Remarks on Harada’s conjecture

An open conjecture by Harada from 1981 gives an easy characterization of the p-blocks of a finite group in terms of the ordinary character table. Kiyota and Okuyama have shown that the conjecture holds for p-solvable groups. In the present work we extend this result using a criterion on the decomposition matrix. In this way we prove Harada’s Conjecture for several new families of defect groups and for all blocks of sporadic simple groups. In the second part of the paper we present a dual approach to Harada’s Conjecture.     

On a minimal counterexample to Brauer’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>)-conjecture

We study Brauer’s long-standing k(B)-conjecture on the number of characters in p-blocks for finite quasi-simple groups and show that their blocks do not occur as a minimal counterexample for p ≥ 5 nor in the case of abelian defect. For p = 3 we obtain that the principal 3-blocks do not provide minimal counterexamples. We also determine the precise number of irreducible characters in unipotent blocks of classical groups for odd primes.     

Characterization of the alternating groups by their order and one conjugacy class length

Let G be a finite group, and let N(G) be the set of conjugacy class sizes of G. By Thompson’s conjecture, if L is a finite non-abelian simple group, G is a finite group with a trivial center, and N(G) = N(L), then L and G are isomorphic. Recently, Chen et al. contributed interestingly to Thompson’s conjecture under a weak condition. They only used the group order and one or two special conjugacy class sizes of simple groups and characterized successfully sporadic simple groups (see Li’s PhD dissertation). In this article, we investigate validity of Thompson’s conjecture under a weak condition for the alternating groups of degrees p+1 and p+2, where p is a prime number. This work implies that Thompson’s conjecture holds for the alternating groups of degree p + 1 and p + 2.     

Large $${\varvec{p}}^{\prime }$$-orbits for $${\varvec{p}}$$p-nilpotent linear groups

Let G be a p-nilpotent linear group on a finite vector space V of characteristic p. Suppose that |G||V| is odd. Let P be a Sylow p-subgroup of G. We show that there exist vectors \(v_1\) and \(v_2\) in V such that \(C_G(v_1) \cap C_G(v_2)=P\). A striking conjecture of Malle and Navarro offers a simple global criterion for the nilpotence (in the sense of Broué and Puig) of a p-block of a finite group. Our result implies that this conjecture holds for groups of odd order.     

Generation of a finite group with Hall maximal subgroups by a pair of conjugate elements

For a finite group G, the set of all prime divisors of |G| is denoted by π(G). P. Shumyatsky introduced the following conjecture, which was included in the “Kourovka Notebook” as Question 17.125: a finite group G always contains a pair of conjugate elements a and b such that π(G) = π(〈a, b〉). Denote by \(\mathfrak{Y}\) the class of all finite groups G such that π(H) ≠ π(G) for every maximal subgroup H in G. Shumyatsky’s conjecture is equivalent to the following conjecture: every group from \(\mathfrak{Y}\) is generated by two conjugate elements. Let \(\mathfrak{V}\) be the class of all finite groups in which every maximal subgroup is a Hall subgroup. It is clear that \(\mathfrak{V} \subseteq \mathfrak{Y}\). We prove that every group from \(\mathfrak{V}\) is generated by two conjugate elements. Thus, Shumyatsky’s conjecture is partially supported. In addition, we study some properties of a smallest order counterexample to Shumyatsky’s conjecture.     

Linear closures of finite geometries

The interrelations between finite geometries (finite incidence structures) and linear codes over finite fields are discussed under some special fundamental aspects. For any incidence structure \({\mathcal{I}}\) block codes, block-difference codes and co-block codes over finite fields of characteristic p are discussed resp. introduced; correspondingly p-modular co-blocks are defined for \({\mathcal{I}}\). Orthogonality modulo p is introduced as a concept relating different geometries having the same point set. Conversely three types of block-tactical geometries may be derived from vector classes of fixed Hamming weight in a given linear code. These geometries are tactical configurations if the given code admits a transitive permutation group. A combination of both approaches leads to the concept of p-closure of a finite geometry and to the notions of p-closed, weakly p-closed and p-dense incidence structures. These geometric concepts are applied to simple or directed graphs via their natural “adjacency geometry”. Here the above mentioned code theoretic treatment leads to the concept of p-modular co-adjacent vertex sets. As instructive examples the Petersen graph, its complemetary graph and the Higman-Sims graph are considered.     

Thompson’s conjecture for the alternating group of degree 2<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> and 2<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>+1

For a finite group G denote by N(G) the set of conjugacy class sizes of G. In 1980s, J.G.Thompson posed the following conjecture: If L is a finite nonabelian simple group, G is a finite group with trivial center and N(G) = N(L), then G ? L. We prove this conjecture for an infinite class of simple groups. Let p be an odd prime. We show that every finite group G with the property Z(G) = 1 and N(G) = N(A _i ) is necessarily isomorphic to A _i , where i ∈ {2p, 2p + 1}.     

Characterization of convex domains in ℂ<Superscript>2</Superscript> with non-compact automorphism group

In the field of several complex variables, the Greene-Krantz Conjecture, whose consequences would be far reaching, has yet to be proven. The conjecture is as follows: Let D be a smoothly bounded domain in ?ⁿ. Suppose there exists {g _j} ? Aut(D) such that {g _j(z)} accumulates at a boundary point p ∈ ?D for some z ∈ D. Then ?D is of finite type at p. In this paper, we prove the following result, yielding further evidence to the probable veracity of this important conjecture: Let D be a bounded convex domain in ?² with C ² boundary. Suppose that there is a sequence {g _j} ? Aut(D) such that {g _j(z)} accumulates at a boundary point for some point z ∈ D. Then if p ∈ ?D is such an orbit accumulation point, ?D contains no non-trivial analytic variety passing through p.     

