A problem on partial sums in abelian groups

In this paper we propose a conjecture concerning partial sums of an arbitrary finite subset of an abelian group that naturally arises investigating simple Heffter systems. Then we show its connection with related open problems and we present some results about the validity of these conjectures.     

Torsion units for some almost simple groups

We investigate the Zassenhaus conjecture regarding rational conjugacy of torsion units in integral group rings for certain automorphism groups of simple groups. Recently, many new restrictions on partial augmentations for torsion units of integral group rings have improved the effectiveness of the Luther-Passi method for verifying the Zassenhaus conjecture for certain groups. We prove that the Zassenhaus conjecture is true for the automorphism group of the simple group PSL(2, 11). Additionally we prove that the Prime graph question is true for the automorphism group of the simple group PSL(2, 13).     

Character theory of symmetric groups, subgroup growth of Fuchsian groups, and random walks

We develop a number of statistical aspects of symmetric groups (mostly dealing with the distribution of cycles in various subsets of Sn), asymptotic properties of (ordinary) characters of symmetric groups, and estimates for the multiplicities of root number functions of these groups. As main applications, we present an estimate for the subgroup growth of an arbitrary Fuchsian group, a finiteness result for the number of Fuchsian presentations of such a group (resolving a long-standing problem of Roger Lyndon), as well as a proof of a well-known conjecture of Roichman concerning the mixing time of random walks on symmetric groups.     

New Beauville surfaces and finite simple groups

In this paper we construct new Beauville surfaces with group either PSL(2, p ^e ), or belonging to some other families of finite simple groups of Lie type of low Lie rank, or an alternating group, or a symmetric group, proving a conjecture of Bauer, Catanese and Grunewald. The proofs rely on probabilistic group theoretical results of Liebeck and Shalev, on classical results of Macbeath and on recent results of Marion.     

The admissibility of sporadic simple groups

In 1955 Hall and Paige conjectured that a finite group is admissible, i.e., admits complete mappings, if its Sylow 2-subgroup is trivial or noncyclic. In a recent paper, Wilcox proved that any minimal counterexample to this conjecture must be simple, and further, must be either the Tits group or a sporadic simple group. In this paper we improve on this result by proving that the fourth Janko group is the only possible minimal counterexample to this conjecture: John Bray reports having proved that this group is also not a counterexample, thus completing a proof of the Hall–Paige conjecture.     

Lehmer's problem for compact Abelian groups

We formulate Lehmer's Problem concerning the Mahler measure of polynomials for general compact abelian groups, introducing a Lehmer constant for each such group. We show that all nontrivial connected compact groups have the same Lehmer constant and conjecture the value of the Lehmer constant for finite cyclic groups. We also show that if a group has infinitely many connected components, then its Lehmer constant vanishes.

     

Curve graphs and Garside groups

We present a simple construction which associates to every Garside group a metric space, called the additional length graph, on which the group acts. These spaces share important features with curve graphs: they are \(\delta \)-hyperbolic, infinite, and typically locally infinite graphs. We conjecture that, apart from obvious counterexamples, additional length graphs have always infinite diameter. We prove this conjecture for the classical example of braid groups \((B_n,B_n^{+},\varDelta )\); moreover, in this framework, reducible and periodic braids act elliptically, and at least some pseudo-Anosov braids act loxodromically. We conjecture that for \(B_n\), the additional length graph is actually quasi-isometric to the curve graph of the n times punctured disk.     

Recognition of some simple groups by their noncommuting graphs

Let G be a nonabelian group and associate a noncommuting graph ?(G) with G as follows: The vertex set of ?(G) is G\Z(G) with two vertices x and y joined by an edge whenever the commutator of x and y is not the identity. Abdollahi et al. (J Algebra 298(2):468–492, 2006) put forward a conjecture called AAM’s Conjecture in as follows: If M is a finite nonabelian simple group and G is a group such that ?(G) ? ?(M), then G ? M. Even though this conjecture is well known to hold for all simple groups with nonconnected prime graphs and the alternating group A ₁₀ [see Darafsheh (Groups with the same non-commuting graph. Discrete Appl Math (2008) doi:10.1016/j.dam.2008.06.010), Wang and Shi (Commun Algebra 36(2):523–528, 2008)], it is still unknown for all simple groups with connected prime graphs except A ₁₀. In the present paper, we prove that this conjecture is also true for the projective special linear simple group L ₄(9). The new method used in this paper also works well in the cases L ₄(4), L ₄(7), U ₄(7), etc.     

Links ore sets,and classical localizations

The notion of a simple ring D_Gderived from a group ring KG is introduced in case K is a field and G is an infinite residually finite group. The close link between D_Gand K_G is exploited in both directions: first, for a simple proof of the Kaplansky's conjecture concerning direct finiteness of KG. Second, to show that D_Gprovides counter-examples to some conjectures dealing with von Neumann regular rings and the rings all of whose one-sided ideals are generated by idempotents.     

Base sizes for sporadic simple groups

Let G be a permutation group acting on a set Ω. A subset of Ω is a base for G if its pointwise stabilizer in G is trivial. We write b(G) for the minimal size of a base for G. We determine the precise value of b(G) for every primitive almost simple sporadic group G, with the exception of two cases involving the Baby Monster group. As a corollary, we deduce that b(G) ⩽ 7, with equality if and only if G is the Mathieu group M24 in its natural action on 24 points. This settles a conjecture of Cameron.     

