THEORY OF FINITE GROUPS

A Symposium
RICHARD BRAVER
Harvard University
and
CHIH-HAN SAH
University of Pennsylvania
o
W. A. BENJAMIN, INC.
New York 1969 Amsterdam
: : :::ORY OF FINITE GROUPS
, .
Copyright 1969 by W. A. Benjamin, Inc.
.-\11 rights reserved
Library of Congress Cata10g Card Number 69-20486
\tanufactured in the United States of America
;23.+5M32109
The manuscript was put into production on November 8, 1968;
this volume was published on February 15, 1969
\\. A. Benjamin, Inc.
"ew York, New York 10016
A Note from the Publisher
This volume was printed directly from a typescript prepared by the editors,
who take full responsibility for its content and appearance, The Publisher
has not performed his usual functions of reviewing, editing, typesetting, and
proofreading the material prior to publication.
The Publisher fully endorses this informal and quick method of publishing
conference proceedings, and he wishes to thank the editors for preparing the
material for publication.
Preface
These proceedings consist of abstracts of the
lectures presented at a regional conference on
finite groups held from May 2 to May 4, 1968, at
Harvard University. In addition, a number of
colleagues who were not able to lecture on their
recent works at this conference were kind enough to
submit abstracts to our collection. We hope that
these papers may give a picture of some of the
recent progress in this field.
We would like to acknowledge our appreciation
to the financial assistance rendered by Harvard
University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and the National Science Foundation which made th
conference possible. We would also like to thank
W. A. Benjamin, Inc. for publishing these reports.
Finally, without the care and patience of
Misses Taffy Jones and Mary Vallery, the manuscripts
could never have been prepared for camera copy.
R. B.
C. H. S.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I
1. On groups with quasi-dihedral Sylow
2-subgroups, I. J. L. Alperin
2. On groups with quasi-dihedral Sylow
2-subgroups, 11. R. Brauer
3. Finite groups having a strongly embedded
subgroup. H. Bender
Page
1
13
21
On a characterization of 4.
2
D4 (q)
P. Fong
and
25
5.
On a characterization of
PSP4(q)
,
q odd. W. J. Wong
6. A characterization of L
4
(q) for
q
=: 1 (mod 4) K. W.
Phan
7. Finite groups with abelian 2-Sylow
groups. J. H. Walter
ix
31
39
43
x Contents
8. A theorem on Jordan groups. N. Ito 47
9. On the alternating groups. T. Kondo 49
10. Uniprimitive permutation groups.
L. L. Scott 55
11. Some new simple groups of finite order.
z. Janko 63
12. On Janko's simple group of order
50,232,960. G. Higman and J. McKay 65
13. The simple group of order 604,800.
M Hall, Jr. and D. Wales 79
14. Le groupe de Janko d'ordre 604,800.
J. Tits 91
15. Linear groups of degree 6 and the
Hall-Janko group. J. H. Lindsey, 11 97
16. On the isomorphism of two groups of
order 44,352,000. C. C. Sims 101
17. A simple group of order 898,128,000.
J. McLaughlin 109
Contents
18. A simple group of order 448,345,497,600.
M. Suzuki
19. Some simple groups related to M
24
.
Dieter Held
Part 11
1. An analysis of group representations.
S. B. Conlon
2. Centralizer rings and characters of
representations of finite groups.
W. Curtis and T V. Fossum
3. Some properties of the Green correspon-
dence. W. Feit
4. 1ndecomposable modules for finite groups.
G. J. Janusz
5. Relative Grothendieck group. T. Y. Lam
and I. Reiner
xi
113
121
125
131
139
149
163
xii Contents
0. Isometries and characters of finite groups.
W. F. Reynolds 171
7. On the integral representation of an
order. H. Zassenhaus 181
Part III
1. The order of finite Chevalley and
Steinberg group. R. Carter 195
2. On some properties of groups with
BN-pairs. N. Iwahori 203
3. The Steinberg character of a finite
group with a BN pair. L. Solomon 213
4. A sufficient condition for p-stability.
G. Glauberman 223
5. On the centralizer of involutions in
finite groups. D. Gorenstein 227
6. Centralizer of involutions in finite
simple groups. J. H. Walter 239
On F-projectors. B. Huppert 243
Contents
8. Locally finite versus finite simple
groups. O. H. Kegel
xiii
247
9. Automorphic Algebras. Ernest Shult 251
la. Automorphisms of finite groups.
C. H. Sah 261
NOTE: Pages 158-162 are not missing from this pub-
lication. Pages were numbered incorrectly
when the final manuscript was produced.
ON GROUPS WITH QUASI-DIHEDRAL
SYLOW 2-SUBGROUPS, I
J. L. Alperin
Our object is the ultimate classification of
another class of simple groups, namely, those with
a Sylow 2-subgroup S of order 2
n
+ 1, n 3,
defined by generators a, b and relations
2
a
n - 1
b -1 + 2
The only simple groups known with such quasi-
dihedral Sylow 2-subgroups are L
3
(q) with
q -1 (mod 4), U
3
(q) with q =1 (mod 4) and
(The group L
3
(q) is the projective special
linear group PSL(3, q), the group U
3
(q) is the
projective special unitary group PSU(3, q) and
1
2
FINITE GROUPS
M
ll
is the Mathieu group on eleven letters.) The
main result is a major step towards a classifica-
tion of all simple groups with quasi-dihedral
Sylow 2-subgroups. This work has been done jointly
with R. Brauer and D. Gorenstein; the final draft
is in preparation and is still subject to change.
MAIN THEOREM. Let G be simple group
with quasi-dihedral Sylow 2-subgroup and let x
be an involution in G .
- -
(i) C(x) is isomorphic to guotient of
either GL(2, q) with q = -1 (mod 4) or
GU(2, q) with q - 1 (mod 4) y central sub-
group of odd order d .
(i i)
either
If q - c (mod 4), 6 + 1 then
or q 3 and
3
IGI = 7920
This result is very close to a classification.
In fact, if q
;:
-1 (mod 4) then this theorem and
a previous one of Brauer [1] imply that G is
isomorphic to L
3
(q) or M
n
and that
d
=
(3, q
-
1) . The case that q
-
1 (mod 4) is
still open but it is possible one may show that
G is a doubly transitive group of a special sort.
Hopefully, one may also prove that d is 1 or
3 (i t should be (3, q + 1) ). If this can be
accomplished then a result of Suzuki [3] may be
applied to handle the case that d = 1 .
The proof of the Main Theorem is quite long
and divides into three major stages. The methods
are local group-theoretic and character-theoretic.
We shall concentrate here on the former: for the
latter the reader should see the paper by Brauer
in this collection. We shall now survey each of
these three parts.
4 FINITE GROUPS
1. General results
Various previous classification theorems
allow us to give detailed results on the structure
of subgroups of groups G with quasi-dihedral
Sylow 2-subgroups. For example, if G is simple,
x is an involution of G, N = C(x) and
N = N/<x) then N has dihedral Sylow 2-subgroups
so the results of Gorenstein-Walter [2J can be
applied. This yields that N has a series of
normal subgroups
N ::J L ::J L ::J S (N) ::J (N) ::J 1
o
with the following properties:
(i) O(N) is the largest normal subgroup of
odd order in N
(ii) S(N) = <O(N), X), IS(N) : O(N) 1= 2
(iii) LO/S(N)
for some odd q.
is isomorphic with L
2
(q)
(iv) 2 and
L' is odd.
+
(v) L/O(N) is isomorphic to
SL- (2, q) if
q ;: -1 (mod 4)
(the group of matrices of deter-
+
minant +1 or -1) or to
SU- (2, q) if q
;: 1
5
(mod 4) (the group of unitary matrices of deter-
minant +1 or -1).
This result is also very important as it
supplies us with an invariant q, which we call
the characteristic power, at the very beginning of
our analysis. It is, in fact, well-defined as the
assumption of simplicity forces G to have exactly
one conjugacy class of involutions.
An important class of groups is the class of
QD-groups; these are the groups H such that
H/O(H) has a normal subgroup of odd index which
is a simple group with quasi-dihedral Sylow 2-
subgroups. This simple section is uniquely deter-
mined so its characteristic power is called the
characteristic power of H. Moreover, if p is
the prime dividing q then we say that H is
regular if
6
IH I (le I ) 2 ~ (IN I )3
P P P
FINITE GROUPS
~ r N is the centralizer of any involution of
~ (they are all conjugate) and e is the central-
izer of a four subgroup of H. The groups L
3
(q)
with q - -1 (mod 4) and U
3
(q) with q = 1
(mod 4) are regular and M
ll
is not. Indeed, if
G satisfies the conclusions of the Main Theorem
and q 1 3 then G is also regular.
The characters of G can also be studied;
using well-known methods one can examine the block
structure and derive a number of formulae for the
group order. (Again, see the paper of Brauer.)
In addition, the following key result is obtained:
Theorem A.
If H is ~ regular QD-subgroup
of ~ QD-group G and Hand G have the same
characteristic power then G is regular and
O(H) H n 0 (G)
In particular, if G is simple, H is a
proper subgroup of G and the conclusions of the
7
Main Theorem hold for all proper simple sections of
G with quasi-dihedral Sylow 2-subgroups then
O(H) = 1. Moreover, the condition on equality of
characteristic powers is equivalent with the fol-
lowing conditions: H has exactly one conjugacy
class of involutions and if x is an involution of
H then CH(x) O(C(x
is of odd index in C(x)
This condition on H is less stringent then that
for strong embedding, namely CH(x) = C(x), or
even for that of weak embedding, namely,
C (x) = C (x) 0 (C (x) )
H
As in other classification results, one tries
to prove that the subgroup structure of G has a
certain form. On the assumption that it does not,
much of the argument is devoted to producing such
a subgroup H in which O(H) f 1, and so contra-
dieting Theorem A. Because of that result we do
not need to construct a strongly embedded subgroup,
as was done in previous problems, and consequently
we do not need to establish any so-called E-
theorems, which saves considerable effort.
8
FINITE GROUPS
2. Structure of O(N)
In proving the Main Theorem by induction the
bulk of the local group-theoretic analysis is de-
voted to establishing the following result:
Theorem B. Let G be.. simple group with
guasi-dihedral Sylow 2-subgroup and of character-
istic power q If every proper simple section
of G with quasi-dihedral Sylow 2-subgroup sat is-
fies the conclusions of the Main Theorem and N
---- ------
is the centralizer of an involution of G then
and
(q '" 6 (mod 4)
(i) O(N) = AB where A is.. cyclic subgroup
q + 6
2
of order dividing
6 l), B is an abelian subgroup and if. A f 1,
B f 1 then O(N) is .. Frobenius group with ker-
nel Band complement A .
(ii) Any involution of N inverts
B and centralizes some conjugate of A .
(iii) The extended centralizer C*(u) lies
in N for non-identity element u of O(N)
This result also has a consequence the fact
that the subgroup
direct product of
with SL(2, q) if
9
La of N defined above is the
O(N) and a subgroup isomorphic
q 9. When q = 9, there is
one other possible structure for La as SL(2, 9)
has a non-trivial central extension by a group of
order 3
The first step is to reduce the proof of
Theorem B to the proof of the following result
(with same hypotheses) :
Theorem B*. If P is prime divisor of
10 (N) 1 and R is a Sylow p-subgroup of 0(N)
then
(i) R is Sylow p-subgroup of O(N(R,
(ii) R is centralized or inverted Y some
non-central involution of N
This reduction can be established quickly even
though Theorem B and Theorem B* appear to be so
dissimilar. The focus is thus shifted to the p-
local subgroups of G for primes p dividing
10 (N) I. We first note that the case of character-
10
FINITE GROUPS
istic power 3 has been dealt with by Wong [4J,
who showed that L
3
(3) and M
ll
are the only
such simple groups. Thus, We may assume
q f 3
The proof consists of a long demonstration that if
p is a prime for which Theorem B* fails then there
is a p-local subgroup H which is a QD-subgroup of
characteristic power q. However, by our hypo-
theses H is regular as q f 3 so H violates
Theorem A.
The construction of such subgroups H re-
quires the usual "pushing-up" methods for con-
structing p-local subgroups, namely, transitivity
theorems for signalizers and Glauberman's Z(J)
theorem. Actually, we require extensions of both
these ideas. First, Glauberman's result can be
extended to certain p-subgroups other than Sylow
p-subgroups. Second, we define the notation
1ft H(X, Y; p)
for subgroups H, X, Y and a prime p to be the
collection of all elements of
"" H(X, p) (that is,
11
p-subgroups of H, normalized by X and inter-
secting X trivially) which are also permutable
with Y and we prove transitivity theorems for
the maximal elements of for certain
2-groups X and particular subgroups Y.
3. The structure of N
The final part contains the transition from
the results of Theorem B to the Main Theorem. The
proof is a combination of group-theoretic and
character-theoretic techniques, but mainly the
latter ones. The information provided by Theorem
B for an inductive proof of the Main Theorem can be
used to derive sharpened group order formulae (see
Brauer's talk). The main steps needed are proofs
that N = Land B = 1 .
12
REFERENCES
FINITE GROUPS
1. Brauer, R., On finite Desarguesian planes I,
II, Math. Zeit., 90 (1965), 117-123; 91 (1966),
124-151.
2. Gorenstein, D., and Walter, J. H., The charac-
terization of finite groups with dihedral
Sylow 2-subgroups, I, II, III, of Algebra,
2 (1965), 85-151, 218-270, 334-393.
3. Suzuki, M., A- characterization of the 3-
dimensional projective unitary group over a
finite field of odd characteristic, J. of
Algebra, 2 (1965), 1-14.
4. Wong, W., On finite groups whose Sylow 2-
have cyclic subgroups of index 2, Australian
Math. Soc., 4 (1964), 90-112.
ON GROUPS WITH QUASI-DIHEDRAL
SYLOW 2-SUBGROUPS, II
Richard Brauer
This paper is a continuation of the preceeding
paper to which we refer as I. We shall report in
more detail on the character-theoretic part of our
joint work. Throughout, the same notation is used
as in I.
1. Consider a finite group G with quasi-
dihedral Sylow 2-subgroup S of order 2
n
+ 1
and assume that G does not have a normal sub-
group of index 2. It has already been shown in
Brauer [5] Section VIII that the principal 2-
block BO(G) of G consists of 4 + 2
n
- 1
irreducible characters. Four of them, say X
o
Xl ' X
2
' X
3
have odd degrees and the notation
13

FINITE GROUPS
2
n - 1
- 1 can be chosen such that X
o
= 1 , that
characters in BO(G) have degree Xl (1) + l and
that the remaining character of BO(G) has degree
Here, and are suitable
signs. Moreover, we have a formula of the follow-
ing form
(1)
IN 1
3
Xl (1) (Xl (1) + l)
2 2
lel (Xl(l) - 6lq)
q + 6
q
Here, N is the centralizer e (x)
G
of the involu-
tion x in the center of Sand e is the cen-
tralizer CG(T) of a four-subgroup T of S .
Moreover, q is an odd integer uniquely determined
by Nand 6 = l and q 6 (mod 4) (In the
notation of Brauer [4], we have q = -m6.) A
great deal further information is available con-
cerning the characters of G .
On comparing these results with those in I,
Section 1, it appears that q actually is the
"characteristic power". In particular, q is a
15
power of an odd prime p .
If G is core-free, i.e. if O(G) = 1 ,
then for given q upper bounds for IG I can be
given. The case q = 3 can be disposed of, as
this has been done in Wong [4] and we may assume
q > 3
2. We shall say that our group G is regu-
lar, if the prime factor p of q divides IGI
with at least the same exponent with which p
divides \N\3/ Ic 1
2
. If G is regular, it can
be shown that
(2) Xl (1)
3
q
2
X
2
(1) = q - 5q + 1 ,
2
X
3
(1) = q(q - 5q + 1)
Conversely, each of these three equations
implies regularity. For regular G (1) reads
(3)
2 2
(q - q5 + 1)
2
(q - 0)
16 FINITE GROUPS
3. We are now ready to prove Theorem A of I.
Suppose that G is a QD-group which contains as
a subgroup a regular QD-group H of the same
characteristic power. If have the
same significance for G as above, it is possible
to show that at least one of the characters X.
1-
remains irreducible when restricted to Hand
that Xi[H plays the same role in BO(H) as X.
1-
plays in Ba (G) Now the remark following (2)
shows that G is regular. Combining the results
obtained with general properties of blocks, we ob-
tain the last part of Theorem A.
4. In principle, each 2-block of G can be
used to obtain formulas for IG I. The necessary
techniques have been developed in Brauer [5J, [6J.
In particular, we use blocks with the defect group
T and special blocks with the defect group S
In this manner we obtain sufficient conditions for
a QD-group to be regular. We also obtain informa-
tion concerning the number IN: L I
We don't know how far one can get by applying
17
character theoretic methods and using the informa-
tion on N given in I, Section 1, first paragraph.
It seems that the discussion would become very
complicated. It is now extremely fortunate that
after Theorem A has been obtained, it is possible
to prove Theorem B of I by a local group theoreti-
cal analysis. No character theoretic methods are
needed for this step.
In attempting to prove the Main Theorem of I
by induction, we may then assume that N satisfies
the conditions stated in Theorem B. Also some
further information on N becomes available. This
results in a decisive simplification in applying
the character theoretic methods mentioned at the
beginning of the present section.- It now becomes
possible to show that N = L . If A f 1 , our
criteria show that G is regular. In addition,
regularity of G implies that B = 1
It remains to deal with the case A = 1 .
Here the character theoretic arguments show that
divides
2
q - 1 . Now the information
18 FINITE GROUPS
available from the local group theoretic analysis
implies that B = 1. Finally character theoretic
arguments of the type used in Brauer [lJ, II,
Section 10 shows that if A = B = 1 we must have
q ; 7. Moreover, G is regular for q > 3
Now, the proof of the Main Theorem of I can be
completed. In particular, the formula for IGI is
obtained from (3).
5. As was mentioned in I, the Main Theorem
of I shows that, for a simple QD-group G of
characteristic power q with q -1 (mod 4)
(i.e. with 6 = -1) the assumptions of Brauer [lJ
are satisfied. It follows that G is isomorphic
with L
3
(q) or M
ll
In the latter case, G
is not regular and q = 3 .
In the case q - 1 (mod 4) , the corresponding
questions are still open. Our results allow us to
determine a large part of the character table of
G. It seems likely that a continuation of this
work will yield the complete character table of
G. Because of lack of time, this step has not
been carried out.
In any case, a great deal of
19
information on G will be available. There lS
hope that one can prove that G is isomorphic to
REFERENCES
[lJ - [4J are the papers quoted in I.
[5] Brauer, R., Some applications of the theory
of blocks of characters of finite groups 111,
J. of Algebra 3 (1966), 225-255.
[6J Brauer, R., On blocks and sections in finite
groups, American J. Of Math. 89 (1967),
1115-1136.
FINITE GROUPS HAVING A
STRONGLY EMBEDDED SUBGROUP
Helmut Bender
Following [1], I call a proper subgroup H
of a finite group G strongly embedded (in G)
if H has even order but, for every g E G - H ,
H n H
g
has odd order.
Theorem. Let G be a finite group having a
strongly embedded subgroup H
Then (i) or (ii) holds:
(i) G has a normal series
such that G
l
and G/G
2
have odd order and
G
2
/G
l
is isomorphic to one of the simple groups:
n
PSL(2,q), Sz(q), PSU(3,q), where q = 2 > 2 .
21
22
FINITE GROUPS
(ii) A Sy10w 2-subgroup of G is cyclic or
a (generalized or ordinary) quaternion group.
It suffices to assume that H is a proper sub-
group of even order which does not contain all in-
volutions of G
involution x E H
and that CG(x) EH for every
then NG(J), with
2
J = (x E HI x = 1J
group of G .
is a strongly embedded sub-
The theorem generalizes Suzuki's c1assifica-
tion of (TI)-groups, see [3J.
Several important general properties of G
are well known from some of Suzuki's papers, for
example:
For every g E G, H n H
g
permutes involutions
in H transitively.
These properties together with the following propo-
sition form the starting point for the induction
proof of the theorem:
Let p be a prime and n = 2 or 3 . Among
p-subgroups of H which are contained in at
23
least n conjugates of H, let P be maxi-
mal.
If n = 3, then
NH(P)
has even order.
If n = 2, and G is not doubly transitive
on conjugates of H , then again
NH(P)
has
even order.
If X is a proper subgroup of G not con-
tained in H such that X n H has even order,
then X n H is a strongly embedded subgroup of
X. Proceeding by induction, one obtains some
information about X .
It is the aim to show that G is doubly
transitive on conjugates of H and, for every
g E G, H n H
g
has a normal complement in H
Then a theorem of Suzuki [2J comes into action and
yields the conclusion of the theorem above.
The just mentioned proposition allows to prove
doubly transitivity at a rather early stage, and it
provides one with sufficiently many subgroups to
which induction hypothesis can be applied.
24
REFERENCES
FINITE GROUPS
:1] D. Gorenstein, Finite groups; Harper and o ~
New York 1968.
- 2 M. Suzuki, On a class of doubly transitive
groups: 11; Ann. of Math. 79 (1964), 514-589.
- "'
M. Suzuki, Finite groups of even order in
which Sylow 2-groups are independent;
Ann. of Math. 80 (1964), 58-77.
ON A CHARACTERIZATION OF
2
AND D
4
(q)
Paul Fong
Let
Pi' P2
be odd primes, and let
n
l
n2
be of q ==
Pl
,
q2
=
P2
powers
Pl' P2
re-
1
spectively. For i
=
1, 2 , let C. be a copy of
l
SL (2, q. ) , and let
Co
==
C
1
C
2
be the central
l
product of Cl and C
2
Finally, let C be
We are in- 2 an extension of order
over CO.
terested in investigating simple groups G with
an involution j such that CG(j) is isomorphic
to the group C. This property CG(j) 2 C will
be denoted by (*) The known simple groups
satisfying (*) are the four-dimensional projective
symplectic group, the Dickson group [2J, and the
25
26
FINITE GROUPS
"='.visted Steinberg group [3 J defined over a finite
:ield of odd characteristic. In the Lie notation,
~ e s e are the groups
( )
d
1 4 (4 1) (2 1)
B
2
q, or er 2 q q - q - , q
662
order q (q - 1) (q - 1), q
2 12 6 2 8 4
D
4
(q), order q (q - 1) (q - 1) (q + q + 1),
Wong [4J has shown that if G is a simple
group satisfying (*), then necessarily Pl = P2 = p.
Moreover, C(j) has one of two distinct structures:
in which case
and G::::. B
2
(q), or C1<l C, Cz<l C. Our result
is concerned with identifying the groups G in
this latter case.
Theorem: Let G be a group satisfying
G f C(j)O(G)
Suppose Cl <::I C, C
z
<l C and
If q = min (ql' q2} > 9, then
either q = q = q
1 2
3
(ql' q2} = (q , q}
and
and
G:::G
2
(q),
2
G D4 (q) .
or
27
As in other characterizations, the proof de-
velops along what has now become established lines
(see for example [1], [4J). We mention two
points:
1) In constructing a subgroup of G with a
suitable (B,N)- structure (the subgroup being in
fact the group We want G to be isomorphic to),
it is essential to know that divides
IGI . This can be shown by a consideration of the
2-blocks of G with a four-group as defect group.
If such a block has one irreducible modular charac-
ter, then the character formulas available in this
situation give the desired divisibility. If every
such block has more than one irreducible modular
character, then q 9 . In this last part we
require the analysis carried out by Brauer in [lJ,
loo
2) That and q2 can only be
3
q or q
28
is shown as follows:
FINITE GROUPS
G has a section V which
is an elementary abelian p-group on which
C., i E (1, 2},

acts. The action is such that
1 Now the irreducible representations
Cv (j)
of SL(2, q.)

over the prime field F have been
p
listed, and an inspection of this list shows that
the dimension of V over F must be 2n. ,
p
8
less than 4n. first is
- n
, or not The case
3 .


actually impossible, the second case occurs only
if 3 divides n.

and leads to
2
D4 (q)
the third
case occurs only if the dimension of V
and leads to G
2
(q)
is 4n.

