Property (T) and Kazhdan constants for discrete groups

Let be a group generated by a finite set S. We give a sufficient condition for to have Kazhdan's property (T). This condition is easy to check and gives Kazhdan constants. We give examples of groups to which this method applies. We prove that in some setting generic presentations define groups which satisfy this condition and thus have property (T). Moreover we prove that small changes in the presentation of a group satisfying this condition do not change the fact that the group has property (T).     

On conjugacy classes in metaplectic groups

Let E be a finite dimensional symplectic space over a local field of characteristic zero. We show that for every element in the metaplectic double cover of the symplectic group Sp(E), and are conjugate by an element of GSp(E) with similitude −1.     

Finite groups with small conjugacy classes

We study finite groups G in which the number of distinct prime divisors of the length of the conjugacy classes is at most three. In particular we prove, under this condition, a conjecture of B. Huppert on the number of prime divisors of ÷G/Z(G)÷.     

Twisted conjugacy classes in nilpotent groups

Let N be a finitely generated nilpotent group. We show that there is an algorithm that for any automorphism φ∈Aut(N) computes its Reidemeister number R(φ). It is proved that any free nilpotent group N_rc of rank r and class c belongs to class R_∞ if any of the following conditions holds: r=2 and c≥4; r=3 and c≥12; r≥4 and c≥2r.     

Sign conjugacy classes of the alternating groups

A conjugacy class C of a finite group G is a sign conjugacy class if every irreducible character of G takes value 0,1 or ?1 on C. In this paper, we classify the sign conjugacy classes of alternating groups.     

Some finite groups with large conjugacy classes

We derive some properties of a family of finite groups, which was investigated by Camina, Macdonald, and others. For instance, we give information about the Schur multipliers of the class twop-groups in this family. A large part of this paper was written while the author was visiting the Department of Mathematics of the University of Trento. The author is indebted to this department, and in particular to C.M. Scoppola, for their kind hospitality. The author is also grateful to D. Chillag for his constructively destructive criticism of the first version of this paper.     

Finite groups with three rational conjugacy classes

We show that if a finite group G has exactly three rational conjugacy classes, then G also has exactly three rational-valued irreducible complex characters. This generalizes a result of Navarro and Tiep (Trans Amer Math Soc 360:2443–2465, 2008) and partially answers in the affirmative a conjecture of theirs. We also give a family of examples of non-solvable groups with exactly three rational conjugacy classes.     

Finite groups with many product conjugacy classes

We classify all finite groupsG such that the product of any two non-inverse conjugacy classes ofG is always a conjugacy class ofG. We also classify all finite groupsG for which the product of any twoG-conjugacy classes which are not inverse modulo the center ofG is again a conjugacy class ofG.     

Affine weyl groups and conjugacy classes in Weyl groups

We define a map from an affine Weyl group to the set of conjugacy classes of an ordinary Weyl group. Supported in part by the National Science Foundation.     

Finite groups have even more conjugacy classes

In his paper Finite groups have many conjugacy classes (J. London Math. Soc (2) 46 (1992), 239–249), L. Pyber proved the to-date best general lower bounds for the number of conjugacy classes of a finite group in terms of the order of the group. In this paper we strengthen the main results in Pyber’s paper.     

A note on conjugacy classes of finite groups

Let G be a finite group and let x ^G denote the conjugacy class of an element x of G. We classify all finite groups G in the following three cases: (i) Each non-trivial conjugacy class of G together with the identity element 1 is a subgroup of G, (ii) union of any two distinct non-trivial conjugacy classes of G together with 1 is a subgroup of G, and (iii) union of any three distinct non-trivial conjugacy classes of G together with 1 is a subgroup of G.     

Reality properties of conjugacy classes in algebraic groups

Let be a (not necessarily semi-finite) σ-finite von Neumann algebra. We prove that there exists a finite von Neumann algebra so that for every 1 < p < 2, the Haagerup L ^p -space associated with embeds isomorphically into . We also provide a proof of the following non-commutative generalization of a classical result of Rosenthal: if is a semi-finite von Neumann algebra then every reflexive subspace of embeds isomorphically into L ^r ( ) for some r > 1. Dedicated to Professor H. P. Rosenthal on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday Research partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0456781.     

On groups with conjugacy classes of distinct sizes

A finite group G is called an ah-group if any two distinct conjugacy classes of G have distinct cardinality. We show that if G is an ah-group, then the non-abelian socle of G is isomorphic to one of the following:

1. , for 1a5, a≠2.

2. A₈.

3. PSL(3,4)^e, for 1e10.

4. A₅×PSL(3,4)^e, for 1e10.

Based on this result, we virtually show that if G is an ah-group with π(G) 2,3,5,7 , then F(G)≠1, or equivalently, that G has an abelian normal subgroup.In addition, we show that if G is an ah-group of minimal size which is not isomorphic to S₃, then the non-abelian socle of G is either trivial or isomorphic to one of the following:

1. , for 3a5.

2. PSL(3,4)^e, for 1e10.

Our research lead us to interesting results related to transitivity and homogeneousity in permutation groups, and to subgroups of wreath products of form Z₂S_n. These results are of independent interest and are located in appendices for greater autonomy.     

On graphs related to conjugacy classes of groups

LetG be a finite group. Attach toG the following two graphs: Γ — its vertices are the non-central conjugacy classes ofG, and two vertices are connected if their sizes arenot coprime, and Γ* — its vertices are the prime divisors of sizes of conjugacy classes ofG, and two vertices are connected if they both divide the size of some conjugacy class ofG. We prove that whenever Γ* is connected then its diameter is at most 3, (this result was independently proved in [3], for solvable groups) and Γ* is disconnected if and only ifG is quasi-Frobenius with abelian kernel and complements. Using the method of that proof we give an alternative proof to Theorems in [1],[2],[6], namely that the diameter of Γ is also at most 3, whenever the graph is connected, and that Γ is disconnected if and only ifG is quasi-Frobenius with abelian kernel and complements. As a result we conclude that both Γ and Γ* have at most two connected components. In [2],[3] it is shown that the above bounds are best possible. The content of this paper corresponds to a part of the author’s Ph.D. thesis carried out at the Tel Aviv University under the supervision of Prof. Marcel Herzog.     

Twisted conjugacy classes in saturated weakly branch groups

For a wide class of saturated weakly branch groups, including the (first) Grigorchuk group and the Gupta-Sidki group, we prove that the Reidemeister number of any automorphism is infinite.      

Intersections of conjugacy classes and subgroups of algebraic groups

We show that if is a reductive group, then th roots of conjugacy classes are a finite union of conjugacy classes, and that if is an algebraic overgroup of , then the intersection of with a conjugacy class of is a finite union of -conjugacy classes. These results follow from results on finiteness of unipotent classes in an almost simple algebraic group.