On 2-blocks with {k(B) - l(B) = 1}

We investigate some properties of Cartan matrices of symmetric algebras. In particular, we study the Cartan matrices of p-blocks B of finite groups for the cases that \({k(B) - l(B) = 1}\) and that \({k(B) = 3}\) where k(B) and l(B) are the numbers of irreducible ordinary and Brauer characters associated to B, respectively.     

On the Malle conjecture and the self-twisted cover

For a large class of finite groups G, the number of Galois extensions E/Q of group G and discriminant |d _E | ≤ y is shown to grow at least like a power of y, for some specified positive exponent. The groups G are the regular Galois groups over Q and the counted extensions E/Q are obtained by specializing a given regular Galois extension F/Q(T). The extensions E/Q can further be prescribed any unramified local behavior at each suitably large prime p ≤ log(y)/δ for some δ ≥ 1. This result is a step toward the Malle conjecture on the number of Galois extensions of given group and bounded discriminant. The local conditions further make it a notable constraint on regular Galois groups over Q. The method uses a new version of Hilbert’s irreducibility theorem that counts the specialized extensions and not just the specialization points. A main tool for it is the self-twisted cover that we introduce.     

On a Fitting length conjecture without the coprimeness condition

Let A be a finite nilpotent group acting fixed point freely by automorphisms on the finite solvable group G. It is conjectured that the Fitting length of G is bounded by the number of primes dividing the order of A, counted with multiplicities. The main result of this paper shows that the conjecture is true in the case where A is cyclic of order p ⁿ q, for prime numbers p and q coprime to 6 and G has abelian Sylow 2-subgroups.     

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.     

SPECIAL REDUCTIVE GROUPS OVER AN ARBITRARY FIELD

A linear algebraic group G defined over a field k is called special if every G-torsor over every field extension of k is trivial. In 1958 Grothendieck classified special groups in the case where the base field is algebraically closed. In this paper we describe the derived subgroup and the coradical of a special reductive group over an arbitrary field k. We also classify special semisimple groups, special reductive groups of inner type, and special quasisplit reductive groups over an arbitrary field k. Finally, we give an application to a conjecture of Serre.     

On locally finite Cpp-groups

A group G is called a Cpp-group for a prime number p, if G has elements of order p and the centralizer of every non-trivial p-element of G is a pgroup. In this paper we prove that the only infinite locally finite simple groups that are Cpp-groups are isomorphic either to PSL(2,K) or, if p = 2, to Sz(K), with K a suitable algebraic field over GF(p). Using this fact, we also give some structure theorems for infinite locally finite Cpp-groups.     

Hochschild cohomology ring modulo nilpotence of a one point extension of a quiver algebra defined by two cycles and a quantum-like relation

We consider a one point extension algebra B of a quiver algebra A _q over a field k defined by two cycles and a quantum-like relation depending on a nonzero element q in k. We determine the Hochschild cohomology ring of B modulo nilpotence and show that if q is a root of unity, then B is a counterexample to Snashall-Solberg’s conjecture.     

Strict <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-negative type of a metric space

Doust and Weston (J Funct Anal 254:2336–2364, 2008) have introduced a new method called enhanced negative type for calculating a non-trivial lower bound \({\wp_{T}}\) on the supremal strict p-negative type of any given finite metric tree (T, d). In the context of finite metric trees any such lower bound \({\wp_{T} >1 }\) is deemed to be non-trivial. In this paper we refine the technique of enhanced negative type and show how it may be applied more generally to any finite metric space (X, d) that is known to have strict p-negative type for some p ≥ 0. This allows us to significantly improve the lower bounds on the supremal strict p-negative type of finite metric trees that were given in Doust and Weston (J Funct Anal 254:2336–2364, 2008, Corollary 5.5) and, moreover, leads in to one of our main results: the supremal p-negative type of a finite metric space cannot be strict. By way of application we are then able to exhibit large classes of finite metric spaces (such as finite isometric subspaces of Hadamard manifolds) that must have strict p-negative type for some p > 1. We also show that if a metric space (finite or otherwise) has p-negative type for some p > 0, then it must have strict q-negative type for all \({q \in [0, p)}\) . This generalizes Schoenberg (Ann Math 38:787–793, 1937, Theorem 2) and leads to a complete classification of the intervals on which a metric space may have strict p-negative type.     

Principal blocks and p-radical groups

Let G be a finite group and k a field of characteristic p > 0. In this paper, we obtain several equivalent conditions to determine whether the principal block B₀ of a finite p-solvable group G is p-radical, which means that B₀ has the property that e₀(k_P)^G is semisimple as a kG-module, where P is a Sylow p-subgroup of G, k_P is the trivial kP-module, (k_P)^G is the induced module, and e₀ is the block idempotent of B₀. We also give the complete classification of a finite p-solvable group G which has not more than three simple B₀-modules where B₀ is p-radical.     

Indecomposable decompositions of modular standard modules for two families of association schemes

We investigate the indecomposable decomposition of the modular standard modules of two families of association schemes of finite order. First, we show that, for each prime number p, the standard module over a field F of characteristic p of a residually thin scheme S of p-power order is an indecomposable FS-module. Second, we describe the indecomposable decomposition of the standard module over a field of positive characteristic of a wreath product of finitely many association schemes of rank 2.     

S-units and periodicity of continued fractions in hyperelliptic fields

Let L be the function field of a hyperelliptic curve defined over any field of characteristic different from 2, and let S be a set consisting of an infinite and a finite valuation of L. A relationship between the problem of the existence of nontrivial S-units in the field L and the periodicity of the continued fraction expansion of certain key elements of L is discovered for the first time for finite valuations.