29
REFERENCES
1. R. Brauer, On finite Desarguesian planes, 11,
Math. Zeit., Vol 91 (1966), 124-151.
2. L. E. Dickson, Linear groups in an arbitrary
field, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. Vol 2 (1901),
363-394.
3. R. Steinberg, Variations on a theme of
Chevalley, Pac. J. Math., Vol 9 (1959),
875-891.
4. W.J. Wong, These proceedings.
A CHARACTERIZATION OF
1
W. J. Wong
We consider finite groups G with the
following property.
(*) G has subgroups L
l
, L
2
such that
Lln L
2
= < t > ,where t has order 2,
If q is odd, the simple group PSP4(q) has this
property, with ql = q2 = q. In this case we
write a 4-dimensional vector space V over the
field of q elements, with a non-degenerate
1. Research partially supported by National
Science Foundation grant GP-6652 at the
University of Notre Dame.
31
32 FINITE GROUPS
alternating bilinear form, as an othogonal direct
sum of two hyperbolic planes V
l
' V
2
' and take
L
l
, L
2
as the subgroups of PSP4(q) correspond-
ing to ~ subgroups of the symplectic group
SP4 (q) = Sp (V)
leaving fixed the vectors of
V
l
' V
2
respectively.
The extent to which PSP4(q) is character-
ized by the property (*)
following result.
is indicated by the
THEOREM. Let G be a finite group with the
and one of where
property (*) such that G ~ C(t)O(G)
2
u = 1
Then
the following holds.
( i) G has one class of involutions,
L u
= L
u
L
2
induces outer automor- ,
L =
, u
1 1 2
phisms of linear type on L
l
and L
2
,
ILl \
and IL
2
\ are divisible by the same powers of 2,
and
:-:c:mber.
and are powers of the same prime
(ii) G has two classes of involutions,
33
and
Here O(G) is the largest normal subgroup
of G having odd order; the condition that
G +C(t)O(G) is obviously satisfied if G is
simple. By an automorphism of
SL 2 (q)
of linear
type we mean one induced by an element of
GL 2 (q) .
Since all involutions of PGL
2
(q) not in
PSL
2
(q) are conjugate, the structure of C(t)
in case (i) is uniquely determined. This case
occurs in the simple groups
2
G2 (q), D4 (q) (q odd),
and is discussed in Paul Fong's article. We re-
mark incidentally that the condition implies
that and are odd, since and
have non-trivial centers.
We shall sketch the proof of the theorem. A
theorem of Glauberman [4J shows that the condition
G +C(t)O(G) lS equivalent with saying that t
is conjugate in G to some other involution of
34
C(t)
FINITE GROUPS
A study of the Sylow 2-subgroups of the
centralizers in C(t) of various involutions shows
that C(t) has one of the two possible structures
indicated in the theorem, and that the number of
classes of involutions in G is correspondingly
one or two.
In case (i), suppose that ql and q2 are
powers of different prime numbers. Suppose that
ql > q2 and that q2 is a power of the prime
number p. We apply methods and results of
Brauer [2,3J (on groups whose Sylow 2-subgroups
are quasi-dihedral or the wreath product of a
cyclic group and a group of order 2) to centrali-
zers in G of certain elements of odd order, in
order to show that a Sylow p-subgroup of C(t)
is not one of G. This implies the existence of
a certain section V in G which is an elementary
Abelian p-group and on which L
l
acts non-trivially.
The degrees of the irreducible Brauer characters
of for the prime p being known, we find a
lower bound for the dimension of V as a vector
35
space over the field of p elements. On the
other hand, there is a four-group acting on V
and we can find an upper bound for the dimension.
The two bounds are compatible only when ql = 5 ,
q2 = 3. Then V is the Frattini factor group of
an extra-special group of order 3
5
and the ,
action of L
l
on V corresponds to an embedding
in such a way that an
element of order 3 leaves the vectors of a
hyperbolic plane fixed. However, there is no
such embedding of SL
2
(5)
contradiction shows that and
This
must be
powers of the same prime number.
The identification of G with PSP4(Ql) in
case (ii) was obtained by Janko in the case
Ql = 3 [6J. Similar methods can be used in the
general case. First we determine the structure of
the centralizer in G of an involution not conju-
gate to t This is done by transfer methods, a
theorem of Gorenstein and Walter on groups with
dihedral Sylow 2-subgroups [5J, and a formula
36
FINITE GROUPS
of Brauer on the numbers of fixed points of
elements of a four-group acting on a group of odd
order [1]. We find that the centralizer is a
split extension of a normal subgroup isomorphic
with PSL
2
(ql) by a dihedral group of order
2(ql - ) where ql =0 (mod 4), = l .
Having done this, we set up a (BN)-pair
for G Most of the work is involved in deter-
Dining the normalizer B in G of a Sylow
?-subgroup of G, where ql is a power of the
?rime number p. This is done by determining
centralizers and normalizers of various smaller
?-subgroups, beginning with p-subgroups of C(t)
main tool is the Brauer formula referred to
320ve. Because of the abundance of four-groups
particularly the existence of two classes of
we do not have to use directly any
arguments from the theory of group characters.
we determine the exact structure of the
B of a Sylow p-subgroup of G and
that together with a certain subgroup N of
37
is and the structure of
it forms a (BN)-pair [7]. If GO = BNB ,
is a subgroup of G whose order is the
then GO
order of
C (t)
uniquely determined. It follows that
Since GO has two classes of
involutions, and contains the centralizer in G
of each of its involutions, we have GO = G .
38
REFERENCES
FINITE GROUPS
1. R. Brauer, Some applications of the theory of
blocks of characters of finite groups 11,
J. Algebra 1 (1964), 307-334.
2. R. Brauer, On finite Desarguesian planes 11,
Math. Z. 91 (1966), 124-151.
3. R. Brauer, Investigations on groups of even
order 11, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 55 (1966),
254-259.
4. G. Glauberman, Central elements in core-free
groups, J. Algebra 4 (1966), 403-420.
5. D. Gorenstein and J. H. Walter, On finite
groups with dihedral Sylow 2-subgroups,
Illinois J. Math. 6 (1962), 553-593.
6. Z. Janko, A characterization of the finite
simple group PSP4(3), Canad. J. Math. 19
(1967), 872-894.
7. J. Tits, Theoreme de Bruhat et sous-groupes
paraboliques, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 254
(1962), 2910-2912.
A CHARACTERIZATION OF
FOR q '" -1
(mod 4)
K. w. Phan, Bonn (Germany)
The following result has been proved:
THEOREM: Let t
o
be an involution contained
in the center of a Sylow 2-subgroup of L
4
(q)
where q is congruent to -1 modulo 4. Denote
H
o
the centralizer of t
o
in
Let G be finite group with the following
properties:
(a) G has no subgroup of index 2,
and,
(b) G has an involution t such
that the centralizer C (t) = H
G
of t in G is isomorphic to
39
H
o
40
FINITE GROUPS
Then G is isomorphic to L
4
(q)
The methods of the proof are group-theoretic.
Our main aim is to construct two subgroups of G
fulfilling the properties of a (B,N) pair in the
sense of Tits. Later we show that these two sub-
groups generate a subgroup G
o
of G isomorphic
and finally prove that G = G .
o
To
this end we begin with the study of the structure
of H, in particular the determination of the
number of classes of involutions in H and their
centralizers. Straight-forward arguments and a
result of Thompson show among other things that
G has two classes of involutions and is a simple
group. The manner in which the involutions of
H fuse together in G, the first theorem of
Grun and a result of Gorenstein-Walter are used to
determine the structure of the centralizer of an
involution not conjugate to t in G .
From the structure of the centralizer of an
involution of the second type we obtain a series
of results on G It is then possible to
41
determine the structure of a Sy10w p-subgroup of
G and its normalizer in G where p is the
divisor of q. The Sylow p-normalizer Band
the normalizer N of a complement in B to the
Sy10w p-subgroup of B are the two subgroups of
G mentioned earlier. With the structure of these
two subgroups and the action of some elements of
N on some subgroups of B known, it is then easy
to show that BNB L
4
(q) where BNB is the
union of the set of double cosets BnB with n
in N Applying a result of Thompson shows
that BNB = G completing the proof.
We hope to show that the theorem is true for
q = 4h + 1 where h is an integer. Some of the
main results obtained so far are:
1. The centralizer H of t in G is a
non-splitting extension of the central product of
two subgroups isomorphic to SL(2, q) by a di-
hedral group of order 2(q - 1). (In the case
of q = -1 (mod 4) the extension splits).
2. When q =5 (mod 8) G has one class of
42
involutions.
3. The group G is simple.
FINITE GROUPS
4. A Sylow p-subgroup of G has order
6
q
5. There exists a subgroup K of G such
that NG(K)/K is isomorphic to the symmetric
group on 4 letters.
A similar characterization of U
4
(3) has
been done and will appear in the Journal of the
Australian Math. Society. It is hoped that the
methods can be generalized to the case of U
4
(q)
wi th odd q
FINITE GROUPS WITH
ABELIAN SYLOW 2-SUBGROUPS
J. H. Walter
The purpose of this note is to announce a
result obtained last year but not yet published.
Let G be a finite group. Denote by O(G) the
maximal subgroup of odd order. Denote by 0' (G)
the minimal normal subgroup N of G for which
G/N has odd order.
THEOREM. Let G be finite group with
abelian S2-subgroups. Then 0' (G/O(G)) is the
direct product of 2-group and simple groups of
the following types:
(1) PSL(2, 2
n
) , n > 1
(2) PSL(2, q) , q - 3 or 5 (mod 8) ,
q > 3 ,
43
44
(3 )
simple group M
FINITE GROUPS
such that for each
-------
involution J of M
where K is isomorphic to PSL(2, q) , q - 3
or 5 (mod 8)
In the former
Simple groups of the third type have not yet
been completely determined. However, it is known
from the results of Janko and Thompson [3] that
q = 3
2n + 1
q = 5 or , n > 0 .
case, the group is the simple group of order 175,560
discovered by Janko [2]. In the latter case the
groups are presumably the Ree groups associated
with the Lie algebra G
2
over a field of character-
istic 3. John Thompson [5] has made considerable
progress toward showing that this is the case.
Their character tables have been worked out by
H.N. Ward [6].
Their order is
3 3
q (q + 1) (q - 1) ,
q
__ 32n + 1
where
The groups of the first type are character-
ized in terms of conditions given by Suzuki [4]
The groups of the second type are groups with a
four group as an s2-subgroup and hence are
45
characterized by Gorenstein and Walter [lJ.
REFERENCES
1. Gorenstein, D. and Walter, J. H. The charac-
terization of finite groups with dihedral Sylow
2-subgroups. J. Algebra 2 (1965), 85-151,
218-270, 354-393.
2. Janko, Z. A new finite simple group with
abelian 2-Sylow subgroups and its characteri-
zation. J. Algebra 3 (1966), 147-186.
3. Janko, Z. and J. G. Thompson.
finite simple groups of Ree.
(1966), 274-292.
On a class of
J. Algebra 4
4. Suzuki, M. Finite groups of even order in
which the Sylow 2-subgroups are independent
Ann. Math. 80 (1964), 58-77.
5. Thompson, J. G. Towards a characterization of
E
2
*(q), J. Algebra 7 (1967),406-414.
6. Ward, H. N. On Ree's series of simple groups.
Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 121 (1966), 62-89.
A THEOREM ON JORDAN GROUPS
Noboru Ita
Let G be the set of symbols
1,2, ... ,n > 3) called points. Let G be a
doubly transitive permutation group on G such
that the stabilizer H ~ G
l
2 of the points 1
,
and 2 in G stabilizes further points
3, ... , k ~ ; < n ; H ~ G G
1, 2- 1, 2, ... , k
and moreover H lS regular and transitive on
\I - (1,2, ... ,k}
(1,2, ... ,k} and its transforms by permuta-
tions in G are called lines. Let A be the
family of all lines containing the point 1.
Then the stabilizer G of the point 1 in G
1
can be represented as a permutation group
47
48
FINITE GROUPS
\(G
l
) on 1\.
Now groups G having these properties can be
classified as follows:
(1) If (n, k) = 1 , then k = 3 , n = 7 and
G is isomorphic to LF(3,2) 7 If (n,k) +1 ,
then n =0 (mod k)
( 2) If n - 0 (mod k) and if A(G
l
) is
faithful, then k
isomorphic to A
7
3, n = 15 and G is
(3 )
If n =0 (mod k) is
not faithful, then k
=
q , where q is a power
of prime and
>
2
2
and is a q ,
n =
q G
isomorphic to the split extension of the
2-dimensional vector space V(2, q) over the
field GF (q) of q elements by GL (2, q)
ON THE ALTERNATING GROUPS
Takeshi Kondo
This is a summary of the forthcoming papers
[5] and [6], which will be published in Jour. of
~ t h Soc. of Japan.
I. Lpt A be the alternating group on m
m
letters (1, 2,
... , m} Put m = 4n + r ,
where n is a positive integer and 0 ~ r ~ 3
Define n involutions a
k
(1 ~ k ~ n)
as follows:
of A
m
a
k
= (1, 2) (3, 4) (4k-3, 4k-2) (4k-l, 4k).
Then a is contained in the cent er of a 2-Sylow
n
subgroup of A
m
For r = 1 , 2 and 3 , we de-
note by H(n, r) the centralizer in A of a
m n
Then we have the following theorems.
49
50
FINITE GROUPS
Theorem 1. Let G(n, r) be a finite group
with the following properties:
(1) G(n, r) has no subgroup of index 2,
and
( 2) G (n, r) contains an involution a
n
in the center of 2-Sylow subgroup of
G (n, r) whose centralizer C (a )
G(n, r) n
is isomorphic to H(n, r)
Then if r = 2 or 3, G(n, r) is isomorphic
to A
4n + r
except for the n 1 and
r = 2 where G(l, 2) A
6
or PSL(2, 7)
For the case r = 1 , we have not obtained
the analogous result, but we can prove much weaker
up of order elementary abelian subgroup S
result. We note that H(n, 1) has a unique
22n
to conjugacy.
Theorem 2. Let G(n, 1) be a finite group
contcining an involution whose centralizer H(n, 1)
abelian subgroup of H(n, 1)
isomorphic to H(n, 1) , and S be an elementary
of order 22n .
51
Assume that there exists ~ ~ t o o n mapping 8
from H(n, 1) U N
A
(S) (the set-theoretic union
m
in A
)
onto H(n, 1)
U N
1) (S)
such that
m G(n,
e induces an isomorphism between H(n, 1)
is isomorphic to
and (resp. N
A
(S)
m
Then G(n, 1)
H (n, 1)
(resp. NG(n, l)(S))
or
Theorem 3. (H. Yamaki) Let G
r
be ~ finite
group G(3, r) satisfying the assumption of
Th. 1. Then (i) if r = 1 G
l
is isomorphic
or G
l
has precisely four
conjugacy classes of involutions, and (ii) if
r = 2 or 3, G
r
is isomorphic to A
12
+ r
n. Remarks. (1 ) If
r =
2 or 3 Th. 3
is a special case of Th.
1, but if r 1
Th. 3 is a better result than Th. 2. In fact,
Yamaki showed that G
l
has two possibilities
for the fusion of involutions of G
l
, one of
which is that of A
12
or A
l3
and the other 1.5
that of the symplectic group SP6(2) (Note that
satisfies the condition of Th. 3 for
52 FINITE GROUPS
r = 1.) Then it is not difficult to see that,
if G
1
has the first case for the fusion of in-
volutions, G
l
satisfies the assumption of Th. 2.
(2) The work of Yamaki was done before
Th. 1 and Th. 2 were obtained. In fact, a part of
the proof of Th. 1 and 2 owes to his idea.
(3) In [4; Th. A], we determined the fusion
of involutions of G(n, r) for the case r = 2 or 3.
This is equivalent to the determination of the
structure of NG(n, r) (S) ,where S
mentary abelian subgroup of H(n, r)
is some ele-
2n
of order 2
(If r = 2 or 3 , such subgroup is not unique up
to conjugacy.) But we have not obtained a result
similar to [4; Th. A] for the case r = 1. This
is the reason why the stronger condition is necess-
ary for Th. 2. However, we note that Th. 2 shows
t ~ a t if We can determine the fusion of involutions
of G(n, 1) under the same assumption as Th. 1,
we shall be ?ble to obt?in a similar result to
~ 1 also for the case r = 1 .
(4) For small value of m, Th. 1 and
53
Th. 2 were treated by A. Fowler, M. Suzuki and
D. Held. We used these results for the proof of
our theorem.
Ill. In [3], we proved the following theorem
which is a generalization of W. J. Wong's theorem
Theorem. Let G be a finite group satisfy-
ing the following conditionr there exist n in-
volutions
a
1
'
a
2
,
... ,
a
of G and a one-to-
n
---
n
~ k
one mapping
CO
from
U
CA
(the set-
k=l m
n
theoretic union in A ) onto
U
C
G
(a
k
) such
m
k=l
that induces an isomorphism between C a ~
- A k
m
and CG (a
k
) (1 < k ~ n) Then if
>
m = 8 ,
G is
isomorphic to A
m
For the identification of G(n, r) with A
m
we used this theorem, the proof of which is due to
the idea of D. Held [1] and [2].
54
REFERENCES
FINITE GROUPS
1. D. Held, A characterization of the alternating
groups of degree eight and nine, J. of Alg.,
7 (1967), 218-237.
2. -----, A characterization of some multiply
transitive permutation groups I, Illinois J.
(to appear).
3. T. Kondo, On the alternating groups, J. Fac.
Sci. Univ. Tokyo (to appear).
4. -----, On finite groups with a 2-Sylow sub-
group isomorphic to that of the symmetric
group of degree 4n , J. Math. Soc. Japan
(to appear).
5. -----, On the alternating groups II, (to
appear) .
6. H. Yamaki, A characterization of the alter-
nating groups of degrees 12, 13, 14, 15 (to
appear) .
UNIPRIMITIVE PERMUTATION
GROUPS *
Leonard L. Scott, Jr.
A well-known result of Wielandt (lOJ is
Theorem (Wielandt) Let @ be a uniprimitive
group on 2p letters, p a prime. Then
2
2p m + 1 for some odd positive integer m.
Despite the specific nature and simplicity
of the condition
2
2p m + 1 , the only known
examples of uniprimitive groups of degree 2p,
m 3 p a prime, occur when p 5
and
6
5
acting on the 2-subsets of (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ).
*
The term " uniprimitive" is due to W.A.Manning
and refers to primitive permutation groups which
are not doubly transitive.
The results announced in this article are part
of the author's doctoral dissertation submitted to
the faculty of Yale University.
55
56 FINITE GROUPS
For a given prime p, the existence of a group
which is uniprimitive of degree 2p implies the
existence of a simple group with the same property.
Wielandt showed in unpublished work that no
uniprimitive group of degree 2.13 = 26 exist,
despite 26 = 52 + 1. The author has proved that,
in fact,
Theorem 1 If
@
is a uniprimitive group of degree
2p =
2
1 and primes, m
+ , where p m are then
p 5
m =
3 (and
@
=
m
5
or 15
5
Feit has recently shown (unpublished) that the
case p = 41 does not occur, and the author has
eliminated p = 113. Thus there are no uniprimi-
tive groups of degree 2p for any prime p < 313
unless p = 5 .
The proof of Theorem 1 and the elimination
of p = 113 are obtained by combining modular-
theoretic methods (see especially [lJ and [4J)
with some new, more permutation-theoretic approaches.
The following two definitions are especially rele-
vant, and should prove useful in other studies
57
involving permutation groups - especially uniprimi-
tive groups.
Definition 1 Let ... , be all the orbitals
of a transitive permutation group @ on
(The concept of an orbital is due to D. G. Higman
[ 5 ] . An orbital 2
"
6: 0. ....
assigns to a E "
an
orbit 6(0,) of @ in such a way that
a
6 (a) G = (aG) for all G E @ A transitive group
of rank r has r orbitals; see also Sims [8]).
Define the i
th
orbital character e. by
l
e. (G)
l
I(a E n I aG E (a)} I
l
(G E @)
Definition 2 Let 11:= 91 be subgroups of the per-
mutation group
relative to U
Define the support of
and define a corresponding numerical relative
support function
s(91:U)
I .
58 FINITE GROUPS
The concept of an orbital character directly
generalizes the notion of the permutation character
_ if we set lll(cx) = [et}, et EO, we get
= e. The orbital characters have several nice
-1
o:roperties: Each is a class function taking
integer values, and e. (1) = 0 for
l
i > 1. The collection ( CL E 0 10: G Ell. (0:) }
l
used
to define S. (G)
l
is set-wise invariant under the
action of C (G)
Less obvious is the fact that each e. is an
l
algebraic integer linear combination of the irre-
iucible complex characters X e , and any such
, is a complex linear combination of the orbital
characters 8.
l
If all X e are rational-
valued, then each e. lS a true generalized
l
character and a rational class function.
The functions are useful in estimat-
ing the size and de terming the structure of
subgroups of prime power order. If @ is a uni-
pr imi tive group of degree 2p, and U <) \.i c
are all subgroups of @ with u rn C \.i for
0:
some a E 0 then s ~ : U > p ~ if
laul > 2 ,
59
then
3
s ~ : u) > - P
2
By using this fact, it is
section numbers"
possible to obtain far better estimates on the
sizes of the Sylow q-subgroups of @ than are
available classically. The lower bound on s (lJl: U)
is obtained solely from knowledge of the "inter-
16. (a) n 6. (p) I ; the author is
1 J
therefore quite confident that the method can be
extended to cover more general situations.
Some related results
Surprisingly, the fact that p is prime is
not important for the proof of Theorem 1, and a
better result may be formulated.
Definition 3 Let @ be a primitive rank 3
group of degree 2p, P a (not necessarily prime)
positive integer. Then @ is of 2p-type provided
the degrees of the irreducible complex characters
contained in the permutation character e are
1, p-l, P
Wielandt showed in [10] that any uniprimitive
60
group 0: :::egree 2p
above de:inition
FINITE GROUPS
p a prime, satisfies the
i.e., is a group of 2p-type.
By using the centralizer ring theory in conjunction
with the "gap" theorem [11, 17.4] it is easy to
show that all groups of 2p-type have degree
2
2p = m + 1 for some odd positive integer m.
The o l l o ~ i n result emerges from the proof of
Theorem 1.
necessarily a prime), and
Theorem l'
prime m
If @ is a group of 2p-type (p not
2
2p = m + 1 for some
then m = 3
The author has also proved a theorem conCern-
ing groups of degree 3p p a prime. Define
n*
to be the set of primes p
>
7 such that 48p
does not have the form
2
12
2
15 m
+
or m
+
.
Define n**
to be the set of primes p -
2 (mod 3 )
which satisfy at least
~
of A), B) , C) below:
A) If q f 2 is a prime divisor of p - 1
or 3p - 1 , then
1 ~ 1
q ~ - "4 3p +-
5 10
B) 4 is the exact power of 2 dividing
p - 1 and if q f 2 is a prime divisor
61
of P - 1
(mod 3) or
or 3p
1
q 5
1 , then either
FP + 11
0
q - 1
C) P = 1 + 2q or 1 + 4q where q f 2 is
a prime.
Theorem 2 If P is a prime in n* n n** then no
uniprimitive group @ on 3p letters exists. If
P E n* and @ exists, then the permutation char-
acter 8 is a sum of irreducible complex characters
the characters are
distinct, real-valued, and algebraically conjugate.
The proof uses the theory of characters of small
degree [2], [3], the modular theory, and the theory
of the centralizer ring.
62
LITERATURE
FINITE GROUPS
1. Brauer, R. "On groups whose order contains a
pr ir..e to the fir st power," 1,11. Art:. J. Math.
64 (19"+2)
2. Feit, ','1. "Groups with a cyclic Sylow subgroup."
Nagoya Math. J. 27 (1966).
3. Feit, W. "On finite linear groups." J.
Algebra 5 (1967).
4. Green, J.A. "A transfer theorem for modular
representations." J. Algebra 1 (1964).
5. Higman, D.G. "Finite permutation groups of
rank 3." Math. Z. 86 (1964).
6. Ito, N. "On uniprimitive groups of degree 2p."
Math. Z. 78 (1962).
7. Scott, L. "Uniprimitive groups of degree kp."
Doctoral dissertation, Dept. of Math. Yale U.
1968.
8. Sims, C.C. "Graphs and finite permutation
groups." Math. Z. 97 (1967).
9. Tamaschke, O. "A generalized character theory
on finite groups." Proc. Internat. Conf.
Theory of Groups, Austral. Nat. Univ., Canberra,
August 1965, pp. 347-355. Gordon and Breed Science
Publishers, Inc. 1967.
10. Wielandt, H.
von Grad 2p."
"Primitive Permutationsgruppen
Math. Z. 63 (1956).
11. Wielandt, H. Finite Permutation Groups.
Academic Press 1964, New York.
SOME NEW SIMPLE GROUPS
OF FINITE ORDER
Zvonimir Janko
(Monash University, Melbourne)
We prove the following result:
Theorem. Let G be a non-abelian finite
simple group with the following properties:
(i) The cent er Z(T)
T of G is cyclic.
of a Sylow 2-subgroup
(ii) If z is the involution in Z(T)
then the centralizer H of z in G is an ex-
tension of a group E of order 32 by AS
We then have the following possibilities. If
G has only one class of involutions, then G has
order 50,232,960 and a uniquely determined
character table. If G has more than one class
63
64
FINITE GROUPS
of involution, then G has order 604,800 and a
uniquely determined character table.
The existence of a simple group of order
50,232,960 was shown by Graham Higman and J. McKay.
By a result of S. K. Wong follows that any simple
group of that order must satisfy the conditions
(i) and (ii) of our theorem. Also John G. Thompson
has shown that a simple group of that order must
possess a subgroup isomorphic to PSL(2, 16) and
so using this fact the work of Graham Higman then
shows that such a group is unique.
The existence of a simple group of order
604,800 was shown at first by M. Hall, Jr. Also a
very elegant geometric construction of this group
was obtained by J. Tits. It was proved by D. Wales
that there exists only one simple group of order
604,800.
ON JANKO'S SIMPLE GROUP OF ORDER 50,232,960
Graham Higman and J. McKay
1. INTRODUCTION
Z. Janko in [1] considered a finite simple
group G such that
(i) G contains an involution whose
centraliser is an extension of an extraspecial
group of order 32 by SL(2, 4)
In particular, he showed that if furthermore
(ii) all involutions in G are conjugate
then G has order 50,232,960 and has the
character table given in [1]. He left open the
question of the existence and uniqueness of such a
group. Here we report briefly on work, partly
group-theoretic and partly computational, which
shows that a group does exist satisfying (i), (ii),
65
66
and also
(iii)
FINITE GROUPS
G has a sUbgroup H which is the
extension of SL(2, 16) by an outer auto-
morphism of order 2.
Conditions (i) to (iii) determine G up to
isomorphism, and G has an outer automorphism
extending the outer automorphism of H (i.e.
extending the automorphism of order 4 of
SL(2, 16) ).
2. PERMUTATION CHARACTERS
The first step was a systematic search,
carried out on the computer, for characters of G
which might be permutation characters corresponding
to large subgroups. Necessary conditions for a
character ~ to be a permutation character are
(a) ~ contains the principal character just
once;
(b)
(c)
~ (1)
~ x
divides IGI
is a non-negative rational integer
for all x in G;
(d) ~ (1) divides hi ~ (x) , if x belongs
to a class containing h. elements; and
l
(e) for all x in G and
67
all positive integers k.
By (c), contains algebraically
characters with the same multiplicity, so we
add these together to obtain the rational
table of G , with 14 characters, corresponding
to the 14 conjugate classes of cyclic subgroups
of G. Then we generate the 2
13
combinations
of these characters which satisfy (a) and in which
all multiplicities are 0 or 1, and test them
for conditions (b) to (e). This takes 6 seconds.
Besides the principal character, there emerge
characters of degrees 6156, 19380 and 20520,
corresponding, possibly, to subgroups of orders
8160, 2592 and 2448. The first of these could
be subgroups H as in (iii) above; the last could
be subgroups isomorphic to PSL(2, 17)
Repeating the process, but allowing also
multiplicity 2 takes 7 minutes. Of the
characters that emerge, some can be seen to
correspond to subgroups known to be present (if G
exists at all), such as centralizers of involutions,
and others can be eliminated. But there are also
68
FINITE GROUPS
characters which might correspond to subgroups of
whose presence we cannot be certain, in particular.
subgroups isomorphic to PSL(2, 19)
Finally, using a different program, assisted
by the fact that G has only one non-principal
character of odd degree, the factors of IGI were
examined in increasing order of magnitude, with no
bound on the multiplicities, except the natural one
that the mUltiplicity of an absolutely irreducible
character shall not exceed its degree. This was
done up to degree 17442; two new possible degrees
emerged, including 12312, corresponding,
presumably, to the SL(2, 16)
subgroup of index 2 in H .
3. GENERATORS AND RELATIONS
contained as a
At this stage, it seemed best to assume the
existence of the subgroup H , and see what
consequences this would have.
We denote elements of GF(16) by 0 and
i
oj
where
2
w + 1 0 that
3
1
w
,
w +
= , so w =
,
and
2
+ 1 0 that
5
1 Elements
0
wo +
so
0
=
of SL(2, 16 ) are matrices
(:

