Coprime subdegrees for primitive permutation groups and completely reducible linear groups

In this paper we answer a question of Gabriel Navarro about orbit sizes of a finite linear group H ? GL(V) acting completely reducibly on a vector space V: if the H-orbits containing the vectors a and b have coprime lengths m and n, we prove that the H-orbit containing a + b has length mn. Such groups H are always reducible if n,m > 1. In fact, if H is an irreducible linear group, we show that, for every pair of non-zero vectors, their orbit lengths have a non-trivial common factor. In the more general context of finite primitive permutation groups G, we show that coprime non-identity subdegrees are possible if and only if G is of O’Nan-Scott type AS, PA or TW. In a forthcoming paper we will show that, for a finite primitive permutation group, a set of pairwise coprime subdegrees has size at most 2. Finally, as an application of our results, we prove that a field has at most 2 finite extensions of pairwise coprime indices with the same normal closure.     

Profinite Groups Admitting Just Infinite Quotients

 A profinite group is said to be just infinite if each of its proper quotients is finite. We address the question which profinite groups admit just infinite quotients. It is proved that any profinite group whose order (as a supernatural number) is divisible only by finitely many primes admits just infinite quotients. It is shown that if a profinite group G possesses the property in question then so does every open subgroup and every finite extension of G. Received 20 July 2001     

Bidders and dispenser: manipulative hypergames in a multinational context

The object of this paper is to present an introduction to the basic ideas of Hypergame Analysis, and to illustrate these by building some models of a particular type of situation.Hypergame Analysis is an extension of the Game-theoretic framework, the purpose of which is to enable one to model situations in which the various parties are not well-informed of each other's preferences and strategies. we take as a basic structure not a single game, but a linked set of ‘perceived’ games: this, in essence, is what constitutes a Hypergame. Misperceptions may arise accidentally or be deliberately induced. Thus, a player may be acting ‘rationally’ relative to the game he perceives, but this game itself may have been ‘set up’ to suit the interests of some other party.The technique is used to explore situations in which several parties (the ‘bidders’) negotiate competitively with another (the ‘dispenser’) who is able to accept whichever bidder's offer is most advantageous to him. In particular, the ability of the dispenser to ‘play off’ one bidder against another is examined. This is related to an account of the siting of new plant by a Multi-National Corporation. Some general implications are suggested: especially, it is argued that to have a reasonable chance of producing adequate forecasts in such difficult situations, modelling techniques must embody at least this degree of conceptual complexity.     

Classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete 2-arc-transitive quotients

In this paper we give a classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete 2-arc-transitive quotients. Of particular interest are two subfamilies of graphs which admit an arc-transitive action of a projective linear group. The graphs in these subfamilies can be defined in terms of the cross ratio of certain 4-tuples of elements of a finite projective line, and thus may be called the second type ‘cross ratio graphs’, which are different from the ‘cross ratio graphs’ studied in [A. Gardiner, C. E. Praeger, S. Zhou, Cross-ratio graphs, J. London Math. Soc. (2) 64 (2001), 257–272]. We also give a combinatorial characterisation of such second type cross ratio graphs.     

Orderly generation of half-regular symmetric designs via Rahilly families of pre-difference sets

Rahilly families of pre-difference sets have been introduced by Rahilly, Praeger, Street and Bryant as a tool for constructing symmetric designs. Using orderly generation, we construct Rahilly families for various groups up to equivalence. For each equivalence class we determine the isomorphism type of the corresponding design. Some designs may be new, whilst others were already known in which case we identify them. For each design we test whether it admits as an automorphism group a regular extension of one of the given groups. If this is the case, the pre-difference set for the given group is also a difference set for the regular extension. We prove that there are examples of designs with a Rahilly family of pre-difference sets for a group which do not admit a regular extension.     

Unitary graphs and classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete quotients

A finite graph Γ is called G-symmetric if G is a group of automorphisms of Γ which is transitive on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices of Γ. We study a family of symmetric graphs, called the unitary graphs, whose vertices are flags of the Hermitian unital and whose adjacency relations are determined by certain elements of the underlying finite fields. Such graphs admit the unitary groups as groups of automorphisms, and play a significant role in the classification of a family of symmetric graphs with complete quotients such that an associated incidence structure is a doubly point-transitive linear space. We give this classification in the paper and also investigate combinatorial properties of the unitary graphs.     

