Commutators of symmetries in characteristic 2

Let V be a nonsingular vector space over a field K of characteristic 2 with |K|>3. Suppose K is perfect and π is an element in the special orthogonal group SO(V)=Ω(V) with dimB(π)=2d. The length of π with respect to the symmetry commutators is d if B(π) is not totally isotropic; otherwise it is d+1.     

Automorphisms of the symplectic group over a local ring

Let R denote a commutative local ring with maximal ideal m and residue field K = R/m. Let V be a symplectic space over R. In this paper we determine the group automorphisms of the symplectic group Sp_n(V) when n 6, the characteristic of k is not 2, and k is not the finite field of three elements.     

Group Connectivity of 3-Edge-Connected Chordal Graphs

Let A be a finite abelian group and G be a digraph. The boundary of a function f: E(G)ZA is a function ‘f: V(G)ZA given by ‘f(v)=~_{e leaving v}f(e)m~_{e entering v}f(e). The graph G is A-connected if for every b: V(G)ZA with ~_{v] V(G)} b(v)=0, there is a function f: E(G)ZA{0} such that ‘f=b. In [J. Combinatorial Theory, Ser. B 56 (1992) 165-182], Jaeger et al showed that every 3-edge-connected graph is A-connected, for every abelian group A with |A|̈́. It is conjectured that every 3-edge-connected graph is A-connected, for every abelian group A with |A|̓ and that every 5-edge-connected graph is A-connected, for every abelian group A with |A|́.¶ In this note, we investigate the group connectivity of 3-edge-connected chordal graphs and characterize 3-edge-connected chordal graphs that are A-connected for every finite abelian group A with |A|́.     

Generators of Spn(V) over a quasi semilocal semihereditary ring

This paper is devoted to determine the minimal length of expressions of an isometry in a symplectic group Sp_n(V) by a product of transvections under the assumption that V is an n-ary nonsingular alternating space over a quasi semilocal semihereditary ring with 2 as a unit.     

Complex finitary simple Lie algebras

An algebra is called finitary if it consists of finite-rank transformations of a vector space. We classify finitary simple Lie algebras over an algebraically closed field of zero characteristic. It is shown that any such algebra is isomorphic to one of the following¶ (1) a special transvection algebra \frak t(V,P)\frak t(V,\mit\Pi );¶ (2) a finitary orthogonal algebra \frak fso (V,q)\frak {fso} (V,q); ¶ (3) a finitary symplectic algebra \frak fsp (V,s)\frak {fsp} (V,s).¶Here V is an infinite dimensional K-space; q (respectively, s) is a symmetric (respectively, skew-symmetric) nondegenerate bilinear form on V; and P\Pi is a subspace of the dual V^* whose annihilator in V is trivial: 0={v ? V | Pv=0}0=\{{v}\in V\mid \Pi {v}=0\}.     

Second Neighborhood via First Neighborhood in Digraphs

Let D be a simple digraph without loops or digons. For any v ? V(D) v\in V(D) , the first out-neighborhood N⁺(v) is the set of all vertices with out-distance 1 from v and the second neighborhood N⁺⁺(v) of v is the set of all vertices with out-distance 2 from v. We show that every simple digraph without loops or digons contains a vertex v such that |N⁺⁺(v)| 3 g|N⁺(v)| |N^{++}(v)|\geq\gamma|N^+(v)| , where % = 0.657298... is the unique real root of the equation 2x³ + x² -1 = 0.     

A density version of a geometric ramsey theorem

Let V be an n-dimensional affine space over the field with p^d elements, p ≠ 2. Then for every ε > 0 there is an n(ε) such that if n = dim(V) ? n(ε) then any subset of V with more than ε|V| elements must contain 3 collinear points (i.e., 3 points lying in a one-dimensional affine subspace).     

Generation of classical groups over finite fields

Let U_n(V) and Sp_n(V) denote the unitary group and the symplectic group of the n dimensional vector space V over a finite field of characteristic not 2, respectively. Assume that the hyperbolic rank of U_n(V) is at least one. Then U_n(V) is generated by 4 elements and Sp_n(V) by 3 elements. Further, U_2m+1(V) is generated by 3 elements and Sp_4m(V) by 2 elements.     

Bounded solutions of the Golab—Schinzel equation

Summary. Let \Bbb K {\Bbb K} be either the field of reals or the field of complex numbers, X be an F-space (i.e. a Fréchet space) over \Bbb K {\Bbb K} n be a positive integer, and f : X ? \Bbb K f : X \to {\Bbb K} be a solution of the functional equation¶¶f(x + f(x)ⁿ y) = f(x) f(y) f(x + f(x)^n y) = f(x) f(y) .¶We prove that, if there is a real positive a such that the set { x ? X : |f(x)| ? (0, a)} \{ x \in X : |f(x)| \in (0, a)\} contains a subset of second category and with the Baire property, then f is continuous or { x ? X : |f(x)| ? (0, a)} \{ x \in X : |f(x)| \in (0, a)\} for every x ? X x \in X . As a consequence of this we obtain the following fact: Every Baire measurable solution f : X ? \Bbb K f : X \to {\Bbb K} of the equation is continuous or equal zero almost everywhere (i.e., there is a first category set A ì X A \subset X with f(X \A) = { 0 }) f(X \backslash A) = \{ 0 \}) .     