with a, b, c, d
in GF(16)
group is
69
and ad - bc = 1 ; and its automorphism
<SL(2, 16) , where
4
= 1 and u> u
(::
b
2
)
2 .
Then H is
d
<SL(2, 16),
2
u >
(
1*1)
The elements of H form an elementary
abelian subgroup V of order 16, whose
normaliser L in G must be a split extension by
GL(2, 4) , acting naturally (from a consideration
of the structure of the centraliser of an involution).
But N
H
(V) is only of order 480 Thus G , if
it exists, can be generated by an amalgam H U L ,
where H" L
For reasons which will be
mentioned in a moment, it seems best to consider
not only G , but also an extension G
l
of G by
an outer automorphism extending the automorphism of
H induced by u To this end, we form first an
amalgam HI \J L
l
where HI = <SL(2, 16), u> and
L
l
is the extension of V by fL(2, 4) , with
H
l
f'\ L
l
= N
Hl
(V)
It can be verified that this amalgam is
generated by H
l
and an element t, subject to
the relations
70 FINITE GROUPS
(A)
t
2
= 1
t-1C
:)t =
e

t -1 (1
:) t
(1
2 2)
w 0
1
t-lr
W2) t
(w
W
2
)
t-lut
3
u
Further relations, which must hold in G,
though not in the free product generated by the
amalgam, follow by considering the normaliser of
the cyclic group generated by (w w
2
). The
structure of this normaliser follows easily from
[1]; it is a split extension of W w
2
by
and other elements of PGL(2, 9)
, where elements in PSL(2, 9)
and L
invert
centralise
in H normalisers of
can be identified with subgroups of this extension
in essentially only one way, and this leads to the
relations
2
u
(B)
[t (1 1)] 4
[t(p4 P)t(p2 p7f
1 .
71
Using relations (A) and (B) it is fairly easy to
see that the element
transforms one subgroup of SL(2, 16) of order 34
into another, and hence to find an element not in
H which normalises a cyclic subgroup of H of
order 17 Drawing once more on [1] for the
structure of a Sylow 17-normaliser, this gives
another relation, which simplifies to
( C)
1.
Thus if G exists, it is generated by
SL(2, 16)
2
u and t, subject to the relations
implied by (A), (B) and (C), and possibly others.
However, a little experimentation suggests that
the relations we have are already sufficient. If
this is so, then, since the relations we have are
implied by (i), (ii) and (iii), there can be at
most one simple group G satisfying these conditions.
72
FINITE GROUPS
Furthermore, if such a group exists, any two
embeddings in it of the amalgam H V L are
under its automorphism group. In
partir.ular, the automorphism induced by conjugation
by u in H
l
\J L
l
extends to an automorphism of
G , necessarily outer, because otherwise the Sylow
17-normaliser of G would be too large.
4. COSET ENUMERATION
To check that we have indeed enough relations,
and that these relations do not imply total collapse,
we return to the computer, and carry out an
enumeration of the cosets of H, using a program
based on methods described by J. Leech [2J. For
this purpose, we have to replace the matrix notation
for SL(2, 16) used above by one using generators
and relations. Since the critical factor in
attempting the enumeration is the size of the
immediate access store available, and we store the
effect on each coset of each generator and its
inverse, it is advantageous to minimise the sum of
the number of involutory generators and twice the
number of non-involutory generators.
73
This part of the work was in fact done twice,
simultaneously and independently, by one of us
(J. McK.) at Chilton and by M. J. T. GUy at
Cambridge, using different programs and slightly
different relations. In both cases the answer
produced was the hoped-for one, that H has 6156
cosets in G The relations used by Guy were
2
c
3 2
(ac) = (bc)
-4 3
abab ab 1
s2 t
2
= (sa)2 = (sc)2 (at)2 = (bt)3 =
b
5
tb-
5
t = sbsb-
4
= (ct)4
s
= (b
2
st)3
(b-2ctb4ct)
2
= b
2
tb-
l
abtb-
2
a =
-2 -3 2 3 3 7 4
b ab ctab ctb ab ctactb ab ct = 1 ,
where a, b, c generate SL(2, 16)
2
s = u ,and
t is as in section 3. His enumeration was
completed in 77 seconds. No attempt has been made
to tidy up these relations, and it is, in fact,
known that some of them are redundant. However, to
delete redundant relations might well increase the
running time, and aggravate the danger of
generating so many redundant cosets that one runs
out of store.
A further coset enumeration, this time on
74 FINITE GROUPS
cosets of the subgroup <ate, b> , shows that
two elements already generate G
Jo PROPERTIES OF G
What the coset enumeration shows, of course,
:5 SL(2, 16) u and t subject to the
(A), (B) and (C) generate a group G
l
crder 2 x 50,232,960. Evidently SL(2, 16)
t generate a normal subgroup G of order
of
2
u
suborbit lengths
2040, and 2720 , and
suborbit of length 2720
length 1360 for G. It follows that both G
l
So, if N is a minimal
50,232,960
groups on
are permutation G
G
l
is of rank 7 ,
1, 85, 120, 510, 680,
is of rank 8, the
splitting into two of
G
Both G
l
and
6156 letters.
are primitive. G and
subgroup of G, N is transitive, and
since there is no characteristically simple group
0: order 6156, N (\ H is a nontrivial normal
of H Thus N contains SL(2, 16) , and
relations (B), (C) then show that N contains t
2
u and so N = G That is, G is simple.
There are two classes of involutions in H ,
75
255 conjugates of (1 1), with centralisers of
32 d 8
' f 2 'h
order , an 6 conJugates 0 u , Wlt
centralisers of order
conjugate in G to
By (B)
, and hence to
is
In the permutation representation of degree 6156,
U
2
has 76 f' d 't lXe pOln s. If a is the point
whose stabiliser is H , and 6 is another point
fixed by
2
then there is element of G u , an g
such that 6g Then
-1
2
belongs to H a
= g u g
and is conjugate in H either to
2
to so u or
Suppose that for a choices of 6
(including a
2
u , and for
Then
-1 2
itself) g u g is conjugate to
(1
1).
b choices conjugate to
32 , we have a = 16, b = 60 ,
a + b = 76
1920
That is, has the right order for (i)
to be satisfied. To show that it has the right
structure, we need only recall three facts. First,
76 FINITE GROUPS
2
contains subgroup isomorphic to SL(2, 4)
CH(u )
a
so C
G
(u
2
) is not soluble. Second,
CL (( 1
)
contains a sUbgroup of order 16 normalised by an
element of order 3 which acts fixed-point-freely
on it. Thus there is a composition factor of
so faithfully.
group of order
2
C
r
(u )
'"
on which
So
32
SL(2, 4) acts non-trivially, and
2
CG(u ) = ESL(2, 4) E a
2
normal in CG(u) Finally,
by (B),
namely
2
C
G
(u) contains an element of order 8,
t
(1
1)
, so that E cannot be elementary
abelian. Hence G satisfies (i), and hence also
(ii) .
The computing described in this note was done
on the Atlas computers at Chilton and Cambridge,
which have a cycle time of 2f4 sec. The work was
done while one of us (J. McK.) held a Science
Research Council research fellowship at Chilton.
REFERENCES
1. Z. Janko, Some new simple groups of finite
order I (to appear) .
2. J. Leech, Coset enumeration, article in
Computational Problems in Abstract Algebra,
Pergamon Press, 1968.
The Mathematical Institute
24-29 St Giles
Oxford
The Atlas Laboratory
Chilton
Berks
77
THE SIMPLE GROUP OF ORDER 604,800*
Marshall Hall, Jr. and David Wales
Z. Janko [3J has characterized a simple group
G in terms of the centralizer of an involution in
the center of a 2-Sylow group P. He assumes that
the center Z of P is cyclic and that the central-
izer of the involution in Z is an extension of a
group E of order 32 by
AS
, which acts fai th-
fully on E If G has two conjugate classes of
involutions then G has order 604,800 and a
uniquely determined character table.
Proceeding independently of Janko, we have
shown [2J the existence and uniqueness of a simple
*This research was supported in part by ONR
contract N00014-67-A00094-00l0.
79
80 FINITE GROUPS
group of order 604,800. The degrees of the
characters in the principal 7-block, B
O
(7) , can
be determined using techniques described in [1].
7-Sylow group is its own centralizer and its
normalizer is of order 42 From the degrees of
in B
O
(7) it follows that G possesses
a 5-block of defect 1 and two 3-blocks of defect
1 The centralizers and normalizers of these
jefect groups can be determined from the order of
G. Then the degrees of the characters in these
blocks and a number of the conjugate classes in
G can be found. It is then possible to see that
G possesses a 2-block of defect 2 with an ele-
mentary Abelian defect group. This provides two
more degrees of characters, and using the orthogon-
ality relations, the character table can be com-
pleted. The table is given at the end of this
paper.
The next step is to show that G contains a
of order 6048 The normalizer N of a
3-Sylow group P3 is of order 216 and if R is
81
an element of order 4 in N, then C = C(R) is
of order 96 and N n C is of order 24 These
three groups can be determined specifically from
the character table. By examining the multiplicity
of the trivial character in the restrictions
it can be shown that the
group generated by Nand C is a proper sub-
group. Call it H It then is easy to see that
H is of order 6048 and isomorphic to the unitary
group D
3
(3)
We can now show the existence and uniqueness
of G as a permutation group on the 100 cosets
of H The permutation character correspond-
ing to the permutation representation can be found
from the character table. It is
x = + '1 + '7 The permutation representation
is of rank 3, and as a 7-element fixes exactly
two points, it readily follows that the stabilizer
of a point, G ,has orbit lengths 1, 36 and 63 .
a
The permutation representation of H on the
orbit of length 36 is on the cosets of a subgroup
82
FINITE GROUPS
of order 168. Such a subgroup can be found and
is unique to within conjugation in H. Knowing
the permutation character of H on the 36 orbit,
its character on the 63 orbit is determined,
and it follows that the 63 orbit is the representa-
tion of H on cosets of the centralizer of an
involution.
It is now only necessary to show that this
representation can be extended uniquely to a
group of order 604,800 . In H the normalizer
of a 7-Sylow group is of order 21 and
(a, c> where
(1)
7 -1
a :::: 1, c ac
2 3
a , c :::: 1 .
Permutations for a, c and two further elements
b and d are given at the end of the paper. Here
H (a, b>, d
2
1,
dcd
-1
and the stabilizer
:::: :::: ::::
C
S of the two letters 00 and 01 is S
::::
(a, d> ,
a group of order 168
In G the normalizer N (7) of a 7-Sylow
G
group is of order 42 , and so G must contain an
83
involution t such that
( 2)
Furthermore G
be maximal.
tat
-1
a tc = ct .
<rI, t> = <a, b, t> , as H must
It remains to show that t exists and is
unique and that the group <rI, t> has order
604,800. The latter was done with the help of
Peter Swinnerton-Dyer on the Titan computer at
Cambridge University. The simplicity of G
follows from an easy argument using the simplicity
of H.
From the character table, t must move all
100 letters. Hence t must interchange the two
letters (00), (01) fixed by a and also, as
tc = ct the two further letters (12, (31) fixed
by c. As
-1
tat = a this determines t on
the 7-cycles of a containing (12) and (31) With
16 of the values in t determined, we find that
2 4 2
tb a tb t fixes (00) and has 7 further values
determined. This is sufficient to determine the
84
FINITE GROUPS
permutation completely as an element of H and in
fact
(3)
363
a b ada .
?elations ( 2) and (3) are now enough to deter-
t completely. The computer verified
the subgroup of <a, b, t> fixing 00 is
exactly H and so G = <a, b, t> is the desired
of order 604,800 and is unique.
Suzuki has also constructed the group as a
subgroup of index 2 of the automorphism group of
a certain graph with 100 points. Jacques Tits
a similar construction using certain geometries
over GF(4) Recently John Lindsey has found the
matrices for a 6-dimensional projective representa-
tion of G over the complex numbers.
85
element e a J R K TJ TR
order 1 7 2 4 8 6 12
C (X)
g 7 1920 96 8 24 12

1 1 1 1 1 1 1

36 1 4 4 0 1 1

90 -1 la -2 0 1 1

160 -1
0 0 0 0 0

225 1 -15 -3 -1 0 0

288 1 0 0 0 0 0

300 -1 -20 4 0 1 1

63 0 15 3 1 0 0

126 0 14 2 0 -1 -1

70 0 -la 2 0 -1 -1

70 0 -la 2 0 -1 -1

175 0 15 -1 -1 3 -1

224 0 0 0 0 0 0

224 0 0 0 0 0 0

14 0 -2 2 0 1 -1

14 0 -2 2 0 1 -1

21 0 5 1 -1 -1 1

21 0 5 1
-1 -1 1
*18
336 0 16 0 0 -2 0

189 0 -3 -3 1 0 0

189 0 -3 -3 1 0 0
86
FINITE GROUPS
o
o
1
o
1
-1
o
-1
o
-1
1
o
o
1
o
1
-1
o
-1
o
-1
1
TIJ
1
10
20
1 1
1 1
-6 -6
1 2
-6 -6
2 1
-6 -6
2 1
-6 -6
1 2
o
o
o
1
1
o
o
1
-1
1
o
-1
o
1
1
2 -1
2 -1
1
o
6
4
5
4
o
-1
6
-2
-2
-4 -1
-4 -1
-3 0
-5
-3 0
1 1
-1 -1
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
-1 -1
L
o 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
6
2
6
1
6
1
6
2
0 0
0 0
element
order
C(X)
'"
0
'1
, 2
, ~
~
.et
'5
'il
6
'f
7
~ 8
'il
9
'+
10
V
ll
~
Vu
'+'14
V
1S
'+'16
'+
17
'18
'19
'20
58
1
58
2
0 0 -8 -8
1 2
58
2
58
1
0 0 -8 -8
2 1
1-48 1-48 -28 -28 8
1
8
2 2 1 1 2
1-48 1-48 -28 -26 8
2
8
1 1 2 2 1
38
1
38
2
1+8
1
1+8
2
0 0
38
2
38
1
1+8
2
1+6
1
0 0
3+ 8
1
3+8
2
28
1
26 8
1
8
2 2
3+8
2
3+8
1
28
2
26
1
8
2
8
1
87
TI TI
2
TI
1
rr
2
TIT
,...2
1
.. T
5 5 5 5 15 15
300 300 50 50 15 15
1 1 1 1 1 1
-4 -5 1 1 -1 -1
5 5 0 0 -1 -1
-5 -5 0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0
3 3 -2 -2 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0
3 3 -2 -2 0 0
1 1 1 1 1 1
o
-1
o
o
o
-1
o
o
o
1
o
1
o
38
2
1+8
1
1+6
2
38
1
1+8
2
1+e
1
-4
o
-4
element T T
1
order 3 3
C(X) 1080 36