On quotients of Coxeter groups under the weak order

We consider quotients of finitely generated Coxeter groups under the weak order. Björner and Wachs proved that every such quotient is a meet semi-lattice, and in the finite case is a lattice [Björner and Wachs, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 308 (1988) 1–37]. Our result is that the quotient of an affine Weyl group by the corresponding finite Weyl group is a lattice, and that up to isomorphism, these are the only quotients of infinite Coxeter groups that are lattices. In this paper, we restrict our attention to the non-affine case; the affine case appears in [Waugh, Order 16 (1999) 77–87]. We reduce to the hyperbolic case by an argument using induced subgraphs of Coxeter graphs. Within each quotient, we produce a set of elements with no common upper bound, generated by a Maple program. The number of cases is reduced because the sets satisfy the following conjecture: if a set of elements does not have an upper bound in a particular Coxeter group, then it does not have an upper bound in any Coxeter group whose graph can be obtained from the graph of the original group by increasing edge weights.     

Equivariant primary decomposition and toric sheaves

We study global primary decompositions in the category of sheaves on a scheme which are equivariant under the action of an algebraic group. We show that equivariant primary decompositions exist if the group is connected. As main application we consider the case of varieties which are quotients of a quasi-affine variety by the action of a diagonalizable group and thus admit a homogeneous coordinate ring, such as toric varieties. Comparing these decompositions with primary decompositions of graded modules over the homogeneous coordinate ring, we show that these are equivalent if the action of the diagonalizable group is free. We give some specific examples for the case of toric varieties.     

Class invariants from a new kind of Weber-like modular equation

A technique is described for explicitly evaluating quotients of the Dedekind eta function at quadratic integers. These evaluations do not make use of complex approximations but are found by an entirely ‘algebraic’ method. They are obtained by means of specialising certain modular equations related to Weber’s modular equations of ‘irrational type’. The technique works for certain eta quotients evaluated at points in an imaginary quadratic field with discriminant \(d \equiv 1 \pmod {8}\).     

A tale of two categories: Inductive groupoids and cross-connections

A groupoid is a small category in which all morphisms are isomorphisms. An inductive groupoid is a specialized groupoid whose object set is a regular biordered set and the morphisms admit a partial order. A normal category is a specialized small category whose object set is a strict preorder and the morphisms admit a factorization property. A pair of ‘related’ normal categories constitutes a cross-connection. Both inductive groupoids and cross-connections were identified by Nambooripad as categorical models of regular semigroups. We explore the inter-relationship between these seemingly different categorical structures and prove a direct category equivalence between the category of inductive groupoids and the category of cross-connections.     

Local Rings of Rings of Quotients

The aim of this paper is to characterize those elements in a semiprime ring R for which taking local rings at elements and rings of quotients are commuting operations. If Q denotes the maximal ring of left quotients of R, then this happens precisely for those elements if R which are von Neumann regular in Q. An intrinsic characterization of such elements is given. We derive as a consequence that the maximal left quotient ring of a prime ring with a nonzero PI-element is primitive and has nonzero socle. If we change Q to the Martindale symmetric ring of quotients, or to the maximal symmetric ring of quotients of R, we obtain similar results: an element a in R is von Neumann regular if and only if the ring of quotients of the local ring of R at a is isomorphic to the local ring of Q at a. Partially supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and Fondos Feder, jointly, trough projects MTM2004-03845, MTM2007-61978 and MTM2004-06580-C02-02, MTM2007-60333, by the Junta de Andalucía, FQM-264, FQM336 and FQM02467 and by the Plan de Investigación del Principado de Asturias FICYT-IB05-017.     

Psl(2,q) quotients of some hyperbolic tetrahedral and coxeter groups

We classify quotients of type PSL(2,q) and PGL(2,q) with torsion-free kernel for four of the nine hyperbolic tetrahedral groups. Using this result, we give a classification of the quotients with torsion-free kernel of type PSL(2q) ×Z₂ of the associated Coxeter or reflection groups. These do not admit quotients of type PSL(2,q),PGL(2,q). We also study quotients of type PSL(2,q) and PGL(2,q) of the fundamental group of the hyperbolic 3-orbifold of minimal known volume.     