Concerning the shape of a geometric lattice

A well-known conjecture states that the Whitney numbers of the second kind of a geometric lattice (simple matroid) are logarithmically concave. We show this conjecture to be equivalent to proving an upper bound on the number of new copoints in the free erection of the associated simple matroid M. A bound on the number of these new copoints is given in terms of the copoints and colines of M. Also, the points-lines-planes conjecture is shown to be equivalent to a problem concerning the number of subgraphs of a certain bipartite graph whose vertices are the points and lines of a geometric lattice.     

Recognition of some simple groups by their noncommuting graphs

Let G be a nonabelian group and associate a noncommuting graph ∇(G) with G as follows: The vertex set of ∇(G) is G\Z(G) with two vertices x and y joined by an edge whenever the commutator of x and y is not the identity. Abdollahi et al. (J Algebra 298(2):468–492, 2006) put forward a conjecture called AAM’s Conjecture in as follows: If M is a finite nonabelian simple group and G is a group such that ∇(G) ≅ ∇(M), then G ≅ M. Even though this conjecture is well known to hold for all simple groups with nonconnected prime graphs and the alternating group A ₁₀ [see Darafsheh (Groups with the same non-commuting graph. Discrete Appl Math (2008) doi:), Wang and Shi (Commun Algebra 36(2):523–528, 2008)], it is still unknown for all simple groups with connected prime graphs except A ₁₀. In the present paper, we prove that this conjecture is also true for the projective special linear simple group L ₄(9). The new method used in this paper also works well in the cases L ₄(4), L ₄(7), U ₄(7), etc.     

Finite groups with odd Sylow automizers

Let p be an odd prime number. In this paper, we characterize the nonabelian composition factors of a finite group with odd p-Sylow automizers, and then prove that the McKay conjecture, the Alperin weight conjecture, and the Alperin–McKay conjecture hold for such a group.     

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.     

Uniqueness cases in odd-type groups of finite Morley rank

There is a longstanding conjecture, due to Gregory Cherlin andBoris Zilber, that all simple groups of finite Morley rank aresimple algebraic groups. One of the major theorems in the areais Borovik's trichotomy theorem. The ‘trichotomy’here is a case division of the generic minimal counterexampleswithin odd type, that is, groups with a large and divisibleSylow° 2-subgroup. The so-called ‘uniqueness case’in the trichotomy theorem is the existence of a proper 2-generatedcore. It is our aim to drive the presence of a proper 2-generatedcore to a contradiction, and hence bind the complexity of theSylow° 2-subgroup of a minimal counterexample to the Cherlin–Zilberconjecture. This paper shows that the group in question is aminimal connected simple group and has a strongly embedded subgroup,a far stronger uniqueness case. As a corollary, a tame counterexampleto the Cherlin–Zilber conjecture has Prüfer rankat most two.     

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.     

Profinite groups, profinite completions and a conjecture of Moore

Let R be any ring (with 1), Γ a group and RΓ the corresponding group ring. Let H be a subgroup of Γ of finite index. Let M be an RΓ-module, whose restriction to RH is projective.Moore's conjecture (J. Pure Appl. Algebra 7(1976)287): Assume for every nontrivial element x in Γ, at least one of the following two conditions holds:

(M1)

〈x〉∩H≠{e} (in particular this holds if Γ is torsion free)

(M2)

ord(x) is finite and invertible in R.

Then M is projective as an RΓ-module.More generally, the conjecture has been formulated for crossed products R*Γ and even for strongly graded rings R(Γ). We prove the conjecture for new families of groups, in particular for groups whose profinite completion is torsion free.The conjecture can be formulated for profinite modules M over complete groups rings [[RΓ]] where R is a profinite ring and Γ a profinite group. We prove the conjecture for arbitrary profinite groups. This implies Serre's theorem on cohomological dimension of profinite groups.     

A new upper bound for the cross number of finite abelian groups

In this paper, building among others on earlier works by U. Krause and C. Zahlten (dealing with the case of cyclic groups), we obtain a new upper bound for the little cross number valid in the general case of arbitrary finite abelian groups. Given a finite abelian group, this upper bound appears to depend only on the rank and the number of distinct prime divisors of the exponent. The main theorem of this paper allows us, among other consequences, to prove that a classical conjecture concerning the cross and little cross numbers of finite abelian groups holds asymptotically in at least two different directions.     

Minimal logarithmic signatures for classical groups

The minimal logarithmic signature conjecture states that in any finite simple group there are subsets A _i , 1 ≤ i ≤ k such that the size |A _i | of each A _i is a prime or 4 and each element of the group has a unique expression as a product \({\prod_{i=1}^k x_i}\) of elements \({x_i \in A_i}\). The conjecture is known to be true for several families of simple groups. In this paper the conjecture is shown to be true for the groups \({\Omega^-_{2m}(q), \Omega^+_{2m}(q)}\), when q is even, by studying the action on suitable spreads in the corresponding projective spaces. It is also shown that the method can be used for the finite symplectic groups. The construction in fact gives cyclic minimal logarithmic signatures in which each A _i is of the form \({\{y_i^j \ |\ 0 \leq j < |A_i|\}}\) for some element y _i of order ≥ |A _i |.