1 1

9 0

9 0

16 1

0 3

0 -3

-15 0

0 3

9 0
8

7 1

7 1

-5 1

8 -1

8 -1

5
-1

5
-1

3 0

3 0

-6 0

0 0
'1J
20
0 0
88
Permutations
FINITE GROUPS
a = (00) (01) (02,03,04,05,06,07,08) (09,10,11,12,13,14,15)
(16,17,18,19,20,21,22) (23,24,25,26,27,28,29)
(30,31,32,33,34,35,36) (37,38,39,40,41,42,43)
(44,45,46,47,48,49,50) (51,52,53,54,55,56,57)
(58,59,60,61,62,63,64) (65,66,67,68,69,70,71)
(72,73,74,75,76,77,78) (79,80,81,82,83,84,85)
(86, 87, 88, 89, 9 0, 91, 92) (93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99)
b (00) (01,02,09,16,23,20,30,17)
(03,35,13,29,31,24,25,11) (04,26,27,07)
(05,21,14,10) (06,19,32,36)
(08,18,28,22,15,12,33,34) (37)
(38,92,67,77,99,89,49,84) (39,59,82,46,88,54,52,68)
(40,55,47,81,75,95,61,78) (41,44,63,58,72,65,50,51)
(42,76,53,93,86,80,79,57) (43,85,48,70,96,83,66,94)
(45,97) (56,87) (60,71,91,69,90,73,64,74) (62,98)
c = (00) (01) (02,28,21) (03,23,18) (04,25,22) (05,27,19)
(06,29,16) (07,24,20)(08,26,17) (09,13,14) (10,15,11)
(12) (30,36,34) (31) (32,33,35) (37,50,63) (38,45,60)
(39,47,64) (40,49,61) (41,44,58) (42,46,62)
( 43, 48 , 59) (51, 65 , 72) (52, 67, 76) (53, 69, 73)
(54,71,77) (55,66,74) (56,68,78) (57,70,75)
(79,89,96) (80,91,93) (81,86,97) (82,88,94)
(83,90,98) (84,92,95) (85,87,99)
89
d = (00) (01) (02) (03,05) (04,25) (06) (07,20) (08,17)
(16,29) (18,27) (19,23) (21,28) (22) (24) (26) (09,14)
(10) (11,15) (12) (13) (30) (31) (32,35) (33) (34,36)
(37,44) (38,88) (39,64) (40,90) (41,50) (42,95)
(43,97) (45,82) (46,92) (47) (48,86) (49,83) (79,89)
(58,63) (59,81) (60,94) (61,98) (62,84) (80,85)
(87,93) (91,99) (96) (51,72) (52) (53,68) (54,71)
(55,66) (56,69) (57) (65) (67,76) (70,75) (73,78)
(74) (77)
t = (00,01) (02,74) (03,73) (04,72) (05,78) (06,77)
( 07 , 7 6) (08, 7 5) (0 9 , 34) (1 0 , 33) (11, 3 2) (1 2 , 31 )
(13,30) (14,36) (15,35) (16,71) (17,70) (18,69)
(19,68) (20,67) (21,66) (22,65) (23,53) (24,52)
(25,51) (26,57) (27,56) (28,55) (29,54) (37,91)
(38,90) (39,89) (40,88) (41,87) (42,86) (43,92)
(44,99) (45,98) (46,97) (47,96) (48,95) (49,94)
(50,93) (58,85) (59,84) (60,83) (61,82) (62,81)
(63,80) (64,79)
90
Bibliography
FINITE GROUPS
:lj Hall, M. Jr.: A search for simple groups of
orders less than one million. To appear.
:2. Hall, M. Jr. and D. Wales: The simple group
of order 604,800. To appear.
3.
Janko, z.:
order, I .
Some new simple groups of finite
To appear.
LE GROUPE DE JANKO D'ORDRE 604.800.
J. Tits
Soit H l'hexagone generalise associe au
groupe G
2
(2) On sait [3] que l'ensemble des
points de H peut etre identifie a l'ensemble des
points d'une hyperquadrique Q de dimension 5
sur E2. Un plan de Q est dit normal s'il ne
contient aucune droite de H; deux plans
nocmaux distincts p, p' sont dits associes si
toute droite de Q rencontrant p et p' est
une droite de H On montre que tout plan normal
est associe a un et un seul autre plan normal.
Soient H' l'ensemble des droites de H, P
l'ensemble des paires de plans associes, 00 un
point et A = H' UP U {oo}. Dans A, considerons
la relation binaire symetrique I C A x A definie
91
?2
20mme suit: pour d, d' E H' et
( 00, x) E I <=> X E P
FINITE GROUPS
(d, d') E I les droites d et d' sont
disjointes et non opposees
dans H (i.e. il existe une
et une seule droite de H
rencontrant d et d' );
d n p. '1.0
1
intersections
Pi n qj
une droite de Q.
Soit J le groupe des permutations de A
est
conservant I. Soit K le groupe des
elements de J induits de fa90n evidente par les
automorphismes ("Collineations") de H et soit
J' (resp. K' le groupe des elements de J
(resp. K' ) qui SOnt des permutations paires
de A.
THEOREME. On a (J:J' ) (K: K' ) 2. Le groupe
93
J' est un groupe transitif de permutations de
l'ensemble a 100 elements A i il est simple,
d'ordre 604.800. Le sous-groupe des elements de
J (resp. J' laissant fixe le point 00 est le
sous-groupe K (resp.
K I ).
Tout automorphisme
de J' s'etend de maniere unique en un automor-
phisme de J, et tout automorphisme de Jest
interieur, de sorte que Aut (J') J .
Un etape essentielle de la demonstration
consiste evidemment a montrer l'existence d'une
permutation impaire de A, appartenant a J et
ne conservant pas 00. Elle ressort du
LEMME. 11 existe une
permutation involutive a de A possedant les
proprietes suivantes, ou K = (ql' q2) E P et
d E H'
(i) a (00)
=
TI a(TI)
00
(ii) si
( TI , K) E I , alors a (K)
=
K
( iii) si ( TI , K)

I , alors, apres permu-
tation eventuelle de
ql
et
q2
, les
94
FINITE GROUPS
intersections Pi n qi
sont des points, joints
par une droite d' E H',
et a(K) = d
'
(iv) si (TI, d) El, a(d) est l'unique paire
d n p. ;
1
rencontrant
(v) si (TI, d) ~ I , il existe une seule
droi te dIE H'
Pl' P2
d , et a(d) est
l'unique droite E HI
et
distincte de d et d',
et contenant le point
d n d'
L'involution a, qui est manifestement unique,
appartient a J
Les demonstrations sont assez longues, parce
~ e requerant de nombreuses distinctions de cas,
~ i s elementaires.
Les resultats precedents ont ete suggeres par
95
la lecture de [1]. La representation, decrite
ici, du groupe de Janko comme groupe de permu-
tations de degre 100 est bien entendu equivalente
a celle obtenue par M. Hall au moyen d'un
ordinateur; la connaissance de celle-ci a aussi
oriente nOs recherches.
REFERENCES
1. D. Higman and C. Sims, A simple group of
order 44.352.000. To appear.
2. Z. Janko, Some new simple groups of finite
order, I. To appear in the Proceedings of a
Conference on Group Theory (Rome, 1967).
3. J. Tits, Sur la trialite et certains groupes
qui s'en deduisent, Publ. Math. I.H.E.S.,
2 (1959), 13-60.
Bonn, Decembre 1967
LINEAR GROUPS OF DEGREE 6 AND THE
HALL-JANKO GROUP
John H. Lindsey 11
Finite groups G having a faithful,
irreducible, quasi-primitive, unimodular represen-
tation of degree 6, over the complex field, have
essentially been classified. G is a central
extension by AS' A
6
, A
7
, L
2
(7), L
2
(11), L
2
(13),
L
3
(4), U
3
(3), U
4
(3), 0
5
(3), or the Hall-Janko
group of order 604,800, or G is of index 2
over one of these groups. The only questions left
open are the automorphism groups of the central
extensions by A
6
and L
3
(4) and the uniqueness
of the central extension of 2
6
by L
3
(4) with a
representation of degree 6
In the course of classifying groups of
degree 6, the following generalization of Feit's
theorem was proved:
97
98
FINITE GROUPS
Let G be a group of order glh g where
h = g , TI ~ {primes > r - l} , and H is an
TI
abelian sUbgroup of G of order h. Let G have
a faithful representation X of degree r - 1
not a power of 2 over the complex numbers. Then
either A. G has a normal subgroup of order
h or hip, P a prime number,
or B. There exists a subgroup GO of G
of index 1 or 2 with GO
isomorphic to a central extension
by L2 ( r) x L2 (r)
A group of index 2 over a central extension
of Z6 by U
4
(3) was generated by the following
matrices in GL(6, ~ where w is a primitive
third root of 1.
(1) All diagonal matrices of order 3 and
determinant 1
,
( 2) All permutation matrices, and
(3 )
1 1 1
0
1 w w
1
1 w w
w - w
0
-1 -1 -1
-1 -w -w
-1 -w -w
99
It is shown that these generate a finite
group by examining the 126 conjugates of a
permutation matrix corresponding to a transposition.
45 conjugates are monomial. 81 conjugates are
conjugate to 1
6
- (1/3)M by diagonal matrices of
order 3 , where M is a matrix all of whose
entries are 1
There is a unique group G
l
with center Z
of order 2 and Gl/Z ~ G , the Hall-Janko group
satisfying the following:
(A) The Sylow 7-subgroup of G is
normalized by an element of order 4 .
(B) The inverse image, under the homo-
morphism G
l
->-
Gl/Z
of a subgroup U
3
(3) of G
of order 6048 is isomorphic to Z
x
U
3
(3) G
l
has two conjugate, faithful, irreducible represen-
tations of degree 6 in the complex field. These
representations can be written in ~ 1 5 17 ). The
character table of G
l
can be given. The degrees
of the faithful irreducible representations of G
l
are 6, 6, 64, 64, 50, 50, 216, 14, 84, 126, 126,
252, 56, 56, 448, 350 and 336.
Existence of G
l
was verified by taking
(mod 3) a representation of degree 6. This
100 FINITE GROUPS
representation restricted to Z x U
3
(3)
a 3 dimensional invariant subspace, V.
under G
l
, V has 100 images, which the
generators of G
l
permute exactly as their images
permute the letters described in the Hall-Wales
paper.
Unique unitary matrices over the complex
:ield were obtained for a 6 dimensional
representation of generators of G
l
after the
of a Sylow 7-subgroup was written in a
form.
ON THE ISOMORPHISM OF TWO GROUPS OF
ORDER 44,352,000
Charles C. Sims
1. INTRODUCTION
At the Group Theory Symposium held in Urbana
November 24, 1967 G. Higman described a simple
doubly transitive permutation group of degree 176
with the same order and character table as the
simple group discovered by D. G. Higman and the
author. In this note a proof of the isomorphism
of these two groups will be sketched. The proof is
computational in the extreme and was carried out
entirely on a computer.
2. THE GROUP OF G. HIGMAN
G. Higman defined his group as the auto-
morphism group of a "geometry" whose objects are
101
102
FINITE GROUPS
14
14
points and subsets of points called quadrics such
that
(i) There are 176 points and 176 quadrics.
(ii) Each quadric contains 50 points and
each point is in 50 quadrics.
(iii) Any two distinct points are in
quadrics and any two distinct quadrics have
points in common.
(iv) There is a polarity interchanging points
and guadrics, preserving incidence.
Higman's definition of the geometry is
equivalent to the following: Let B = {1,2, ... ,8}
A subgroup of the symmetric group S8 on B will
be called a PGL(2, 5) if it has order 120 and
orbits of length 1, 1
C of 168 PGL(2, 5) 's
the geometry is
P B U C
and 6 S8 has one class
The set of points in
quadrics are in 1-1 correspondence with the
If b B , then the quadric L(b) is
B U {H I H C, b
H
= b}
H C , then H has orbits on C of length
1, 5, 12, 30, 60 and 60 The quadric L(H)
103
contains the fixed points of H on B and the
orbits of length 1, 5, 12 and 30 of H on C.
Let Q denote the set of quadrics. The auto-
morphism group of the geometry (P, Q) is simple
of order 44,352,000. The stabilizer of a point
is isomorphic to P2:U(3, 52) , the extension of
PSU(3, 52) by a field automorphism.
Higman distinguished certain other subsets
of points called conics. These are sets of 8
points ~ i are contained in 8 quadrics. There
are 1100 conics. B is a conic and the only
automorphism of the geometry fixing a conic
point-wise is the identity.
3. THE GROUP OF HIGMAN-SIMS
Let Sand B denote the sets of points
and blocks, respectively, in a fixed Steiner system
S(3, 6, 22) Thus
(i) Is[:= 22.
(ii) B is a set of 77 6-element subsets
of S .
(iii) Any three distinct points are contained
104 FINITE GROUPS
in a unique block.
Define a graph with vertex set
where * is a new symbol. Connect * to the
points in S , connect each point to the blocks
containing it and connect two blocks if they are
disjoint. The automorphism group of has order
88,704,000 and contains a simple group G of
index 2. The stabilizer of a point in G is
isomorphic to M
22
.
4. THE ISOMORPHISM
Let us denote the group defined in section 2
by GH and the group defined in section 3 by HS
To prove that these two groups are isomorphic it
is enough to show that GH contains a subgroup
isomorphic to M
22
By inspection of the
character table of M
22
we see that the only
possible degree less than 100 of transitive
permutation representations of M
22
are 1, 22,
56 and 77 Thus representing GH on the cosets
of an M
22
, we must get a primitive rank 3 group
There are 176
105
of degree 100 with subdegrees 1, 22 and 77.
It is not hard to show that this group would have
to be an automorphism group of the graph defined
in section 3.
To show that GH contains an M
22
we
construct a geometry on which M
22
acts and prove
that this geometry is isomorphic to the geometry
defined in section 2. M
22
has two classes of
subgroups isomorphic to A
7
subgroups in each class and the two classes are
interchanged by an outer automorphism of M
22
A sUbgroup in one class has orbits of length 15,
35 and 126 on the other class. We define a
new geometry in which the points are the sUbgroups
in one class of A 's
7
and the quadrics are the
subgroups in the other class. A point H and a
quadric K are incident if
IH n KI
72 or 168.
We must now show that the geometry
of section 2 is isomorphic to the geometry
(P, Q)
(pI, Q')
just constructed. It is at this point
that we turn to the computer. The two geometries
were explicitly determined and a particular
106 FINITE GROUPS
isomorphism exhibited. The construction of the
geometries is relatively easy and it is sufficient
to say that programs were written to compute the
two 176 x 176 incidence matrices of the
geometries.
Determining an isomorphism was somewhat
more difficult. G. Higman showed that the
point-wise stabilizer of a conic B in (P, Q)
is trivial by showing that there is a "natural"
identification of the points in P - B with the
set of PGL(2, 5) 's in the symmetric group on B
This identification is obtained as follows: For
i,j E B, i t j , let
x in P - B such that
C.. be the set of points
1.J
{i, j, x} is contained in
8 quadrics. Also, define a map denoted by (i, j)
which interchanges the point y in
k t i, j , with the unique point z in C
jk
such
that {i, y, z} is contained in more than 3
quadrics. Given an element
of order 5 in the symmetric group on B , the
composition of the maps (i, b
l
), (j, b
r
),
and (i, b
r
) defines a permutation f
r
on
107
The product
Identify has a unique fixed point x
x with the unique PGL(2, 5)
on c ..
l]
in the symmetric
group on B which fixes i and j and contains
g
A computer program was written to look for
conics and to construct this identification. The
only input to the program was the incidence matrix
of (P, Q) The program was then given the
incidence matrix of
(P I, Q')
instead. If the
geometries were isomorphic, then a conic would be
found and the identification determined. If the
geometries were non-isomorphic, there were several
possible results:
(1) No conic would be found.
(2) A conic B' would be found but the
identification of P' - B
'
with the set of
PGL(2, 5) 's in the symmetric group on G
'
not be carried out.
could
(3) A conic B'
would be found.
and the identification
As it turned out the computer found a conic
108
FINITE GROUPS
3' and constructed an identification of pI - B
'
.:i th the set of PGL (2, 5)' s in the synunetric
group on B
'
A map of B
'
onto a conic B
in (P, Q) was chosen. induced an isomorphism
of the synunetric groups On B
'
and B using the
identifications, one could extend uniquely to
a map of pI onto P. A separate program
verified that took quadrics to quadrics and
thus was an isomorphism.
5. PW(3, 52) 'S IN HS
We close with a construction of the graph
in section 3 which shows that HS contains
subgroups isomorphic to PZU(3, 52) PSU(3, 52)
has three classes of A
7
'
s. Take the vertices of
the graph to be the subgroups in two of these
classes. Connect two vertices Hand K if
(a) Hand K are conjugate and
H n KI = 360
(b) Hand K are not conjugate and
H n KI = 168
Rutgers University
A SIMPLE GROUP OF ORDER 898,128,000
Jack McLaughlin
Let U denote the unimodular group of a
polarity of unitary type on projective space of
dimension 3 over the field of 9 elements (the
group U
4
(3) in Artin's notation), and let
denote the class of totally singular line
stabilizers in U. The action of U on Y is
primitive, of rank 3 , with subdegrees 1, 30, 81.
If we ask for a primitive rank 3 groups in
which a point stabilizer is U and one of the
orbits for U is Y, the conditions worked out
by Donald Higman in [2] tell us that 162 is a
possible value for the other non-trivial orbit
length.
E. M. Hartley in [1] showed that U contains
the unimodular group on the projective plane of
109
110 FINITE GROUPS
order 4 (the group L
3
(4) ) as a subgroup (of
index 162). Let Y be a class of subgroups
isomorphic to L
3
(4) in U. One can verify the
following:
(1) U has 2 orbits on Y x Y , say 0'
and 0" .
(2) The action of U on Y is primitive,
or rank 3 , with subdegrees 1, 56, 105 .
Following Higman-Sims [3] we make a graph
whose vertex set is * U YuY. Join * to each
member of Y. Join S E: Y to * , the members
of the S-orbit of length 30 On Y, and the
L E: Y with (S, L) E: 0' . Join L E: Y to the
members of the L-orbit of length 56 on Y, and
to the S E: Y with (S, L) E: 0' The graph !
has a transitive automorphism group. The group
of the title is a subgroup of index 2.
REFERENCES
1. Hartley, E. M., Two maximal subgroups of a
collineation group in five dimensions,
Proc. Carob. phil. Soc. 46 (1950), 555-569.
111
2. Higman, Dona1d G., Finite permutation groups
of rank 3 , Math. Z. 86 (1964), 145-156.
3. Higman, Dona1d G. and Charles C. Sims, A
simple group of order 44,352,000, Math. Z.
105(1968) 110-113.
The University of Michigan
A SIMPLE GROUP OF ORDER 448,345,497,600
Michio Suzuki
We construct a simple group S of order
448,345,497,600 .
Comparison of order shows that S is a new simple
group not found in the list of simple groups
published so far. What we have proved is the
following theorem.
THEOREM 1. There exists a primitive transitive
extension S of degree 1782 of the simple group
E
2
(4) , the Chevalley group of type G
2
over the
field of four elements.
Since E
2
(4) is simple and there is no
characteristically simple group of order 1782,
113
114
Theorem 1 yields
FINITE GROUPS
COROLLARY. S is a simple group.
Thus the group S is defined as a permutation
group on 1782 elements and as such S is of
rank 3 in the sense of D. G. Higman [3]. The
parameters are
k 416 , 1365, A 100 and 96
in the notation of [3]. The permutation group S
defines a strongly regular graph r with 1782
vertices, such that the group of automorphisms of
1 contains S The proof of Theorem 1 depends on
the construction of a graph which turns out to be
r
The construction of the graph depends On
various properties of the simple group E
2
(4)
Among them the following result is crucial.
THEOREM 2. The simple group E
2
(4) has a
primitive permutation representation of degree 416
such that it is of rank 3 and the stabilizer of
a point is isomorphic to the simple group of order
115
604,800 recently constructed by M. Hall [2].
Let 6 be the graph associated with the
permutation representation of E
2
(4) in Theorem 2.
Let = be the set of sUbgroups of E
2
(4) which
are conjugate to the center of a Sylow 2-group of
E
2
(4) We construct a graph r as follows. The
vertices of r are a distinguished point, which
we denote (00) , vertices of 6 and elements of
= :
r (00) U 6 U =
The edges of r
(a) The point
6 but none of
are defined as follows:
(00) is joined to every point of
= ;
(b) Two vertices of 6 are joined by an edge in
r if and only if they are joined by an edge of L
(c) If a s 6 and b s =, a and b are joined
by an edge if and only if the stabilizer of a in
E
2
(4) contains a non-identity element of the
subgroup b
(d) If u and v are two subgroups of =, then
we join u and v by an edge if and only if
[u, v] 1 but there is a subgroup w of = such
116
FINITE GROUPS
that (u, w] = (v, w] = 1. Here (u, v] denotes
the commutator subgroup of u and v.
It is proved that Aut f is transitive on
the set of vertices and contains the simple group
S of index 2 which satisfies the condition of
Theorem 1.
The proof of Theorem 2 is in turn reduced to
a similar proposition about the Hall-Janko group.
The graph 6 is constructed from the representation
of the Hall-Janko group of degree 100 In fact
we may begin the construction starting from the
trivial graph f
l
consisting of four vertices and
no connecting edge. The group G
l
= Aut f
l
is
the symmetric group S4 on four letters. Let L
l
be the set of involutions of S4 We construct
the graph f
2
in a similar way as we constructed f
from 6 and L before. Since 9 ,
contains 14 vertices. It is not hard to verify
that G
2
= Aut f
2
is transitive on the set of
vertices and in fact G
2
PGL(2, 7) By
construction the group G
l
is a subgroup of G
2
It is the stabilizer of
( co)
in the natural action
of G
l
on f
2
We may define L
2
as the normal
closure of L
l
in G
2
The set
L2
consists
of 21 involutions of PSL(2, 7) We can
117
define f
3
, G
3
, =3 similarly. Continuing this
process we obtain
I
f
3
1
36 , G
3
= E2 (2)
I
f
4
1
100 G
4
Aut HJ ;
Ifsl
=
416 , G
S
= Aut E
2
(4)
Here HJ denotes the simple group of Hall-Janko.
The graph f
S
is the graph 6 defined just after
Theorem 2.
The proof of a crucial point, the group
acting transitively on the set of vertices of
depends on various properties, among which we
single out two.
G.
1
f.
1
Let x be a vertex of f. and H be the
1
stabilizer of x in G.
1
Then H is isomorphic
to G
i
-
l
and this isomorphism sends =. n H onto
1
L 1 .
1-
Thus, in the embedding of G
i
_
l
into G.
1
involutions of =. 1 do not fuse to involutions
1-
outside =. 1 .
1-
The second, more important, property is the
following. As before let H denote the stabilizer
of x. Let i < 4 . If u is an involution of
118
FINITE GROUPS
Li which is not contained in H , then there is a
unique involution in H n L
i
which commutes with
u. This proposition fails for G
S
This is the
reason that the sequence stops at i 5 and the
construction of the simple group S is slightly
different. The proof of Theorem 1 uses a similar
proposition involving the subgroups of L
Details of arguments are elementary but
tedious, and will appear elsewhere. We mention
that the identification of G
4
uses the recent
work of M. Hall and Wales [2], and the isomorphism
is proved by applying the recent
characterization of E
2
(q) by G. Thomas [4].
The graph f (and its dual) is a strongly
regular graph which is pseudo-geometric but not
geometric. The graph f
4
is even a pseudo-net
graph but is not a net or the dual of a net. Thus
- 4 provides a counterexample to a conjecture of
Bruck [1]. A simpler counter-example to Bruck's
20njecture has been given by Bose.
This work was inspired by the recent work of
... Hall, D. Higman and C. Sims. The main idea
~ e from the work of Higman and Sims on their
siDple group. The author is grateful to them for
119
communicating to him their work before publication.
REFERENCES
1. R. H. Bruck, Finite nets, 11. Uniqueness
and imbedding, Pac. J. Math., 13 (1963),
421-457.
2. M. Hall and D. Wales, The simple group of
order 604,800 (to appear).
3. D. G. Higman, Finite permutation groups of
rank 3 , Ma th. Z. 86 ( 1964), 14 5-156 .
4. Gomer C. Thomas, A characterization of the
Chevalley group G
2
(q) , Thesis, University
of Illinois (1968).
University of Illinois
THEOREM.
SOME SIMPLE GROUPS RELATED TO M
24
. d
l
Dleter Hel
The following characterization of the
Mathieu-Simple-Group M
24
has been obtained:
Let EO be an elementary abelian
group of order 16. Denote by HO the centralizer
of an involution of EO in the holomorph of EO .
If G is a finite simple group which possesses an
involution z such that the centralizer of z in
G is isomorphic to HO ' then only the following
possibilities occur:
(I) G is isomorphic to
L
S
(2)
(Il ) G is isomorphic to M
24
, or
(Ill) G has order
210'33.s2'7317
1. This work has been done under a DFG contract.
121
122
FINITE GROUPS
is the
SOME PROPERTIES OF A GROUP G OF CASE III
(1) The group G possesses precisely two
classes of involutions with the representatives z
and t.
(2) The centralizer H of z in G is
isomorphic to HO ,and <z> is the center of a
Sylow 2-subgroup of G. Moreover, ~ 2 H
central product of three dihedral groups of order
8 with amalgamated centers,
H / ~ 2 (H)
is isomorphic
to L
2
(7) , and H splits over
~ 2 H
( 3) The centralizer
H* of t in G
possesses a subgroup of index 2 which
contains a normal elementary abelian subgroup V
of order 4 of H* . The factor group H*/V
1
is
isomorphic to L
3
(4) , and H*/V contains a
sUbgroup isomorphic to Ss
(4) A Sylow 3-normalizer of G is an
extension of a non-abelian group of order 27 and
of exponent 3 by a dihedral group of order 8
(5) A Sylow 5-subgroup F is elementary
abelian of order 52. The factor group ~ F / F
is the central product of a quaternion group Q
of order 8 extended by an automorphism of order
123
3 and a cyclic group Z of order 4 such that
IQ n zl = 2 and Z = ~ ~ F / F
(6) A Sylow 7-subgroup S of G is
non-abelian of order 7
3
and of exponent 7
Further, ~ S / S is isomorphic to the direct
product of a group of order 3 and S3
(7) A Sylow 17-normalizer of G is a
Frobenius-group of order 2
3
.17
(8) G has precisely 33 classes of
conjugate elements. The centralizers of the
representatives of these classes can be obtained
uniquely by the above information. In particular,
G has precisely two classes of elements of order
3 with representatives C E H and
precisely one class of elements of order S with
the representative w , and five classes of
elements of order 7 with the representatives
(j EH,
-1
(j
S E H* ,
-1
s One
computes
~ c
'"
<c>
x
L
2
(7)
f(cl)/<c
l
>
C(w)
'"
<w>
x
AS
,
If ((j) I =
2.7
2
C(s)
'"
<s>
x
L
2
(7) , and
If (w) I
3.7
3
Remark. The proof leading to the above results
will be published in a forthcoming paper. In this
:1.24 FINITE GROUPS
~ p e r the existence problem will be attacked. In
particular, the character table of G will be
computed.
In t ~ e proof of the above theorem a new
group-orcer formula of J. G. Thompson plays a
crucia::' :-::le.
AN ANALYSIS OF GROUP REPRESENTATIONS
S. B. Conlon
Let G be a finite group and R a commu-
tative ring with identity. Let Jt denote the
category of finitely generated left RG-modules.
The representation ring a (RG) (algebra A(RG) )
is formed from integral ~ -linear) combinations
of the isomorphism classes {M} for M in .1,
subject to the relations {M} = {M'} + {M"} when-
ever M "" M' Gl M" and in which mUltiplication is
given by the "tensor product representation," i.e.
{M}{M'} {M ~ M' } If the Krull-Schmidt
~ h o r m holds in Jt, then we have a natural
imbedding of the isomorphism classes {M} of Jt
in a(RG) and of a(RG) in A(RG)
In the classical case with R ~ we know
that character values separate not only the
125
126 FINITE GROUPS
isomorphism classes of ~ but, if extended
linearly, also separate the elements of A(RG)
One can ask the same question for general R.
When R is a complete ~ o c a l noetherian ring
the Krull-schmidt theorem holds in ~ and Green's
work on vertices and sources and transfer goes
through. In [1] it is shown that, provided one
has an adequate knowledge of the possible
(absolutely indecomposable) sources that can arise,
the elements of A(RG) can be systematically
separated and the question is really one of the
sources.
The reduction involves two ideas. First, a
close look is taken at the decomposition of an
induced module L
G
RG 0
RP
L ,where L is a
source of vertex P , by means of rings of endo-
morphisms and the notions of ideals and radicals
in categories. The analysis elucidates Green's
transfer theorem.
The second idea is that of a canonical
decomposition A(RG) ~ Ap(RG) , of A(RG)
into two-sided ideals Ap(RG) , where ~ is a
complete set of non-conjugate p-subgroups P of
G and where p is the characteristic of the
residue field of R.
127
(The characteristic 0 case
is easier.) The ideal A" (RG)
P
has a basis corres-
ponding to the different indecomposables in At of
vertex P Actually the projection of an element
of A(RG) onto the linear subspace of A" (RG)
P
corresponding to a given source is determined in
[1]. However it is the ideal (or multiplicative)
structure of A(RG) which enables the analysis to
go through.
However this ideal decomposition is only a
particular instance of a much more widely valid
(R arbitrary) and finer decomposition of A(RG)
flowing out of the coset structure of G.
If H < G , and if IH is the trivial
RH-module, then IH
G
only depends upon the
conjugacy class of the subgroup H in G By
the Mackey formula for the tensor product of
induced modules we have that
If H is conjugate to H' in G write
Consider the -vector space B on the symbols
x
H
. We define a multiplication in B by
128
FINITE GROUPS
Then B is a -algebra and is called the
Burnside algebra. It is discussed in [2] and [3].
It is semisimple and is the ring direct sum of
copies of , each ideal generated by an
idempotent I
H
associated to each conjugacy class
of subgroups H of G. We have a natural
-algebra homomorphism 8 : B A(RG) given by
x
H
lH
G
, with the identity of B mapping onto
the identity of A(RG) Thus the identity 1 of
A(RG) is written as the sum of idempotents
1 : L 8(I
H
) and we have corresponding ideal
decompositions of A(RG)
In the particular case when R is a complete
local noetherian ring with residue field of
characteristic p,
p'-cyclic extension of a p-subgroup P of G
Then the idempotent generator of
by the sum of those 8(I
H
) where
A" (RG) is given
p
H runs through
a complete set of non-conjugate (in G) subgroups
of G which are p'-cyclic extensions of the
p-subgroup P .
REFERENCES
1. Conlon, S. B., Relative components of
representations, to appear in the J. of
Algebra.
2. , Decompositions induced from the
Burnside Algebra, to appear in the J. of
Algebra.
3. Solomon, Louis, The Burnside algebra of a
finite group, J. of Combinatorial Theory,
2 (1967), 603-615.
129
CENTRALIZER RINGS AND CHARACTERS OF
REPRESENTATIONS OF FINITE GROUPS
C. W. Curtis and T. V. Fossum
Throughout this paper G will denote a
finite group, H an arbitrary subgroup of G
KG and KH will be the group algebras of G and
H respectively, over an algebraic number field
K which is a splitting field for both KG and
KH The first main result (Theorem B) gives some
orthogonality relations in the centralizer ring of
a representation of G induced from a linear
representation of H This result is applied to
give a new arithmetical result (Theorem C) on the
degrees of irreducible characters of G 1
Let be an irreducible character of H.
1. The result on the degrees of characters was
obtained independently, and by a different method,
by Gordon Keller.
131
132
FINITE GROUPS
Then W is afforded by the left KH-module KHe ,
where e is a primitive idempotent in KH. The
centralizer ring E = eKGe ~ O ~ (KGe, KGe) is
an algebra with identity e, which is a semi-
simple subalgebra of KG Representations,
characters, and degrees of characters are defined
for E as well as for KG If /;, is an
irreducible character of KG ,
is the multiplicity of /;, in w
G
.
LEMMA. The character ep of E is an irreducible
character of E if and only if
ep
is the
restriction
/;'E
to E of a unique irreducible
character
/;,
of G such that ( /;, ,
w
G
)
> 0 .
We remark that for S-rings, this theorem is
due to Tamaschke [6].
The following notations will be used in the
remainder of this paper: for x E G ,
x -1
H = x HX,
133
ind x [H
We shall also assume that is a linear
of H ; then the primitive idempotent e E KH
that KHe affords can be given explicitly by
e =
I
Hj-l \ 'I>(h-l)h.
LhEH '
THEOREM A. Let be a linear character of H ,
afforded by the KH-module KHe where e is given
by (*) Let G = U. I O. , where the
lE l
O.
l
are the
distinct (H,H)-double cosets H x H in G Let
J C I be the set of indices j such that for some
This condition on
x
X E O. =
J
depends only on the double cosets and not on their
representatives. For each j E J pick X. EO.
J J
The set
so that
eKGe .
The elements
is invariant under 0 0-
1
(ind x.) ex . e
J J
form a basis for E
j E J}
{a.
J
{D.
J
and let a. =
J
j E J}
there is a second basis {b. : j E J} where
J
b. = (ind
J
Frobenius
-1
x .) ex . e.
J J
algebra and,
The algebra E is a
letting xl = 1 , the bases
{a
J
.} and {(ind x.)-lb.} are dual bases with
J J
respect to the form (x, y) = Sl I where
134
then the constants of structure
algebraic integers in K.
FINITE GROUPS
are all
The computations in the proof are similar to
the arguments in Section 1 of [3] and will be
omitted.
THEOREM B. Assume the notations of Theorem A.
Let ~ be an irreducible character of G such
that ~ , 1jJG) > 0 Then
[G
.H]-l"'(l) \' (' d )-l"'(b)
S L' J In x, L, a.
JE J J J
where
central primitive idempotent in KG corresponding
to ~ If ~ and ~ are irreducible characters
of G both appearing in 1jJG with positive
mUltiplicity, then the following orthogonality
relations hold:
~ ~
The proof of the orthogonality relations
follows from the observations that
I:;(E(I:;)e)
I:; I t- I:; .
G
( 1:;, 1jJ ) and I:; I (E (I:;) e) o if
135
In case
G
(1:;, V ) = 1 , the element E(I:;)e in
Theorem B is a primitive idempotent in KG such
that KGE(I:;)e affords I:; (by Janusz [5]).
THEOREM C. Assume the notations of Theorem A.
Let I:; be an irreducible character of G such
that
G
i;;(e) = (1:;, \jJ ) > 0 . Then
I:; (1)
\ -1 -1
[G:H]c(e){L' J (ind x,) I:;(b)c(a.)}
JE J J J
Moreover the degree C(l) of C divides
J {ind x,} .
JE J
The first statement follows from Theorem B.
For the second statement, suppose v is a
valuation on K extending the p-adic valuation On
the rational field, where p is an arbitrary
rational prime, and let R be the valuation ring
in K corresponding to v Then R is a
principal ideal domain. By Theorem A,
E'
=
LjEJ
Ra, is an R-order in E containing the
J
set {b. : j E J} One can show that I:; (b . ) is
J J
in R for each j E J Let
136
9, cm . {ind x.}
]EJ ]
and write
FINITE GROUPS
L
-1
w == . (ind x.) 9, I;, (b . ) a .
]EJ ] ]]
Then w is in E' , and by Theorem B, w is
central in E It follows that I;, (w) == ( I;, , wG)o:
for 0: E R
,
since K is a splitting field for
E But then 0. ==
I;, (1) -l(G:H] 9,
is in Q n R
where Q is the rational field. Since the prime
p was arbitrary we conclude that 1;,(1)
(G:H]9,
divides
Remarks.
2
Ito's Theorem follows as a corollary
to the above result. Moreover both extreme cases
in the divisibility formula can occur, in the
sense that if w
G
is irreducible, \jJG(l) == (G:H]
while in the case of the Steinberg character X of
a Chevalley group [1] , is
relatively prime to [G:H] , and
X(l) == 9,cm. J {ind x.} .
]E ]
The theorems were motivated partly by the
apparent usefulness of centralizer rings of
induced representations in the problem of computing
the irreducible characters of the Chevalley groups
2. See [2], (53.18), p. 365.
137
(see [4], [7]).
REFERENCES
1. Curtis, C. W., The Steinberg character of a
finite group with a (B, N)-pair, J. Algebra
4 (1966), 433-441.
2. Curtis, C. W. and Reiner, I., Representation
Theory of Finite Groups and Associative
Algebras, Wiley (Interscience), New York 1962.
3. Dade, E. C., On Brauer's second main theorem,
J. Algebra 2 (1965), 299-311.
4. Gelfand, I. M and Graev, M. I., Construction
of irreducible representations of simple
algebraic groups over a finite field,
Doklady, 147, (1962),529-532; Soviet Math.
3 (1962).
5. Janusz, G., Primitive idempotents in group
a1gebras, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 17 (1966),
520-523.
6. Tamaschke, 0., S-rings and the irreducible
representations of finite groups, J. Algebra
138 FINITE GROUPS
1 (1964), 215-232.
7. Yokonuma, T., Sur le commutant d'une
representation d'un groupe de Chevnlley fini,
C. R. Acad. Sci. paris, 264 (1967), 433-436.
University of Oregon
SOME PROPERTIES OF THE GREEN CORRESPONDENCE
WaIter Feit
Let p > 0 be a prime. Let R be a
complete local domain whose maximal ideal ( n) is
principal such that R/(n) has characteristic p .
Let K be the quotient field of R Thus R is
either a field of characteristic p or a complete
discrete valuation ring. Let G be a finite
group.
By a module we will always mean a finitely
generated right module.
If V is an R[G] module and v E V then
v denotes the image of v in V= V/(n)V .
-
Similarly R = R/(n) and
R[G] = R[G]/(n)R[G] R[G]
We will freely use standard terminology and
notation.
139
140
FINITE GROUPS
Let S) be a nonempty set of subgroups of
G. If V, Ware R[G] modules write V = W(S))
if there exist R[G] modules V', W' such that
V V' z W mW' and for every component V
o
of
V' m W' there exists H = H(V
O
) E S) such that
V
o
is R[H]-projective. Since the unique
decomposition property (Krull-Schmidt theorem)
holds for R[G] modules [3, (76.26)] this is a
well defined equivalence relation. If V =
V is said to be IfA
x
E S) for
some x E G write A E S) .
G
Let P be a p-subgroup of G and let H
be a subgroup of G with mrG(p) C H
the following sets of subgroups of G.
Define
l=
l(P, H)
= {AlA
P n p
X
x E G - H}
2)= 2)(P, H) = {AlA
H n p
X
x E G - H}
for some
for some
H) = P and A t l}
G
Green [5] has proved the following basic
resul t.
THEOREM. There exists a function f from the
141
set of all isomorphism classes of R[P]-projective
R[G] modules into the set of all isomorphism
classes of R[p]-projective R[H] modules which
has the following properties.
(i) f(V
l
$ V
2
)
= f (V1)
Gl f (V
2
)
(ii) f (V) (0 )
if and only if V
-
o(l)
( iii) f(V
l