Automorphism of orthogonal groups in characteristic 2

Let V be a nondefective quadratic space over a field F of characteristic 2. Assume that V has dimension at least ten and that F has more than two elements. Let Δ be one of the groups O(V), O⁺(V), O′(V), or $\text{Ω(V)}$ (the full orthogonal group, the rotation group, the spinorial kernel, or the commutator subgroup of O(V), respectively). Then Λ is an automorphism of Λ if and only if Λ(σ) = gσg^?1 for all σ in Δ where g is a semilinear automorphism of V that preserves the quadratic structure of V in the sense that Q(gx) = αQ(x)^u for all x in V where Q is the quadratic form, α is some nonzero element of F, and u is the field automorphism of F associated to g.     

Minimal underlying division rings of sets of points of a projective space

Let V be a vector space over a division ring K. Let P be a spanning set of points in Σ:=PG(V). Denote by K(P) the family of sub-division rings F of K having the property that there exists a basis B_F of V such that all points of P are represented as F-linear combinations of B_F. We prove that when K is commutative, then K(P) admits a least element. When K is not commutative, then, in general, K(P) does not admit a minimal element. However we prove that under certain very mild conditions on P, any two minimal elements of K(P) are conjugate in K, and if K is a quaternion division algebra then K(P) admits a minimal element.     

The special orthogonal group is trireflectional

Let K be a field of even characteristic, V a finite-dimensional vector space over K, and SO(V) the special orthogonal group. Then SO(V) is trireflectional, provided dim V > 2 and SO(V) O⁺ (4, 2). Received: 4 February 2003     

To what extent is a large space of matrices not closed under product?

Let (K) be a field. Given an arbitrary linear subspace V of M_n(K) of codimension less than n-1, a classical result states that V generates the (K)-algebra M_n(K). Here, we strengthen this statement in three ways: we show that M_n(K) is spanned by the products of the form AB with (A,B)∈V²; we prove that every matrix in M_n(K) can be decomposed into a product of matrices of V; finally, when V is a linear perplane of M_n(K) and n>2, we show that every matrix in M_n(K) is a product of two elements of V.     

Odd order groups with the rewriting property Q3

Let n be an integer greater than 1, and let G be a group. A subset {x₁, x₂, ..., x_n} of n elements of G is said to be rewritable if there are distinct permutations p \pi and s \sigma of {1, 2, ..., n} such that¶¶x_p(1)x_p(2) ?x_p(n) = x_s(1)x_s(2) ?x_s(n). x_{\pi(1)}x_{\pi(2)} \ldots x_{\pi(n)} = x_{\sigma(1)}x_{\sigma(2)} \ldots x_{\sigma(n)}. ¶¶A group is said to have the rewriting property Q_n if every subset of n elements of the group is rewritable. In this paper we prove that a finite group of odd order has the property Q₃ if and only if its derived subgroup has order not exceeding 5.     

Spreads of nonsingular pairs in symplectic vector spaces

Let V be a vector space of dimension 2n, n even, over a field F, equipped with a nonsingular symplectic form. We define a new algebraic/combinatorial structure, a spread of nonsingular pairs, or nsp-spread, on V and show that nsp-spreads exist in considerable generality. We further examine in detail some particular cases.     

Quadratic forms on completely symmetric spaces

Let V be an n-dimensional Euclidean vector space, and let V(^m) be the corresponding m-th completely symmetric space over V equipped with the induced inner product. The purpose of this paper is to prove the following conjecture of H.A. Robinson: if T is a linear operator on V(^m) and (Tz, z) = 0 for every decomposable element z of V(^m), then T is skew-symmetric.     

Star partitions of graphs

Let G be a graph and n ≥ 2 an integer. We prove that the following are equivalent: (i) there is a partition (V₁,…,V_m) of V (G) such that each V_i induces one of stars K_1,1,…,K_1,n, and (ii) for every subset S of V(G), G\ S has at most n|S| components with the property that each of their blocks is an odd order complete graph. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Graph Theory 25: 185–190, 1997     

The influence of S-quasinormality of some subgroups of prime power order on the structure of finite groups

Let G be a finite group. Two subgroups H and K of G are said to permute if áH,K? = HK = KH\langle H,K\rangle = HK = KH. A subgroup H of G is S-quasinormal in G if it permutes with every Sylow subgroup of G. In this paper we investigate the influence of S-quasinormality of some subgroups of prime power order of a finite group on its supersolvability.     

How often can a given distance occur in a finite set of integers?

Let n, a, d be natural numbers and A a set of integers of the closed interval [0, n] with | A | = a. Then we establish sharp lower and upper bounds for the number of pairs (x,y) ? A×A(x,y)\in A\times A for which y - x = d. Roughly spoken, we investigate how often a distance d can occur in A.