Anosov diffeomorphisms on infra-nilmanifolds associated to graphs

Anosov diffeomorphisms on closed Riemannian manifolds are a type of dynamical systems exhibiting uniform hyperbolic behavior. Therefore, their properties are intensively studied, including which spaces allow such a diffeomorphism. It is conjectured that any closed manifold admitting an Anosov diffeomorphism is homeomorphic to an infra-nilmanifold, that is, a compact quotient of a 1-connected nilpotent Lie group by a discrete group of isometries. This conjecture motivates the problem of describing which infra-nilmanifolds admit an Anosov diffeomorphism. So far, most research was focused on the restricted class of nilmanifolds, which are quotients of 1-connected nilpotent Lie groups by uniform lattices. For example, Dani and Mainkar studied this question for the nilmanifolds associated to graphs, which form the natural generalization of nilmanifolds modeled on free nilpotent Lie groups. This paper further generalizes their work to the full class of infra-nilmanifolds associated to graphs, leading to a necessary and sufficient condition depending only on the induced action of the holonomy group on the defining graph. As an application, we construct families of infra-nilmanifolds with cyclic holonomy groups admitting an Anosov diffeomorphism, starting from faithful actions of the holonomy group on simple graphs.     

Pre-recursive categories

How can we obtain in a natural way the primitive recursive functions in categories? In this paper, we study the free ‘cartesian closed category with a natural numbers object (in the sense of the Peano-Lawvere axiom)’ generated by the empty category. In this category, every morphism 1 → N represents a natural number and every morphism N → N represents a function. Furthermore, the set of functions represented by the morphisms of this category contains strictly the set of primitive recursive functions and is strictly contained in the set of recursive functions. Then, we see that this category is a categorical version of Grzegorczyk's recursive functionals of finite type, with the addition of product types.     

Difference Equation for Functions Analytic Outside Two Squares

We consider a totality of two squares built on primitive periods 1 and i and “sufficiently close to each other“. In a vicinity of this set we investigate four-element difference equation with constant coefficients, whose linear shifts are generating transforms of the corresponding doubly periodic group and the inverse transforms. We seek a solution in a class of functions, which are analytic outside this set and vanish at infinity. The equation is applicable to the moments problem for entire functions of exponential type.     

A combinatorial theory of minimal social situations

A minimal social situation is a game‐like situation in which there are two actors, each of them has two possible actions, and both evaluate the outcomes of their joint actions in terms of two categories (say, ‘success’ and ‘failure'). By fixing actors and actions and varying ‘payoffs’ the set of 256 ‘configurations’ is obtained. This set decomposes into 43 ‘structural forms’, or equivalence classes with respect to the relation of isomorphism defined on it. This main theorem and other results concerning related configurations (minimal decision situations) are derived in this paper by means of certain tools of group theory. Some extensions to larger structures are proved in the Appendix. In the introductory section after a brief explanation of the meaning given to the terms ‘structure’ and ‘isomorphism’ in mathematics (Bourbaki) it is shown how these terms can be used to formalize the concept of ‘social form’.     

Reguläre Inzidenzkomplexe II

The concept of regular incidence complexes generalizes the notion of regular polyhedra in a combinatorial and grouptheoretical sense. A regular (incidence) complex K is a special type of partially ordered structure with regularity defined by the flag-transitivity of its group A(K) of automorphisms. The structure of a regular complex K can be characterized by certain sets of generators and ‘relations’ of its group. The barycentric subdivision of K leads to a simplicial complex, from which K can be rebuilt by fitting together faces. Moreover, we characterize the groups that act flag-transitively on regular complexes. Thus we have a correspondence between regular complexes on the one hand and certain groups on the other hand. Especially, this principle is used to give a geometric representation for an important class of regular complexes, the so-called regular incidence polytopes. There are certain universal incidence polytopes associated to Coxeter groups with linear diagram, from which each regular incidence polytope can be deduced by identifying faces. These incidence polytopes admit a geometric representation in the real space by convex cones.     

Affine Rank 3 Groups on Symmetric Designs

In this note we determine the symmetric designs which admit a primitive rank 3 group with a solvable normal subgroup. This completes the investigations of Dempwolff [4].