V2)
- f (V1)
f(V
2
) (I)
(iv) f (V)
- V
H
(ID) and
f(V)G
- V(l)
(v) Let V be an indecomposable R[G]
module with vertex in

; then V and f (V) have
a common source and vertex. If W is an indecom-
posable R[H] module with vertex in then
f(V) W if and only if vlw
G
or equivalently
In view of (v) the mapping f yields a one
to one correspondence between the set of isomorphism
classes of indecomposable R[G] moduies with
vertex in and the set of all isomorphism classes
of indecomposable R[H] modules with vertex in
We will call f or this the Green Correspondence
with respect to (G, P, H)
If V is an R[G] module let InvG(V) be
the submodule of V consisting of invariant
142
FINITE GROUPS
elements. If H is a subgroup of G define
NG,H
Inv
H
(V) -+
InvG(V) by
NG,H(v)
I
vx.
l
where {x. } is a (right) cross section of H in
l
G . is the relative (G, H) norm and is
independent of the choice of cross section.
For a nonempty set H of subgroups of G
and an R[G] module V define
Clearly H O G ~ V) is an R module.
In this notation D. G. Higman's criterion
for relative projective modules can be formulated
as follows.
THEOREM. Let V be an R[G] module and let H
be a subgroup of G Then V is R[H]-projective
if and only if HO(G, {H}, HomR(V, V)) = (0)
The following result can be proved by making
use of Higman's theorem.
THEOREM l. Let P be a p-subgroup of G and
let H be a subgroup of G with
OOG(P)
C;;;;
H
Let X,
V,21 be defined by (*) Let f be the
Green correspondence with respect to (G, P, H)
143
Let V, VI' V
2
be indecomposable R[P]-projective
R[G] modules. Then
(i)
for any automorphism
of R[G] with RO = R and GO = G where fO is
the Green correspondence with respect to
(G, pO, HO)
(ii) If V is R-free then f (V*) = f (V) *
where V* is the contragradient of V.
( iii)
(iv)
( v)
f(Hom
R
(VI' V
2
)) :: Hom
R
(f(V
l
) ,f(V
2
)) (x).
HO (G, x, V) HO (H, iJ), f (V))

H (G, x, Hom
R
(VI' V
2
))

(H, V, Hom
R
(f(V), f(V)))
(vi) If V has vertex in and f(V) is
in a block B of H then B
G
is defined and V
is in
-G
B . has the same meaning as in [2]).
COROLLARY 2. (i) If V is an absolutely
irreducible R[G] module with vertex in then
HO(H, V, Hom
R
(f(V), f(V))) = R
(ii) If V is an R-free R[G] module such
that V K is absolutely irreducible then
HO(H, V, Hom
R
(f(V), f(V))) is a cyclic R
module.
144 FINITE GROUPS
that V is an R-free module such that
COROLLARY 3. Let
a
p min
Ad
R[G]
Ip :AI Suppose
V
has vertex in and V 0 K is absolutely
irreducible. If dim
K
(V 0 K) < 1P? then f(V) K
is absolutely irreducible.
The difficulty with applying the results of
Theorem 1 and Corollary 2 is due to the fact that
generally there are many R[H] modules which
satisfy the conclusions of the Corollary. This is
illustrated for instance by the following result
which follows easily from Schanuel's lemma.
LEMMA 4. For i = 1, 2 let Vi' W
i
, U
i
be
R-free
that
R[G] modules with U.
l
projective such
V. -+ 0
l
is an exact sequence. Let be a nonempty set
of subgroups of G i then
From now On assume that the following
conditions are satisfied.
145
B is a block of G with cyclic defect group
P P is the subgroup of order p in P
G WG(P) and B is the unique block of G with
B
G
= B For any module V in B let V f(V)
where f is the Green correspondence with respect
to (G, P, G)
char K = 0 K and R are splitting fields
for G and all its sUbgroups.
In [4] Dade has proved several basic results
concerning the characters of G which are in B .
These results generalize those of [1] [8]. His
procedure is inductive and in particular in case
G = G he gives a complete description of all
indecomposable R[G] modules in B. By making use
of these results and Theorem 1 it is possible to
recapture his results in the general case. The
argument is based on the following two lemmas. I
am indebted to D. Passman for a proof of the first.
LEMMA 4. For i = 1, 2 let V. be an indecom-
l
posable R[G] module whose composition series has
length n.
l
If then
146
FINITE GROUPS
LEMMA 5. If V is an R[GJ module in B then
o 0 -
H (G, <1>, Hom
R
(V, v)) H (G, <1>, Hom
R
(V, V))
By extending these arguments one also gets
short proofs of the following results.
THEOREM 6. Let V be an R-free R[GJ module
In B which satisfies the following.
(i) Let e be the character afforded by
V 0 K Then e is either irreducible or a
mUltiplicity free sum of exceptional character.
(ii) The socle of V is irreducible. Then
V is uniserial.
THEOREM 7. (Janusz (6J) ( i) The number of
indecomposable modules in B is elpj where e
is defined as in (4 J .
(ii) The socle of an indecomposable module
in B is multiplicity free.
( iii) Let U be a projective indecomposable
where L
l
and
irreducible.
R[GJ module in B Then Rad(U) = L
l
+ L
2
L
2
are uniserial and L
l
n L
2
is
If furthermore there exists an R-free
R(GJ module V such that V is the irreducible
147
module corresponding to U then U is uniserial.
The following result was first proved by the
author in case Ipl = p and then by Rothschild [7J
in general.
THEOREM 8.
module in B
some integer
Let V
Then
a with
be an irreducible R[GJ
dim V = a (mod Ip!) for
lal e .
In particular Theorem 8 implies that every
irreducible R[GJ module in B has vertex P .
Then Theorem 8 of [4J is a simple consequence of
Theorem 2 (i) applied to the Green correspondence
with respect to (G, P, WG(P))
REFERENCES
1. R. Brauer, Investigations on group characters,
Ann. of Math. 42 (1941), 936-958.
2. , Zur Darstellungstheorie der Gruppen
endlicher Ordnung, 11. Math Z. 72 (1959)
25-46.
148 FINITE GROUPS
3. C. W. Curtis and I. Reiner, Representation
theory of finite groups and associative
a1gebras, Interscience, New York (1962).
4. E. Dade, Blocks with cyclic defect groups,
Ann. of Math. 84 (1966), 20-48.
5. J. A. Green, A transfer theorem for modular
representations, J. of Algebra 1 (1964),
73-84.
6. G. J. Janusz, Indecomposable modules for
finite groups, to appear.
7. B. Rothschild, Degrees of irreducible modular
characters of blocks with cyclic defect
groups, Bull. A. M. S. (1967), 102-104.
8. J. G. Thompson, Vertices and Sources, J. of
Algebra 6 (1967), 1-6.
Yale University
INDECOMPOSABLE MODULES FOR FINITE GROUPS
G. J. Janusz
l. INTRODUCTION
We first describe a construction for a
class of finite dimensional algebras over a field
K. It turns out that the algebras are symmetric
algebras with only a finite number of indecomposable
modules. Moreover all the indecomposable modules
can be described quite explicitly in terms of a
graph from which the algebra is originally
constructed.
The application of this work is to the
construction of the indecomposable modules for a
finite group G over a field K of characteristic
p. The two sided ideal direct summand A
l
of the
group algebra K(G) which corresponds to a
149
150
FINITE GROUPS
p-block having cyclic defect group is shown to be
an algebra of the type constructed above. Hence
all the indecomposable K(G)-modules in this block
can be described in terms of the graph associated
with the block.
l
2. CONSTRUCTION OF A CLASS OF ALGEBRAS
We start with a graph j/ consisting of e
edges E, E', and e + 1 vertices P, Q,
such that j/ is connected and contains no cycles7
that is j/ is a tree. One vertex is selected and
called exceptiona17 the others are called
non-exceptional. The exceptional vertex is
assigned a multiplicity m > 0 We also assume
there is a fixed imbedding of j/ into the plane.
This imposes a cyclic ordering of the edges which
contain a given vertex P
distinct edges containing the vertex P. We say
El' E
2
, E
3
are in proper P-order if El' E
2
, E
3
is the clockwise order of the three edges around
P. If the order El' E
2
, E
3
is counterclockwise
1. Proofs of the results stated here will appear
in Annals of Mathematics.
151
we say the edges are in improper P-order.
The graph 57 is used to construct an algebra
A over a field K in the following way. For
each edge E of
Y
e
E
is an idempotent in A ,
and
1
L e
Esy E
is an orthogonal decomposition of the identity of
A. We define integers C
EE
,
Cartan numbers) by
(to become the
C
EE
'
0 if E nE' is empty
= 1 if E n E' = P
i
exceptional
vertex
= m if E n E' = P = ( *)
exc
exceptional vertex
C
EE
2 if P

