of Hamiltonian loops via the quantum homology of M. Oblatum 31-X-1997 & 20-III-1998 / Published online: 14 October 1998     

Noncommutative algebras related with Schubert calculus on Coxeter groups

For any finite Coxeter system (W,S) we construct a certain noncommutative algebra, the so-called bracket algebra, together with a family of commuting elements, the so-called Dunkl elements. The Dunkl elements conjecturally generate an algebra which is canonically isomorphic to the coinvariant algebra of the Coxeter group W. We prove this conjecture for classical Coxeter groups and I₂(m). We define a “quantization” and a multiparameter deformation of our construction and show that for Lie groups of classical type and G₂, the algebra generated by Dunkl’s elements in the quantized bracket algebra is canonically isomorphic to the small quantum cohomology ring of the corresponding flag variety, as described by B. Kim. For crystallographic Coxeter systems we define the so-called quantum Bruhat representation of the corresponding bracket algebra. We study in more detail the structure of the relations in B_n-, D_n- and G₂-bracket algebras, and as an application, discover a Pieri-type formula in the B_n-bracket algebra. As a corollary, we obtain a Pieri-type formula for multiplication of an arbitrary B_n-Schubert class by some special ones. Our Pieri-type formula is a generalization of Pieri’s formulas obtained by A. Lascoux and M.-P. Schützenberger for flag varieties of type A. We also introduce a super-version of the bracket algebra together with a family of pairwise anticommutative elements, the so-called flat connections with constant coefficients, which describes “a noncommutative differential geometry on a finite Coxeter group” in the sense of S. Majid.     

Boundaries of Coxeter Matroids

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, for a finite Coxeter groupW, the mod 2 boundary operator on the space of all Coxeter matroids (also known asWP-matroids) forWandP, wherePvaries through all the proper standard parabolic subgroups ofW(Theorem 3 of the paper). A remarkably simple interpretation of Coxeter matroids as certain sets of faces of the generalized permutahedron associated with the Coxeter groupW(Theorem 1) yields a natural definition of the boundary of a Coxeter matroid. The latter happens to be a union of Coxeter matroids for maximal standard parabolic subgroupsQ_iofP(Theorem 2). These results have very natural interpretations in the case of ordinary matroids and flag-matroids (Section 3).     

Simple groups of finite morley rank and Tits buildings

Theorem A:If ℬ is an infinite Moufang polygon of finite Morley rank, then ℬ is either the projective plane, the symplectic quadrangle, or the split Cayley hexagon over some algebraically closed field. In particular, ℬ is an algebraic polygon. It follows that any infinite simple group of finite Morley rank with a spherical MoufangBN-pair of Tits rank 2 is eitherPSL ₃(K),PSp ₄(K) orG ₂(K) for some algebraically closed fieldK. Spherical irreducible buildings of Tits rank ≥ 3 are uniquely determined by their rank 2 residues (i.e. polygons). Using Theorem A we show Theorem B:If G is an infinite simple group of finite Morley rank with a spherical Moufang BN-pair of Tits rank ≥ 2, then G is (interpretably) isomorphic to a simple algebraic group over an algebraically closed field. Theorem C:Let K be an infinite field, and let G(K) denote the group of K-rational points of an isotropic adjoint absolutely simple K-algebraic group G of K-rank ≥ 2. Then G(K) has finite Morley rank if and only if the field K is algebraically closed. We also obtain a result aboutBN-pairs in splitK-algebraic groups: such aBN-pair always contains the root groups. Furthermore, we give a proof that the sets of points, lines and flags of any ℵ₁-categorical polygon have Morley degree 1. Partially sponsored by the Edmund Landau Center for Research in Mathematical Analysis, supported by the Minerva Foundation (Germany). Supported by the Minerva Foundation (Germany). Research Director at the Fund for Scientific Research-Flanders (Belgium).     

Recognition of finite groups by a set of orders of their elements

For G a finite group, ω(G) denotes the set of orders of elements in G. If ω is a subset of the set of natural numbers, h(ω) stands for the number of nonisomorphic groups G such that ω(G)=ω. We say that G is recognizable (by ω(G)) if h(ω(G))=1. G is almost recognizable (resp., nonrecognizable) if h(ω(G)) is finite (resp., infinite). It is shown that almost simple groups PGL_n(q) are nonrecognizable for infinitely many pairs (n, q). It is also proved that a simple group S₄(7) is recognizable, whereas A₁₀, U₃(5), U₃(7), U₄(2), and U₅(2) are not. From this, the following theorem is derived. Let G be a finite simple group such that every prime divisor of its order is at most 11. Then one of the following holds: (i) G is isomorphic to A₅, A₇, A₈, A₉, A₁₁, A₁₂, L₂(q), q=7, 8, 11, 49, L₃(4), S₄(7), U₄(3), U₆(2), M₁₁, M₁₂, M₂₂, HS, or M^cL, and G is recognizable by the set ω(G); (ii) G is isomorphic to A₆, A₁₀, U₃(3), U₄(2), U₅(2), U₃(5), or J₂, and G is nonrecognizable; (iii) G is isomorphic to S₆(2) or O ₈ ⁺ (2), and h(ω(G))=2. Supported by RFFR grant No. 96-01-01893. Translated fromAlgebra i Logika, Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 651–666, November–December, 1998.     

Recognition of the Projective Special Linear Group over GF（3）

Let P be a finite group and denote by w（P） the set of its element orders. P is called k-recognizable by the set of its element orders if for any finte group G with ω（G） =ω（P） there are, up to isomorphism, k finite groups G such that G ≌P. In this paper we will prove that the group Lp（3）, where p 〉 3 is a prime number, is at most 2-recognizable.     

The topology at infinity of Coxeter groups and buildings

The connectivity at infinity of a finitely generated Coxeter group W is completely determined by topological properties of its nerve L (a finite simplicial complex). For example, W is simply connected at infinity if and only if L and the subcomplexes (where ranges over all simplices in L) are simply connected. This characterization extends to locally finite buildings. Received: May 3, 2001