E
exc
m + 1 if P s E .
exc
The full multiplication table for A is
determined in the following.
(M) A has a K-basis consisting of elements
x i
E
and subject to these conditions:
152
FINITE GROUPS
(i) For each edge E of
5 there is an
element X
E
in A such that
eEAe
E
= K[X
E
] and
c-l
0 X
E
c
0 where c = C
EE
(ii) For each pair of edges E, E' of Y
with E E' but E n E' non-empty, there is an
element Y
EE'
in A such that
YEE,X
E
,
E n E' = {Q}
if E = QP, P P
T exc
E n E' = {Q}.
(v)
if El' E
2
, E
3
distinct and in
al?e
proper P-order for
some vertex P
x Y if E E E
El E
1
E
3
l' 2' 3
are distinct and in
improper P-order for
some vertex P
have a common vertex.
153
Now let U
E
= Ae
E
and FE = uE/rad(A)U
E
denote the projective indecomposable module and
the irreducible module respectively corresponding
to the edge E of Y. Then C
EE
, of ( *) is the
multiplicity of
FE
as a composition factor of
U
E
'
If E
=
PQ is an edge of Y then U
E
contains two submodules VE,P and VE,Q which
are uniserial (submodules are linearly ordered by
inclusion) and such that
minimal submodule of U
E
.
VE,P + VE,Q
of U
E
VE,P n VE,Q
rad(A)U
E
maximal submodule
then
FE I
is a composition factor of
VE,P
and only if P is a vertex of E' Since
VE,P' VE,Q
are uniserial, their composition
factors appear in a unique order (there is a
Moreover if FE' is a composition factor of U
E
'
if
unique composition series). This order is
precisely the P-order of the edges of Y.
We shall use a special notation for certain
is a composition factor of
submodules of VE,P
edge such that FE'
or Let
El
be an
154 FINITE GROUPS
Let M(E', E, n) = M denote the
uniserial submodule of DE such that FE' appears
at the top of a composition series for M and
FE' appears n times in the series. Notice n = 1
necessarily unless E' n E contains the exceptional
vertex. If E' n E P then 1 ~ n ~ m
exc
When
to be E contains P we can define M(E, E, n)
exc
the (unique) uniserial module with FE as top and
bottom composition factor and multiplicity n in
the composition series. In this case we shall
require n';' 2 .
We can now describe all the indecomposable
A-modules. Consider chains of edges
EO,El, ... ,E
k
, k > 1 of one of the following
types.
C;T)
1
()
2
o o ~ o
0.-.0----0
O_O\'E
h
'\ E
h
+
l
E
h
+
t
y ~ o ... o_opexc
I'E h+2t E
h
+
t
+
l
0_0 h+2t+l
In
()
2
the branch point Q cannot be
155
P but
exc
we allow P = Q
o
or Let D be the
set of even integers or odd integers in
{O/l/ /k} Let M.
1
be the uniserial module
M.
1
M (E 'I E. 1 In. )
1 1- 1
M (E. 1 lE. In. )
1- 1 1
i E D
i D
Select homomorphisms cp. mapping M. onto the
1 1
irreducible module
FE.
or F according as
1
E
i
-
l
i E D or i

D . Let
W
be a monomorphism
1
mapping F or
FE.
into M. according as
E
i
-
l
1
1
i E D or i

D . In the direct sum M
l
Ell
...
Ell M
k
define the submodules X, Y by
X cp. (m. )
1 1
FE. i E D and 0 < i < k}
1
Y 1jJ. (f)
1
f E F
i
_
l
liE D I
o < i}
Since all the M
i
are reducible it follows Y X .
THEOREM. The quotient module W X/Y is
156 FINITE GROUPS
indecomposable and every non-projective, reducible,
indecomposable A-module is isomorphic to a module
of this form. The number of indecomposable
modules is e(em + 1) .
3. APPLICATION TO GROUP ALGEBRAS
Let G be a finite group and Bap-block
with cyclic defect group. The recent results of
Dade (2J and the earlier results of Brauer (lJ
show that the relations between the complex
irreducible characters and the modular irreducible
characters in B can be described by a graph jY
which is a tree. (See [lJ for details.) One
vertex of 31 corresponds to the family of
exceptional characters, m in number, in B.
Let K be a splitting field of characteristic
p and let Al denote the ideal direct summand of
K(G) which corresponds to B. Let sl"",se
be a set of orthogonal idempotents in Al such
that every projective indecomposable AI-module is
isomorphic to one and only One of As.
l
Set
Then A = sAls is an algebra
constructed from the graph 31 (subject to a
157
suitable imbedding in the plane) as in the previous
section. If W is any indecomposable A-module,
then AlE W is an indecomposable A
l
(hence
A
K(G) ) mOdule. This correspondence preserves the
lattice of submodules, etc. Moreover every
indecomposable K(G)-module M in the block B
has this form by taking W = EM
REFERENCES
1. R. Brauer, Investigations on group characters,
Ann. of Math. 42 (1941), 936-958.
2. E. Dade, Blocks with cyclic defect groups,
Ann. of Math. 84 (1966), 20-48.
RELATIVE GROTHENDIECK GROUPS
T. Y. Lam and I. Reiner
1. Representation theory has played an important
role in many problems about finite groups. While
character theory is adequate for many applications,
it would obviously be better to be able to deal
the representations themselves. The use of relative
Grothendieck groups is an intermediate procedure,
giving more information than character theory, but
bypassing some of the difficulties in the study of
the actual representations.
Let be a field of characteristic p,
where p 0 , and let G be some finite group.
By "G-module" we mean a left finitely generated
Let Ul' .. "U
s
be a full set of
non-isomorphic principal indecomposable G-modules,
and Fl, ... ,F
s
the irreducible G-modules, where
163
164 FINITE GROUPS
i'.

is the unique minimal submodule of u.

Now let C be some category of G-modules,
and S some collection of short exact sequences
o 7 L 7 M 7 N 7 0 from C
abelian group on the symbols
Form the free
[t-1] , where M
ranges over the isomorphism classes in C , and
factor out the subgroup generated by all expressions
[M] - [L] - [N] coming from sequences in S. The
factor group thus obtained is called a "relative
Grothendieck group."
Let H be some subgroup of G, and take C
to be the category of all G-modules, and S the
set of H-split exact sequences of G-modules.
Denote the resulting Grothendieck group by
a(G, H)
For example,
a(G, 1)
s ffi
L Z[F.] ring of generalized
i=l
Brauer characters.
At the other extreme, a(G, G) is the "Green ring"
consisting of G-modules relative to direct sums.
(Note that forming tensor products of modules makes
a(G, H) into a ring.)
Secondly, take C to be the category of
(G, H)-projective G-modules (these are direct
165
summands of induced modules x
G
, X = H-module),
and take S to be the set of all G-split exact
sequences from C. Denote the Grothendieck group
by k(G, H) in this case. Thus
k(G, 1)
s Ell
L Z [D.]
i=l l
k(G, G) = a(G, G)
The Krull-Schmidt theorem for G-modules
implies that both a(G, G) and k(G, H) are
Z-free. The Jordan-Holder theorem tells us that
a(G, 1) is Z-free. It is not obvious, however,
that a(G, H) is Z-free in general. A G-module
M is called "H-simple" if no G-submodule of M
is an H-direct summand of M Every element in
a(G, H) is expressible as a linear combination
La. [M. ]
l l
M. H-simple.
l
Such
expressions are in general not unique, so the
H-simple G-modules need not form a Z-basis for
a(G, H) One of our main results is the assertion
that under suitable hypotheses, a(G, H) is Z-free.
2. There is an additive map K: k(G, H) + a(G, H)
given by K[M] = [M] , called the "Cartan
homomorphism." When H = 1 , this is the usual
166
Cartan map
K [U . ]
l
\' c .. [F.]
L lJ J
FINITE GROUPS
where (c .. ) = Cartan matrix of G. An argument
lJ
due to Con1on shows
THEOREM 1. If ~ G , the Cartan map
K: k(G, H) -+ a(G, H) is monic, and its cokernel
is a p-torsion abelian group.
Since a(G, H) is unchanged when H is
replaced by its Sylow p-subgroup, we may assume
H is a p-group. Hereafter, we make the following
restrictive hypothesis:
H ~ G, H cyclic p-group generated by an
element x of order
e
h == P
Define w = x-I E ~ and set
v . = {u E U.
nJ J
1 < j < s}.
n-l
w u E F.}
J
1 ;;, n < h ,
THEOREM 2. The set {[V .] : 1 < n < h ,
nJ
=
1 < j < s} is a Z-free basis for a(G, H) The
=
r:okernel of K: k(G, H) -+ a(G, H) is isomorphic
to the direct sum of h copies of the cokernel of
167
the ordinary Cartan homomorphism
k(G/H, 1) + a(G/H, 1)
Sketch of proof. Let M be a G-module, and let
wrM =
r-l
'I
0 irreducible 0
, w M For F
k
any
submodule of
r-l
define
M*
by the pushout w M
,
diagram
Since the ring rcH/wrrcH is self-injective, both
sequences
o + M + M* + M*/M + 0 ,
are H-split. This yields a relation in a(G, H)
The result then follows by an induction argument.
COROLLARY.
for each r,
Let M, N be G-modules such that
o r h - 1, wrM and wrN
have the same Brauer character. Then for each
168 FINITE GROUPS
G-module T and each r, the modules wr(T 0 M)
and wr(T 0 N)
have the same Brauer character.
3. Under the additional hypothesis that G is
a semidirect product H'A, we may view each F.
J
as an irreducible A-module, and form the induced
module
G
(F.) . Let us set
J
1 n < h , l<j<s.
THEOREM 3. The hs symbols [M .]
nJ
form a free
Z-basis for a(G, H) Each M. is H-simple.
nJ
The matrix of the Cartan homomorphism
K: k(G, H) -+ a(G, H) can be expressed naturally
as a direct sum of h copies of the Cartan matrix
of A.
COROLLARY. If G = H x A (direct product) ,
there is a ring isomorphism
a(G, H) '" a(A, 1) 0
z
a(H, H)
4. Reverting to the hypotheses of section 2,
assume now that G contains a p-complement B .
There is a commutative diagram
THEOREM 4.
169
a(G, H)
8
> a(HB, HB)
1 1
a(G, 1)
)
a(B, 1)
8
0
with the 8
'
s given by restriction.
8 is epic if and only if 8
0
is
epic. Further, 8 is an isomorphism if and only
if 8
0
is an isomorphism.
COROLLARY 1. Let G be any p-group, and H
any normal cyclic subgroup of G. Then
~ G H) ~ a(H, H) by restriction.
COROLLARY 2.
Let M, N be
Assume 8
0
is an isomorphism.
(G, H)-projective G-modules. Then
M and N are G-isomorphic if and only if they
are HB-isomorphic.
5. Under the hypotheses of section 2, we may
describe the ring structure of a(G,H) thus. Set
R
s $
L Z[F
i
] C a(G, H)
i=l
170
FINITE GROUPS
a subring of a(G, H) , and let F
l
be the
l-representation of G Define
v
k
[V
k
]
Hp ,1
where the V
nj
are as in section 2. Then
a(G, H)
and each v
k
satisfies a
th
P
degree equation
Furthermore, a(G, H)
contains no nonzero nilpotent elements.
ISOMETRIES AND CHARACTERS OF FINITE GROUPS
w. F. Reynolds*
It is desirable to be able to obtain
information about the characters of a finite group
G from information about the characters of a
subgroup H ; in particular, if G is simple,
such information is often useful in characterizing
G (see [15], [7], [1], [9], and many other
papers). Frobenius used this approach in proving
the basic theorem about Frobenius groups [9, p. 140,
Theorem 5.1], [5, p. 104, (20.2)]. Brauer and
Suzuki developed this approach into the study of
trivial intersection subsets (T. I. sets) [16],
[6, 23], [9, p. 134]. Such sets can be described
* This work has been supported in part by the
National Science Foundation under Grants GP-4317
and GP-6954.
171
172
as subsets A of H such that
FINITE GROUPS
i. e.
(1) A is a union of conjugate classes of H,
(2) any two elements of A which are
conjugate in G are conjugate in H ,
(3) for every a E.: A, CG(a) H
Under these assumptions, the induction
mapping gives an isometry of the
of class functions On H which vanish outside A
into the space 1f
G
of class functions on G,
G G
(a , 6 )G = (a, 6)H for all a, 6 E.:
furthermore
X E.: G, a E.: A , and if
E.: G is not conjugate to
(4 )
G
a (x) =
{
ao (a) x
if
and a are conjugate in
if x
any element of A.
G,
Of course
G
a is a generalized character (i.e. a
of irreducible characters) of G
whenever a is a generalized character of H.
To make use of this result, it is usually
necessary to have a set of irreducible characters
of H with a property called coherence, which we
shall not define here; see [7], [12], [16],
[6, 31], [9, p. 148] Then there is determined
173
a corresponding set of irreducible characters of
G about which considerable information can often
be obtained. These characters of G are usually
called exceptional characters; this strange name
originated in the situation of cyclic defect
groups (see [5] for recent results), where they
correspond to an exceptional vertex of the
associated tree. The study of exceptional
characters has been especially fruitful in
characterization theorems, and related methods
lead to theorems about existence of normal
subgroups [2, Theorem 1], [12, Theorem 2.3].
However, we shall restrict our attention here to
the existence of isometries rather than to the
uses of them.
In the odd-order paper [7, 9], Feit and
Thompson found it necessary to study tamely
imbedded subsets A of H , which satisfy a quite
complicated set of assumptions weaker than (1),
(2), (3). They obtained results analogous to
those in the trivial intersection case, but the
isometry is no longer induction. In their approach
it is clear that generalized characters are mapped
on generalized characters, while it takes a fair
174 FINITE GROUPS
amount of work to establish that the mapping is an
isometry.
In [4] (cL [6, 33]), Dade generalized and
at the same time simplified the Feit-Thompson
isometry. In Dade's situation, a set IT of primes
is given, along with G, H, and A. Generalizing
slightly as in [13] (cf. also [12]), we can replace
(1), (2), (3) by the following assumptions:
(1') A is a union of IT-sections of H
(where two elements are said to be in the same
c-section if their IT-parts are conjugate),
(2') any two IT-elements of A which are
conjugate in G are conjugate in H,
(3') for every IT-element a EA, C
G
(a)
has a normal IT-complement I(a) , and
Under these assumptions, there exists an
isometry a of the space _'G
H
(A) n ~ H IT into
~ G , where : ~ H is the space of complex-valued
,IT ,IT
functions on H which are constant on each
IT-section, given by
(4 ' )
o
a (x)
175
a (a) if x E G , a E A
, and if
x and a are in the same
IT-section of G
,
0 if the IT-section of x in G
is disjoint from A .
Here 0 carries generalized characters to general-
ized characters, and satisfies the following
weaker analog of Frobenius reciprocity:
(5 )
(a
a
, e) G = (a, e/H ) H ' a E ~ '
,IT
e E ~
,IT
If IT contains all the prime divisors of
G , this theorem reduces to that of Brauer and
Suzuki. The hard part of the proof is showing
that 0 carries generalized characters to
generalized characters; this is proved by a very
ingenious and (to me at least) rather mysterious
Mobius-type formula [4, (3.5)]
All of this theorem except the statement
about generalized characters (which is crucial in
applications) still holds if (2') is replaced by
the weaker assumption
(2") for every IT-element a EA,
176
FINITE GROUPS
of G to obtain
It is therefore natural to conjecture that the
entire theorem holds in this case. It would be
good to know this since factorizations similar to
that in (2") occur, for example in a theorem of
Glauberman [9, p. 279, Theorem 2.11].
At this point the theory of modular repre-
sentations comes into play. Some connections
between block theory and isometries had been found
by Gorenstein and Walter [10, proposition 25J and
by Wong [17], but these results were not aimed at
proving results like the above theorem. In his
method of columns [1], Brauer used results about
the principal p-block BO(G)
results analogous to those of exceptional
character theory. The connection between Brauer's
and Dade's situations was made explicit in a
special case by Glauberman [8, 3], and has been
exploited by Feit (unpublished, but see [6, pp.
174-175J). Using these ideas, Alperin and
Gorenstein (unpublished) proved the case TI = {p}
of the conjecture, and later an independent proof
was given in [14J The idea here is that for any
:, E.Jf
H
(A) n :r;H, p' aO can be described as
follows: if a
G
is expressed as a linear
177
combination of the irreducible characters of G ,
then
o
ex is the subsum containing precisely those
terms involving irreducible characters in BO(G)
Note that the generalized character property
follows at once from this description. The proof
depends on Brauer's results On principal blocks
[1, I, Theorem 3], and is quite different from
the earlier proofs. Furthermore the requirement
that ex E .cc,H can be replaced by the weaker
,p
requirement that the expression of ex in terms of
the irreducible characters of H should involve
only characters In Ba(H) (Here (4') must be
changed slightly.) This weakening also facilitates
the treatment of coherence. It seems likely that
this requirement can be weakened still further so
as to replace Ba(H) and Ba (G) by certain
unions of p-blocks, making use of [3, 6] ,and some
of Feit's unpublished work.
It remains to be seen whether the conjecture,
or something like it, holds for general TI Per-
haps Iizuka's theory of TI-blocks [11] will be of
use here.
178
REFERENCES
FINITE GROUPS
1. R. Brauer, Some applications of the theory of
blocks of characters of finite groups, J.
Algebra, I, 1 (1964), 152-167; Il, 1 (1964),
307-334; Ill, 3 (1966), 225-255.
2.
3.
, On quotient groups of finite
groups, Math. Z. 83 (1964), 72-84.
, On blocks and sections in finite
groups, I, Amer. J. Math. 89 (1967),
1115-1136.
4. E. C. Dade, Lifting group characters, Ann. of
Ma th. 79 (196 4), 59 0- 596 .
5. , Blocks with cyclic defect groups,
Ann. of Math. 84 (1966), 20-48.
6. W. Feit, Characters of finite groups, W. A.
Benjamin, Inc., New York, 1967.
7. W. Feit and J. G. Thompson, Solvability of
groups of odd order, Pacific J. Math. 13
(1963), 775-1029.
179
8. G. Glauberman, A characterization of the
Suzuki groups, Illinois J. Math. 12 (1968),
76-98.
9. D. Gorenstein, Finite groups, Harper and Row,
New York, 1968.
10. D. Gorenstein and J. H. Walter, On finite
groups with dihedral Sylow 2-subgroups,
Illinois J. Math. 6 (1952), 553-593.
11. K. Iizuka and T. Nakayama, A remark on
orthogonality relations in finite groups,
Nagoya Math. J. 20 (1962), 185-194.
12. H. S. Leonard, Jr. and K. K. McKelvey, On
lifting characters in finite groups, J.
Algebra 7 (1967), 168-191.
13. W. F. Reynolds, Sections, isometries, and
generalized group characters, J. Algebra 7
(1967), 394-405.
14. , Isometries and principal blocks of
group characters, to appear.
180 FINITE GROUPS
15. M. Suzuki, The nonexistence of a certain
type of simple groups of odd order, Proc.
Amer. Math. Soc. 8 (1957), 686-695.
16. J. H. Walter, Character theory of finite
groups with trivial intersection subsets,
Nagoya Math. J. 27 (1966), 515-524;
correction, same J. 30 (1967), 309.
17. W. J. Wong, Exceptional character theory and
the theory of blocks, Math. Z. 91 (1966),
363-379.
Tufts University
ON THE INTEGRAL REPRESENTATIONS OF AN ORDER
Hans Zassenhaus
Let 1t be a dedekind ring with quotient
field F. Let H be an absolutely semi-simple
hypercomplex system over F An -t'-submodule of
H is called dedekindean if it is finitely generated
over -0
n of H
and its is equal to the F-dimension
The dedekind crof H is
called an if it contains the unit element
of H and if it is closed under multiplication.
For example the group ring of a finite group
G over the rational integer ring is a
M
of the group algebra
A unital cr:module
of G over
is called an
-representation module of er if it is a finitely
generated torsion free Two
modules of are
181
182 FINITE GROUPS
called (i:equivalent if there is an er-isomorphism
of one onto the other one.
In this way the "" -representation modules of
(JI are distributed in arithmetical equivalence
classes. We try to characterize them by local and
global invariants.
One invariant is the The
algebraic invariants are the invariants referring
to the representation theory of Hover F
To every lr-representation module M there
corresponds the proper F-representation space FM
of H. Denoting by r
l
,r
2
, ... ,r
p
a representative
set of the proper irreducible F-representations of
H the F-representation r of H with FM as
representation space is equivalent to a representation
p
Lj=l with uniquely determined non-negative
integers
in r
= (M/I) , the mul tiplici ty of
J J
r.
J
is a minimal It follows that
As ., -representation space of r 1 some
H may be minimal non-zero left ideal
chosen.
two-sided ideal 0 of H and that
183
Moreover H. contains a set of f.
2
matrix units
J J
(i,k = 1,2, ... ,f
j
) such that
eo"
Jll
D.
J
{x I
X E: H.
J
&
xe. 'k
Jl
e. 'kx
Jl
for
a ring of matrices of degree
f . x f ,
D. J J
J
all i,k}
is a division algebra in
elements
H.
J
over F,
f. over
J
H. =
J
D. , the
J
E.
J
e ...
Jll
( j 1,2, ... ,p)
are the primitive idempotents of the center
}(H)
of H , E. is the unit element of
H, as well as
J J
of D. ,
J
is representation space of an irreducible represen-
tation
degree
of H. over its center
J J
2
f .m. ,where
J J
of
184
2
m.
J
FINITE GROUPS
the restriction of ~ . to D. is equivalent to
J J
f. -times the regular representation p. of D.
J J J
over ~ (H
j
)
N. (x)
J
det p. (x)
J
(x E D.)
J
is the regular norm of Dj over ~ H j
f
det ~ . (x) N. (x) J
J J
the elements det ~ . x
J
(O;;iXED.)
J
form a
isomorphic to the direct product of
subgroup 1);. of the multiplicative group of
a(H
j
)
J
the elements
t:
l
+
t:
2
+
...
+
t:
p
with
t:.
in 1jJ.
J J
(l
< j < p) form a subgroup 1jJ of the unit group
= =
of )(H)
the 1jJ .
J
Each left ideal L. is generated over F by
J
some 4-representation space
when example we may set
non-zero element of
L. = o-u.
J J
L
j
.
L.
J
of ().
u.
J
For
is some
A global invariant of the ;r-representation
space M of 0- is defined as follows: There
exists a submodule
M
P ]Jj
I I
j=l i=l
L.8 ..
J Jl
185
of FM containing
er-monomorphism of
M when e ..
Jl
L. in FM.
J
is an
The residue class R,U1/(j") of the index
ideal
modulo
course, on
depends only on M and (f (and, of
the choice of the standard
L. ). Here we have interpreted the factor module
J
M/M as a module over the center ((J) of (J', a
unital commutative ring and we have formed the
order ideal M : M in the sense of E. Steini tz [7].
3(0)
We observe that
and that for any -order 0' of H containing 0"
we have
when we define the standard space
186
-
L. of
0-
by means of
J
L.
=
Ci
j
(l
< j < p)
J
= =
FINITE GROUPS
-
In the event that (J' is an integral domain
and L
l
= (J then k(M/O') is an ideal class of
(jrin the ordinary sense which has been defined
already by E. Steinitz (7].
THEOREM 1. If the .., -order (J'" of
H is maximal
then two spaces M
l
, M
2
of (jr
are er-equivalent if and only if
(1) = (
M
2
/(7)
(2) R(M1/U) =
(1 < j < p)
THEOREM 2. If the ,)'-order (J' of H is maximal
then the f-representation space M of
indecomposable if and only if FM is an irreducible
F-representation space of H .
An arbitrary "",-order 0- of H can be
-
embedded into a maximal 1) -order 0'" of H
(s. (3]).
The conditions (1), (2) are necessary for
187
():equivalence of the spaces
M
l
, M
2
They imply that
lJ j(tfM2101
RJ(TM2
1
U;
(l < j < p)
hence ffM
l
is tT-equivalent to tfM
2
In order
to establish conditions for the er-equivalence of
M
l
and M
2
it suffices to assume that
(I)
The global problem is reduced under certain
conditions to a local problem for the distinct
prime ideals 11"2' ... ''1
s
of
prime ideal factorization
in the
when )0- denotes the discriminant ideal (s. [3])
and v. > 0
l
(1 < i s)
The conditions are
(11) The residue class fields k
i
= -lJ I, i are
finite (i = 1,2, ... ,s)
(Ill)
If lJ
j
(M1/{fl > 0 then either
lJ
j
(Mll(J) > 1 or lJ
j
(Mlli)J = 1
188
FINITE GROUPS
and f. > 1 , or fl. (Ml/(J) = f. = m. 1.
J J J J
The condition (11) is always satisfied for
~ = ~ or if ~ is the intersection of valuation
rings of a finite extension of ~ or of ~ / p x
(x an algebraically independent element over the
field ~ / p of p elements, p a prime).
The condition (Ill) in the case of integral
finite group representations for which only one
fl. is not zero is usually fulfilled, excepting
J
certain groups determined by Amitsur [1].
using a theorem of Eichler only the case
that H.
J
is a positive definite quaternion
algebra over E. ([)
J
or that H.
J
is not amenable yet.
If several fl. are not zero then, by the
J
application of the theory of connecting systems
("Verbindungs systeme," s. [8]) the problem can be
reduced to the case that only one fl. is not zero.
J
We call M
l
, M
2
properly er-equivalent if there
is a linear transformation 8 of FM
l
of
determinant 1 which upon restriction to M
l
yields an er-isomOrphism on M
2
. This equivalence
relation is a stronger equivalence concept than
189
just er-equivalence.
In order to establish the connection between
proper er-equivalence and er-equivalence one
determines the group
of all CI-automorphisms of M
l
which is the same
as the unit group of the ring Horn ((M
l
, M
l
) I ())
formed by the cr-homomorphism of M
l
into M
l
.
There is the injection monomorphism of
Horn ((M
l
, Ml)I(j') into the endomorphism ring
of the linear space FM
l
over F
The elements a of U Horn (M
l
, Ml)ler) for which
la has determinant 1 form a normal subgroup
SFU Horn ((M
l
, with abelian factor group.
The er-equivalence classes pertaining to the M
2
'-S
are in one-to-one correspondence with the right
cosets of U Horn (rfrMl, cfMl);(j) over U
U Horn ((M
l
, M
l
) I fr) whereas the proper
er-equivalence classes are in one-to-one corres-
pondence with the right cosets of
If .,. = LZ then the number h (Ml/(J) of
er-equivalence classes of the M 's
2
is finite
190
FINITE GROUPS
(see [8]). The number of proper
classes is of the form
A) U Horn ((M
l
, Ml)lb) = S([)U Horn ((M
l
, Ml)liJ)
U Horn (jM
l
) lifJ =
Et.ID U Horn (tD
M
1 ' D-M1 ) I (j1
or
B) U Horn ((M
l
, M
l
) l(fl
= 2
It is 2 if
C) U Horn ((M
l
, M
l
) Ibf = Horn ((M
l
, M
l
) 16)
U Horn (!jMl,OM
l
)tO'1 :
- - -
So U Horn ('bMl' D'M
l
) 10') = 2
Under the conditions (I), (II), (Ill) we have
THEOREM 3 [9]. The ".-modules M
l
, M
2
are
properly er-equivalent if and only if the
1i localization l'-;i
Ml
of M
l
is properly
191
o;i-eqUiValent to the li -localization
o-'iM2 (i = 1,2, ... ,s) when we set
O"""i 0., SE: 1)', S ,
()1i "1 i cr
The proof uses a simultaneous unit approxi-
mation theorem which is interesting on its own
account since similar approximation theorems turn
up decisively in the theory of quadratic forms
(s. [5]) and algebraic groups (s. [4]).
Denoting by h
1
the number of proper
classes into which the M
2
's are
distributed (for , any prime ideal) we obtain the
formula
(5) h + (Ml/V) IT hi (#, 0-)
, prime ideal of -&,.
analogous to certain Siegel formulae (s. e. g. [6]).
1. N.B. h,(.,
M
l
/"10') is 1 if 1 I'i
(1 < i < s) .
192
REFERENCES
FINITE GROUPS
1. Arnitsur, Avraham Shimshon, Finite subgroups
of division rings, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 80
(1955), 361-386.
2. Chevalley, Claude, L'arithmetique dans les
algebres de matrices, Act. Sc. et Ind. 323,
Hermann (1936).
3. Deuring, Max, Algebreni Ergebnisse der
Mathematik und Ihrer Grenzgebiete IV NR 1,
Springer (1935).
4. Kneser, Martin, Starke Approximation in
Algebraischen Gruppen I, Crelle J. Reine U.
Angew. Math. 218 (1965), 190-203.
5. O'Meara, Tim, Introduction to Quadratic Forms,
Springer-Verlag (1963).
6. Siegel, Carl Ludwig, Symplectic geometry,
Amer. J. of Math. 65 (1943), 1-84. See e.g.
p. 6 Theorem 12.
193
7. Steinitz, E., Rechteckige Systeme und M o d u ~
in A1gebraischen Zah1korpern I, II, Math. A ~ ~
71 (1911) 328-354; 72 (1912) 297-345.
8. Zassenhaus, Hans, Neuer Beweis der End1ichkeit
der K1assen Zah1 Bei Unimodu1arer Aquiva1enz
Enducher Ganzzah1iger Substitutions-gruppen,
Abh. Math. Sem. Hamburg 12 (1938), 276-288.
9. Zassenhaus, Hans, Aquiva1enz Ganzzah1iger
Darste11ungen; Nachr. der Akademie Gottingen,
Mathe Mathematisch-Physika1ische K1asse, Nr.
12 (1967) 167-193.
THE ORDERS OF THE FINITE CHEVALLEY AND
STEINBERG GROUPS
R. W. carter
We consider the equivalence of the additive
and mUltiplicative formulae for the orders of the
Chevalley and Steinberg groups over finite fields.
Let Y be a complex simple Lie algebra and
K be the field GF(q) Then the order of the
simple group G = -Se(K) associated with Y, K by
Chevalley [1] is given by the multiplicative
formula
mQ,+l
1) (q - 1)
where Q, is the rank of -Se, m is the number of
posi tive roots of Y and d is a certain integer
determined by Y and K. The integers
m
l
, ... ,mQ, are determined by .5. only and satisfy
195
196
the condi tion
FINITE GROUPS
They may be defined in various alternative ways.
They were introduced by Chevalley as the integers
such that the Poincare polynomial of a compact Lie
group of type Y is
2m
l
+l 2m
2
+l 2m +1
(t - 1) (t - 1) (t - 1)
Using the Bruhat decomposition a canonical
form is obtained for elements of G which gives
rise to the additive formula
1:. qm(q _ 1)
d
L
WEW
(w)
q
where W is the Weyl group of Y and (w) is
the number of positive roots transformed by w
into negative roots. In order to prove the
equivalence of the additive and multiplicative
formulae one must show
L
WEW
(w)
q =
(q - 1)
Chevalley proves this by considering a cellular
197
decomposition of the coset space of a compact Lie
group of type Si' with respect to a maximal torus
of the group and computing the Poincare polynomial.
More recently Solomon [2] has pointed out
that this equivalence can be derived by considering
only the Weyl group of Si', and that a more general
formula can be proved valid for arbitrary Euclidean
reflection groups. In Solomon's work the integers
ml,,m
t
under W
are defined in terms of the invariants
of the algebras of real valued poly-
nomials on the Euclidean space on which W acts.
The invariants form a subalgebra generated by the
unit element and n algebraically independent
homogeneous polynomials of degrees
m
l
+ 1, m
2
+ 1, ... , m
t
+ 1 .
Even in Solomon's proof a topological
argument is still needed, and we therefore suggest
another proof of the equivalence of the additive
and mUltiplicative formulae, using only a knowledge
of the root systems of the simple Lie algebras
and the orders of their Weyl groups. We shall
simply define the integers ml, ... ,m
t
directly
for each type of algebra. They are as follows:
198
FINITE GROUPS
Y
~ .. ,m,
A,
1, 2, 3,
.. ,
,
B,
1, 3, 5,
.. ,
2Q,
- 1
C,
1, 3 , 5,
.. ,
2Q,
- 1
D,
1, 3, 5,
.. ,
2Q,
-
3,
,
- 1
G
2
1, 5
F
4
1, 5, 7, 11
E
6
1, 4, 5, 7 , S, 11
E
7
1, 5, 7 , 9, 11, 13, 17
E
S
1, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29 .
The order of W is given in terms of ml, ... ,m,
by
IWI (m
l
+ 1) (m
2
+ 1) (m, + 1)
We prove the equivalence of the two formulae
by induction on the rank , of Y. W is
generated by , elements of order 2 which are
the fundamental reflections of Y. It is possible
to omit one of these reflections in such a way
that the subgroup Wo generated by the remainder
is the Wey1 group of a simple Lie algebra of rank
, - 1. Each coset of Wo in W contains a
"distinguished coset representative," i.e. an
199
element w such that 9,(w) < 9,(w) for all
w e WOw with w w. In fact each element w of
-
this coset has form w = wOw where Wo e Wo and
9,(w) = 9, (wO) + 9,(w) Let D be the set of
distinguished coset representatives. Then
L:
weW
.Q, (w)
q
I
weW
o
9, (w) 'i'
q L
WeD
9, (w)
q .
we obtain the desired
by induction, so provided we
9, (w)
q
9, (w)
q
9, (w)
q
I
weD
I
WEW
Now the lengths of the distinguished coset
2!xpression for
I
weW
o
can evaluate
We know
representatives can be found rather easily by
considering the root systems of the simple Lie
algebras. We use the following formulae:
IW(A9,) W(A9,_l) I
= 9, +
1 m(A
Hl
)
m(A9,)
IW(B9,) W(B9,_l) I
=
2.Q,
m(B9,+l)
- m(B ) -
.Q,
IW (D 9,) W(D9,_l) I
=
2.Q,
m(D
Hl
)
- m(D.Q,)
IW(G
2
) W(A
l
) I
=
6 = m(G
2
)
/W(F
4
) W(B
3
) I = 24
m(F4)
IW(E
6
) W(D
S
) I = 27 m(E
7
) m(E
6
)
IW(E
7
) W(E
6
) I = 56
m(E
S
) m(E
7
)
- 1
IW(E
a
) W(E
7
) I = 240 = 2m(E
S
) .
200 FINITE GROUPS
These formulae show that we can obtain information
about the coset representatives by embeading
in a simple Lie algebra of rank + 1 when
this is possible, and considering the set Y of
positive roots of the larger algebra which are not
roots of the smaller one. W operates as a
permutation group on Y. W is transitive on Y
unless there is a positive root of orthogonal
to all roots of If there is such a root,
this root is invariant under W and W is
transitive on the remaining roots in Y. Let R
be the highest root in this orbit of W . Then
the stabilizer of R in W is
Wo
. Also if w
is a distinguished coset representative one can
show that
t(w) = h(R) - h(w(R)) or h(R) - h(W(R)) - 1 ,
where h is the height of a root. Since the
heights may be obtained from a knowledge of the
root system the lengths of the distinguished coset
representatives can be calculated.
The method outlined here does not work if
cannot be embedded naturally in a larger Lie
201
algebra, viz if Y is G
2
, F4 or E
S
. However
in these cases the required information can be
obtained from the root system of Y itself.
W(E
S
) is transitive on the roots of E
S
with
stabilizer W(E
7
) . W(F
4
) and W(G
2
) have two
orbits, but the stabilizer of either orbit has
the required form. One shows in all cases that
t(w) = h(R) - h(w(R or h(R) - h(w(R - 1
where R is the highest root of Y and w(R) an
arbitrary root.
The method can also be adapted to give a
proof of the equivalence of the additive and
multiplicative formulae for the orders of the
finite Steinberg groups.
REFERENCES
1. C. Chevalley, Sur certains groups simples,
Tohoku Math. Jour. 7 (1955), 14-66.
2. L. Solomon, The orders of the finite
Chevalley groups, Journal of Algebra 3 (1966),
376-393.
ON SOME PROPERTIES OF GROUPS WITH BN-PAIRS
Nagayoshi Iwahori
1. This note is a continuation of [2] together
with several remarks. Detailed proofs will appear
elsewhere. In order to state our main result and
its applications, we have to prepare several
notations and concepts.
Let G be a finite group and let B, N be
subgroups of G such that the pair (B, N) forms
a BN-pair in G in the sense of J. Tits [4]. Let
W be the Weyl group of this BN-pair: W N/(B n N)
and let R be the distinguished generator set of
W , i.e. denoting by TI the canonical projection
N + W , one knows [3] that
subgroup of
R {n(O)i o s N, B U BoB
204
FINITE GROUPS
Every element of R is involutive [3). Given a
subset J of R
,
denote by W
J
the subgroup of
W generated by J Denote by G
J
the subgroup
of generated by and
-1
Then G B
IT (WJ)
[3]. Furthermore the association
J G
J
is a bijective mapping from the set 2
R
of all subsets of R onto the set _9(G, B)
subgroups P of G such that P B .
of all
THEOREM 1. Let G, B, N, W, R, J, W
J
, G
J
be as
above. Now let k be a field such that ( ex) the
characteristic of k does not divide the order
of G, ( B) k is a splitting field for G and
W. Denote by P
J
(resp. 0
J
) the k-represen-
tations of G (resp. of W induced by the
trivial representation IG of G
J
J
(resp.
of W
J
). 'I'hen
(i) the number r of inequivalent irre-
ducible constituents of equals with that
of 0
J
,
(ii) let
P
J
==
mlP
l
+
...
+ m
rPr
,
JJ
==
n
1
0
1
+ +
n
be the decomposition of
r r
2
J
, 0
J
into inequivalent irreducible constituents
2
1
", "P
r
i 01'" .,0
r
with multiplicities
205
ml, .. ,m
r
; nl, ... ,n
r
respectively. Then under
a suitable ordering of the Pi' we have
m.
1
n.
1
(1 < i < r)
This theorem is of course a natural
generalization of a theorem of R. Steinberg [5]
for the case G = GL (n, :IF )
q
Although Steinberg
has given a more precise information about the
degrees of the p., O.
1 ]
in his case, we don't
{l} ; and that our
know how to generalize it to the general case. We
should also remark that Theorem 1 is proved by
J. Tits as is sketched in [2] for the case J is
empty, i.e. G
J
= B, W
J
proof is based still on the main lemma below due
to Tits which played a basic role in the proof in
[ 2]
LEMMA 1 (Tits). Let
er
be an integral domain
with the unit element and let K be the quotient
field of er. Let A be an associative algebra
over er such that
(i) A is a free er-module of finite rank,
and
(ii) A
K
= A 0
er
K is a separable algebra
206 FINITE GROUPS
over K.
Let k be a field and let : k be a
unitary ring homomorphism. Regarding k as an
by ax = (a E: (!j, X E: k) , form
the tensor product = A k . Then can
be regarded as an associative algebra over k in
the usual way.
Suppose that is a separable algebra
over k. Denote by K, k the algebraic closures
of K, k respectively. Let
k
be the decomposition of the semi-simple algebras
A
K
K, k over K, k respectively into
simple components. (Here M (L) means the total
v
f:1atric algebra of degree v over L .)
Then r = s and m. n. (1 < i < r) for
l l
=
a suitable ordering of the m.
l
Although the proof of this lemma
sketched in [2] was based on the rigidity property
of deformations of separable algebras, an elementary
proof was given by J. Tits.
207
Our proof of Theorem 1 is qUite similar as
the case of Tits in [2]. It is enough to show
that M'k(G, G
J
) " M'k(W, W
J
) where M'k means the
Hecke algebra over k in the sense of [2].
We begin with the following
LEMMA 2. (i) Let J be a subset of R. Put
is the length of T E W relative to
* W
J
= {o E W
where 9, (T)
9,(ro) > 9,(0) for every r E J}
R ( cL [3] ) Then 9, (xy)
=
9, (x) +
9, (y)
for
x E W
J
,
Y
E
W*
Furthermore W = U
WJo
is
J
*
OEW
J
a disjoint union.
(ii) Let J
l
, J
2
be subsets of R. Put
G(J J) W* n (w* )-1 Then
- l' 2 J
l
J
2
W U W
J
OW
J
is a disjoint union.
oEG(J
l
,J
2
) 1 2
Now let C be the set of conjugacy classes
represented by elements in R, and let
{u
c
; C E C} be indeterrninates over the field k .
We write u for u in case r E c . Denote
r c
by er the polynomial ring k[u
c
i c E C) Let
A be the free er-module with the set
{aD
; a E W}
indexed by W bijectively as its base. Then one
208 FINITE GROUPS
knows [2] that there exists uniquely a structure
of er-algebra in the er-module A such that for
r s R, w s W
a a
r w
{
a if 9, (rw)
u ~ + (u
r
- l)a
w
'
9, (rw) < 9, (w)
> 9,(w)
if
Furthermore one has
LEMMA 3. As an er-algebra A is generated by
tar ; r s R} together with the defining relations
m
r,s
being the order
(for every r,s
in R I
(for every r s R)
(for every r s R)
m
r,s
a a a a'"
s r s r
~
a a = a
r 1 r
m
r,s
l
alar
a
2
= u 'a + (u - l)a
r r 1 r r
a a a a
r s r s
-v---'
of rs).
Hence one can verify easily that there exists
uniquely an er-algebra homomorphism v
such that v(a )
r
for every r in R
Define now sJ sA, d
J
s er as follows:
209
a
o
Then one can show that d
J
is a polynomial in the
u of degree equal to Max (O) Hence
c
OSW
J
d
J
~
0 . Define now an 6'-submodule A
J
of A by
{x S A
Then A
J
is a free 6'-module spanned by the
elements
{
e
o I
o S 8(J, J}} where
a
T
Hence by introducing a
new multiplication * in A
J
by x * Y = ~ (xy)
d
J
(x S A
J
I Y S A
J
) , we get an 6'-algebra
Le t ep ,1/1 be k-algebra homo-
morphisms 6' ~ k defined by
(r S R) , 1/1 (u ) = 1
r
(r S R)
respectively, where qr is the number of c o s e t ~
of the form Bx
we can show that
contained in
-1
BTI (r}B. Then
210
FINITE GROUPS
THEOREM 2.
Thus finally we get Theorem 1 by Lemma 1.
Let G, E, N, W, R, J, G
J
, W
J
, P
J
,
0
J
, ml, ... ,m
r
' nl, ... ,n
r
be as in Theorem 1.
Suppose that every complex representation of W
is realized over the real number field. Then the
following conditions for a subset J of Rare
all equivalent.
(1 ) is commutative, ( 2 )
is commutative,
( 4 )
n =
1
n
r
1 (5 )
for every x in G,
( 6) for every 0 in W,
(7 ) every element of 8(J, J) is involutive.
The equivalence of (1) ~ (6) is easy from
Theorem 1 and a theorem of J. S. Frame [1].
(6) is equivalent to (7) by Lemma 2.
using the criterion (7) above, one can give
a counter example to the following conjecture:
if G
J
is a maximal subgroup of G, ~ ~ G G
J
)
is commutative. Namely consider the case where
(\.;, R) is of type (D
S
) , e.g. let G be the
special orthogonal group on ten variables over a
711
finite field with respect to the quadratic form
10
L X.X
lO
_ , and let B be the sUbgroup consisting
i==l 1. 1.
of triangular matrices in G We have then
R == {r
l
, r
2
, r
3
, r
4
, r
S
} and the order m.. of
1.J
r.r. is 3 or 2 according to r. and r. is
1.
J
l
J
connected or not by a segment in the diagram
below:
Let J == R - {r
3
}. Then G(J, J) contains the
which is not involutive. element
r3r2rlr4r3rSr2r3
Similarly a counter example exists for the type
(F4) (The conjecture above is verified to be
true for types
(A ), (B ), (C ), (G
2
) .)
n n n
REFERENCES
1. J. S. Frame, The double cosets of a finite
group, Bull. AIDer. Math. Soc., 47, 4S8-467
(1941) .
2. N. Iwahori, Appendix of generalized Tits
system (Bruhat Decomposition) on p -adic
212
FINITE GROUPS
semi-simple groups, Proc. of Symposia in
Pure Mathematics, 9 (1965).
3. J. Tits, Theoreme de Bruhat et sous-groupes
paraboliques, C. R. Acad. Sci. 254 (1962),
3419-3422.
4. , Algebraic and abstract simple
groups, Ann. of Math., 80 (1964), 313-329.
5. R. Steinberg, A geometric approach to the
representations of the full linear group
over a Galois field, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc.
71 (1951), 274-282.
University of Tokyo
THE STEINBERG CHARACTER OF A FINITE GROUP
WITH BN-PAIR
Louis Solomon*
1. Let G(q) be a Chevalley group over the
field F
q
Steinberg [3J showed that G(q) has
a remarkable irreducible character of degree equal
to a power of q Later, Curtis [lJ showed that
any finite group G with BN-pair has an irreducible
character X which is equal to Steinberg's in case
G G(q) , and that X may be written as an
alternating linear combination of characters
induced from parabolic subgroups of G. In view
of [2, 4] one might conjecture that this formula
has a homological source. We show here that this
is the case. The requisite complex has been
defined by Tits [5, 6]. I owe a great debt to
* This work was supported in part by the National
Science Foundation under grant GP-6080.
213
214 FINITE GROUPS
Tits for the lesson in "Anschauliche Geometrie"
which led to the present argument.
2. Let G be a finite group with BN-pair [4] of
rank and let
1 Q,
G , . , G be the maximal parabolic
subgroups of G containing B Let vi be the
collection of cosets
i
gG , g E G , and let
1 Q,
V = VU U V . The Tits complex [5, 6] of G
is a simplicial complex 6 of dimension Q, - 1
which has V as its set of vertices. A collection
s of vertices is a simplex of 6 if and only if
n v is nonempty. A simplex of dimension Q, - 1
VES
is called a chamber. The chamber with vertices
G
l
, ... ,GQ, is called the fundamental chamber. If
s E 6 and g E G then gs E 6. This action of
G on 6 preserves the simplicial structure and
thus induces an action of G on the homology
groups of 6
THEOREM 1. Let 6 be the Tits complex of a
finite group G with BN-pair of rank Q, > 2 The
homology groups of 6 with integral coefficients arE
H.(6)=O
l
H (6) ~ z e'" $ Z
-1
215
1 < i ~ - 2
t summands
where and is the p p s t ~
involution of the Weyl group W If E W -+ CtL
is the alternating character of Wand a is the
fundamental chamber of 6 then the - 1 chain
I"; = L W E (w) wa
WE
is a cycle. If bl, ... ,b
t
represent the cosets
of B modulo WOBW
O
n B then bll";, ... ,btl"; are
cycles which form a basis for H_l (6)
THEOREM 2. Let 6 be the Tits complex of a
finite group G with BN-pair of rank ~ 2 and
let Q be the rational field. The action of G
on 6 defines a Q[G]-module structure in
H_1(6) 0 Q which affords the Steinberg character
of G.
3. Space does not permit a complete argument
here. We try to explain why one should expect
such theorems and sketch the proof. The main
point is that one should view W as a degenerate
216
FINITE GROUPS
form of G and hence theorems about W should
appear as degenerate forms of theorems about G
1
Let W, ... ,W be the maximal parabolic subgroups
One knows that there is a
of
by
by
W. The Coxeter complex I:: of
1
W, ... ,W in the same way that
1
G , , G
W is defined
is defined
faithful representation p of W in the
orthogonal group of a Euclidean space R , in
which the distinguished involutory generators
rl, ... ,r of Ware represented by reflections.
Let 1::' be the simplicial complex cut out on the
-1
unit sphere S by the hyperplanes corresponding
to the reflections in p(W) There exists an
isomorphism e
such that e 0 w
I:: + 1::' of simplicial complexes
p(w) 0 e for w E W. Thus
I:: has the homology of a sphere which means, since
> 2 , that HO (I::) " Z , Hi (I::) 0 for
i 1, .. ., - 1 , and H_l (1::) "Z This is a
degenerate form of Theorem 1. Since
e 0 w = p(w) 0 e for w E W , the character of
the representation of W on H_l(l::) is equal
to the character of the representation of W on
and hence, by an argument given in
[2, 4] is the alternating character of W.
2]7
A glance at [3, Theorem 1] makes it apparent that
this fact is a degenerate form of Theorem 2.
These observations lead one to conjecture the
truth of Theorems 1 and 2 on the strength of known
facts about W.
In a conversation at Oberwolfach, Tits
suggested that one could prove Theorem 1 as
follows. Follow the analogy in the preceding
paragraph. To compute the homology of
9,-1
S
one can choose a point p E S-l , let p' be the
antipodal point, and prove that S-l - {p'} is
contractible by deforming it to p along great
circles. Thus one should delete the chambers
of which are, in a precise sense,
opposite the fundamental chamber and prove that
D - {Cl' ... ,c
t
} is contractible. This is the
crux of the idea in the present argument although
the formal proof contains less geometry and more
combinatorics.
LEMMA 1. Let K be a simplicial complex which
is a union K
Suppose
point,
(i)
(i i)
LULl U ... U L
n
of subcomplexes.
each L. has the homology of a
l
each L n L. has the homology of a
l
218
point, and (iii)
FINITE GROUPS
Then K and L have isomorphic homology groups.
Let r denote the set of chambers of t!.
If s E t!. let r (s) denote the set of c E r
such that c ;;;2 s Say that c, c' E r are
adjacent if c n c' has dimension - 2 . If
c E r let d(c) be the least nonnegative integer
n for which there exist chambers a =
cO,c1,,c
n
= c
such that c.
l
and are adjacent for
i O, ... ,n-l If w E W let (w) be the
length of w as a word in the distinguished
generators r
1
, ... ,r .
LEMMA 2. If c E r then c = bwa for some
b E B, w E W , and d(c) = (w)
LEHMA 3. Let sEt!.. Then
( i) There exists a unique Co E r(s) such that
d(c
O
) d (c)
for all c E r (s)
(ii) If c E
r (s) and d(c) = d (co)
+ n then
there exist
co,cl',c
n
=
c E r (s) such that
c
i
' c
i
+
l
are adjacent and d(c
i
) = d(c
O
) + i for
i=O, ... ,n-l.
219
Lemma 2 follows from a theorem of Tits
[5, proposition 2]. Lemma 3 requires Lemma 2 and
the distinguished coset representatives [2, 3]
for W modulo the parabolic sUbgroup determined
naturally by s. Let m max d(c) where c
ranges over r If 0 < k < m let 6
k
be the
set of s E 6 such that s ~ c for some c E r
with d (c) < k Then 6
k
is a subcomplex of 6
,
=
and
6
k
-
l
~
6
k
If s E 6 let
q, (s)
be the
complex consisting of s and its faces.
LEMMA 4. Let c E r and suppose d(c) = k
where o < k < m Let be the ~ - 2
dimensional faces of c numbered sO that
sl' ,sp E 6
k
_
1
1 ~ P < ~ - 1 and
Then
Thus q,(c) n 6
k
-
l
has the homology of a point.
The critical ingredient in the proof of
Lemma 4 is Lemma 3 (ii). Now choose some k w ~
0 < k < m . Let
al,,a
n
be all the chambers
of 6 for which d (a.)
=
k Let K
= 6
k
, let
l
L
6
k
-
1
and let L.
=
q, (a. )
Lemmas 3 (i) and
l l
4 allow us to apply Lemma 1 in this situation and
220
FINITE GROUPS
we conclude that 6
k
and 6
k
-
l
have isomorphic
homology groups. Thus 6
m
-
l
and 6
0
have
isomorphic homology groups which means that 6
m
-
l
has the homology of a point. If
are
all the chambers of 6 with d(c.) = m then
1
6
m
-1 = 6 - {c1 ' ... , c t }
and thus H. (6) = 0 for
1
i = l, ... ,t - 2. Since t 2 , the complex 6
is connected and thus H
O
(6) Z. The assertions
about H
t
-
l
(6) depend on the fact that the
chambers biwOa, i = l, ... ,t are precisely the
chambers
As for Theorem 2, one argues as in [2J using
Theorem 1 and the Hopf trace formula. This gives
an expression for the character of the representa-
tion of G on H
t
-
l
(6) 0 Q as an alternating sum
of induced characters and this sum is precisely
the expression for the Steinberg character which
Curtis has given in [lJ.
REFERENCES
1. C. W. Curtis, On the Steinberg character of
a finite group with
4 (1966), 433-441.
(B, N)-pair, J. Algebra
221
2. L. Solomon, The orders of the finite
Chevalley groups, J. Algebra 3 (1966),
376-393.
3. R. Steinberg, Prime power representations of
finite linear groups (11), Canadian J. Math.
9 (1957), 347-351.
4. J. Tits, Theoreme de Bruhat et sous-groupes
parabo1iques, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 254
(1962), 2910-2912.
5. , Structures et groupes de Weyl,
Seminaire Bourbaki, 1965, Expose 288.
6. , manuscript to appear in the
Springer series of Lecture Notes.
New Mexico State
University
A SUFFICIENT CONDITION FOR p-STABILITY
George Glauberman
Let p be an odd prime. For every finite
p-group S , let d(S) be the maximum of the
orders of the abelian subgroups of S. Define
the Thompson subgroup J(S) of S to be the
subgroup generated by all the abelian subgroups
of order d(S) in S
Let E be a two-dimensional vector space
over the field of p elements, and let SL(E) be
the special linear group on E , i.e., the group
of all linear transformations of determinant one
on E. Define the quadratic group Qd(p) to be
the semi-direct product of E by SL(E) Let
F(p) be the normalizer of a Sylow p-subgroup of
Qd(p)
A group H is said to be involved in a group
223
224
FINITE GROUPS
G if H K/L for some subgroups K, L of G
such that L is normal in K.
Now suppose S is a Sylow p-subgroup of a
finite group G. Let T be a normal sUbgroup of
S. We say that T controls strong fusion in G
if, whenever X and Y are non-empty subsets of
Sand g E G and Y X
g
then g cn for
some c E CG(X) and some n E NG(T) It is easy
to see that this definition does not depend on the
choice of S and that it corresponds to the
definition given by Alperin and Gorenstein [1].
Recently, the following results were obtained
[ 2] :
controls strong fusion in G
If N(Z(J(S))) has a normal p-complement,
( 1)
Z(J(S))
( 2 )
If Qd (p) is not involved in G, then
then G has a normal p-complement.
Let Z = Z(J(S)) It follows from (2) that
if N(Z) has a normal p-complement, then Qd(p)
is not involved in G. The main result of this
paper is a generalization of this observation.
THEOREM A. If F(p) is not involved in N(Z)
then Qd(p) is not involved in G .
225
By (1), we obtain
COROLLARY 1. If F (p) is not involved in
N(Z) , then Z controls strong fusion in G
Now (2) follows from Corollary 1 and an
easy transfer argument.
COROLLARY 2. F(p) is involved in G if and
only if it is involved in N(Z)
Theorem A follows from:
THEOREM B. Let H = N(J(SJ") Suppose T is a
normal subgroup of H contained ln Z , and T
does not control strong fusion in G Then there
exist subgroups V and V of S with the
following properties:
(i) V is normal in V
(ii) V/V is elementary of order p2
(iii) (V n T)/U has order p i and
(iv) NG(U) n NG(V) induces a group of
automorphisms of V/U that contains SL(V/U)
226
Moreover, F(p)
FINITE GROUPS
is involved in N(T)
COROLLARY 3. Assume the hypothesis of Theorem B.
Then T contains a subgroup C of order p such
that NH(C)/CH(C) is cyclic of order p - 1
REFERENCES
1. J. L. Alperin and D. Gorenstein, Transfer
and fusion in finite groups, J. of Alg.
6 (1967), 242-255.
2. G. Glauberman, A characteristic subgroup of
a p-stable group, Can. J. Math., in press.
ON THE CENTRALIZERS OF INVOLUTIONS IN FINITE GROUPS
Daniel Gorenstein
In each of the known simple groups the
centralizer N of any involution x has a very
restricted structure. In particular, it appears
to be the case that O(N) is always cyclic and
that C
N
(0 (N) ) has index at most 2 ln N
The question of whether some result of this nature
holds more generally for arbitrary simple groups,
at least for certain involutions x , is of
paramount importance for the ultimate classifi-
cation of the finite simple groups. A major
portion of the solution of every general classifi-
cation problem considered to date has involved the
successful resolution of this problem. The
general question is itself very closely related to
certain questions raised by Thompson concerning
227
228
FINITE GROUPS
2-signalizers of simple groups (that is, the set
of subgroups of odd order normalized by some
Sylow 2-subgroup of the given simple group).
We have recently obtained a theorem which
represents a seemingly necessary step toward the
solution of the overall problem. To achieve the
broadest scope for possible future applications,
we have deliberately stated our result in very
general terms. However, there is strong reason to
believe that this degree of generality will, in
fact, be required to obtain a complete analysis of
the structure of O(N) and of its embedding in N
To state our theorem precisely, we need
several preliminary notions, which we proceed to
define.
DEFINITION 1. Let G be a group of even order
and let A be an abelian 2-subgroup of G with
m(A) 3 We shall call e an A-signalizer
functor on G provided for each involution u of
A , there is associated a subgroup e(CG(u)) of
CG(u) with the following properties:
( a)
e(cG(u)) <1
and
229
involution v of A
(c) If B is a subgroup of A such that
m(A/B) 2 , then
x
e(cG(u
for all involutions u in B and all x in
These conditions are obviously satisfied if
e(cG(u = I for all involutions u in A. In
this case we call e the trivial A-signalizer
functor. The special case that e(cG(u = O(CG(u
for all u is of particular importance. In this
case we set e = O. Actually it can be shown
that a somewhat weaker assumption than the
normality condition in (a) SUffices for our main
results.
DEFINITION 2. Let e be an A-signalizer
functor on G
We denote by He (A) the set of
A-invariant subgroups K of G of odd order such
that
230
K <K n 8(C
G
(u))
FINITE GROUPS
u ranging over the
involutions of A > .
As usual, we write K = 1-1
8
(A; p) if K s 111
8
(A)
and K is a p-group.
If K = <K
i
I 1 ~ i ~ m> and each
K
i
s H8 (A) , then clearly also K s H
8
(A)
Furthermore, because of condition (c), K
X
s H8 (A)
whenever K s H8 (A) and x s N
G
(A) In addition,
it is a consequence of the definition that if
K s ~ 8 A , then CK(u) c::: 8(C
G
(U)) for any
involution u of A But then if L is an
A-invariant sUbgroup of K , it follows at once
that L s V1
8
(A) These basic properties of 8
are used repeatedly.
If for all involutions u of A, O(CG(u))
is the unique maximal A-invariant subgroup of
C
G
(u) , then it is easy to see that 8 = 0 is an
A-signalizer functor on G and that every element
of V\ (A) is contained in Vl
o
(A) Thus V\ (A) =
~ O (A)
in this case. However, in general, H8 (A)
will be a proper subset of V\(A) ; moreover, this
can occur even in the case 8 = 0 .
DEFINITION 3. Let e be an A-signa1izer
231
functor on G A subgroup H of G containing
A will be called A-flat with respect to e
provided the elements of contained in H
all lie in O(H)
It is immediate from the definition if
H = CG(u) u an involution of A, that, in
fact, H is A-flat with respect to e.
DEFINITION 4. An A-signalizer functor e on
G will be called flat provided any p-local sub-
group of G, P odd, containing A is A-flat
with respect to e .
In terms of these concepts we can now state
our main result:
THEOREM A. If A is an abelian 2-subgroup of
the group G with m(A) 6 and G possesses
the flat A-signalizer functor e , then the
elements of generate a subgroup of G 0:
odd order invariant under NG(A)
We should like to explain the
232
FINITE GROUPS
of Theorem A to the general problem described
above of determining the structure and embedding
of O(N) in N This can best be done in the
context of some recent work of Thompson on groups
of order relatively prime to 3 , [5] , together
with his earlier classification of N-groups [4],
in both of which a result similar to Theorem A
appears.
In the course of his study of 3 '-groups,
Thompson has obtained what amounts to a very
general sufficient condition for 0 itself to be
a flat A-signalizer functor of the group G ,
where A is an element of SCN(S) S a Sylow
2-subgroup of G. His conditions involve
assumptions on the nonsolvable composition factors
of the local subgroups of G. In particular,
these conditions are vacuously satisfied if G is
an N-group and also hold if G is a 3'-group, in
which case the only nonsolvable composition
factors to be considered are Suzuki groups.
When G is a simple N-group or 3 '-group
with A in SCN
3
(S) , Thompson shows, using a
somewhat different approach from the one we use to
prove Theorem A, that the set of all elements of
233
generate a subgroup K of G of odd
order. There appear to be considerable technical
difficulties involved in attempting a direct
generalization of Thompson's procedure. In part
at least, the significance of our Theorem A rests
on the fact that its proof bypasses these diffi-
culties. Unfortunately our assumption m(A) 6 ,
rather than m(A) 3 as in Thompson's approach,
appears to be essential. However, if an alternate
proof of One specific preliminary result of ours
could be obtained, it would be possible to
establish Theorem A under the weaker assumption
m(A) 5. However, this would seem to be as far
as one can go with our methods.
Continuing his analysis of simple N-groups
and 3 '-groups Thompson goes on to show, if K t 1 ,
that M = NG(K) is strongly embedded in G , from
which he derives a contradiction by a now standard
argument. (See also Bender's talk, where a complete
classification of groups possessing a strongly
embedded subgroup is presented.) Thus K = 1 and
consequently the A-signalizer functor 0 is
trivial. In Thompson's terminology, the effect of
his complete argument is to establish that 2 E TI
4
234
FINITE GROUPS
Expressed in terms of our initial problem, his
argument shows that if x is any involution of
A , and N = CG(x) , then, in fact, O(N) = I
The preceding discussion should clearly
indicate the role of Theorem A for the general
problem: it is the middle link in a three-part
chain. The first part of the chain will involve
the existence of appropriate A-signalizer functors
e on G , based upon assumptions concerning the
nonsolvable composition factors of the local
subgroups of G containing A. On the other
hand, the final link will involve a proof that G
possesses no nontrivial flat A-signalizer functor
e , based upon the construction of a strongly
embedded subgroup M of G in case the subgroup
K generated by the elements of (A) is
nontrivial.
One cannot expect to prove in general that
o itself is an A-signalizer functor on G, for
Thompson's conditions hold only under special
circumstances. In fact, they correspond primarily
to the case in which the nonsolvable composition
factors of the local subgroups of G are of Lie
type defined over a field of characteristic 2.
235
Thus, for example, in the study of groups G witt
abelian Sylow 2-subgroups, recently classified by
J. H. WaIter [6], Thompson's conditions are not
satisfied and therefore 0 is not an A-signalizer
functor on G , where A is a Sylow 2-subgroup of
G. On the other hand, if m(A) 8 , one can
construct suitable flat A-signalizer functors E
on G and, using them, can follow the procedure
outlined above to obtain an alternate proof of
WaIter's classification theorem (under the
assumption m(A) 8 ).
The construction of useful flat A-signalizer
functors for the study of general simple groups
appears to be extremely promising provided one
takes A to be an abelian 2-subgroup of the given
simple group G such that m(A) is as large as
possible and provided also m(A) is sufficiently
large. (Hopefully m(A) > 9 will suffice.) We
are presently studying this problem with J. H.
WaIter (see his talk).
Finally a word about the proof of Theorem A.
In spirit it conforms very closely to the
conceptual framework of Chapter IV of the Odd
order paper [1] as further extended and axiomatized
236 FINITE GROUPS
in [3], the primary objective being to establish
appropriate E-theorems for the maximal elements of
Vie (Ai p)
p ranging over all odd primes.
Because of our hypothesis on e , the relation
between various elements of J1 e (A) can be studied
from a knowledge of the structure of e(cG(u
u ranging over the involutions of A As a
result, the proof of Theorem A is considerably
easier than the corresponding results in [1] and
[3], even discounting simplifications due to
Glauberman's recent ZJ- and ZJ*-theorems [2],
both of which we use crucially.
Of central importance to our argument is a
so-called relativized transitivity theorem. Let
P be a maximal element of lit e (Ai p) , let Z be
a minimal A-invariant subgroup of Z(P) , and let
B be an elementary abelian subgroup of CA(Z)
with m(B) 4. (Such subgroups B exist as
A/CA(Z) is cyclic and m(A) 6 by hypothesis.)
Also define (B) and lf1
e
(Bi p) analogously
with Me(A) and ltfe(Ai p) Then our transitivity
theorem deals with the set of B x Z invariant
subgroups Q of &.1
e
(Bi q) q an odd prime
distinct from p , which are maximal subject to
237
the condition [Q, Z] = Q .
The proof of Theorem A does not depend in an
essential way upon the fact that A is a 2-group.
As a result it has certain natural extensions to
the case in which A is a p-group, p odd.
Thompson has pointed out that such results are
also needed for the study of simple groups. A
heuristic reason for this can be seen from the
fact that in the groups of Lie type over fields of
characteristic 2, the elements of odd prime
order in a Cartan subgroup have a structure analog-
ous to those of the corresponding involutions in
the groups of Lie type over fields of odd
characteristic.
REFERENCES
1. Feit, w. and J. G. Thompson, Solvability of
groups of odd order, Pac. Jour. Math. 13
(1963), 775-1029.
2. Glauberman, J., A characteristic subgroup of
a p-stable group (to appear in Can. Jour.).
238 FINITE GROUPS
3. Gorenstein, D. and J. H. Walter, On the
maximal sUbgroups of finite simple groups,
Jour. Alg. 1 (1964), 168-213.
4. Thompson, J. G., Non-solvable finite groups
all of whose local subgroups are solvable
(to appear).
5.
appear) .
Groups of order prime to 3 (to
6. Walter, J. H., The characterization of finite
groups with abelian Sylow 2-subgroups (to
appear in Annals of Math.).
CENTRALIZERS OF INVOLUTIONS IN FINITE SIMPLE GROUPS
John H. Walter
The purpose of this talk is to state some
results about the centralizers of involutions in
finite simple groups. The research described is
not complete and thus the results are not in final
form.
A group G is said to be centrally simple if
it is a central product of centrally simple groups.
group. It is said to be centrally semisimple if
it is a central product of centrally simple groups.
Let O(H) denote the maximal normal subgroup of
odd order of a finite group H. Denote by L(H)
the maximal normal centrally semisimple subgroup
centrally simple subgroup of
of H/O(H) A component of L(H) is a normal
L(H) ; the Krull-
Schmidt theory shows that the components are
239
240 FINITE GROUPS
uniquely determined. Of course, subgroups of H
act on L(H) In particular, if K is a subgroup
of H disjoint from O(H) we identify. K with
its image in H/O(H) to simplify the notation.
Let denote the class of centrally
simple Chevalley groups together with perfect
central extensions of the simple alternating
groups. Denote by
..
o
the class of those
centrally simple Chevalley groups defined over
fields of odd characteristic.
Now let G be a finite simple group. Assume
that for every proper subgroup H of G the
components of L(H) are in Let A be an
elementary 2-subgroup of G of maximal possible
order. We are interested in the possibilities for
L(C(t)) where t E:
A#
Set
LO(H)
to the
subgroup of L(H) generated by those components
in An important lemma is the following.
LEMMA 1. Let H be a subgroup of G containing
A. Then the minimal A-invariant normal subgroups
of LO(H) are either centrally simple components
or the central product of two copies of SL(2, q)
q > 3
241
Now let A
O
be a nontrivial subgroup of A
Let L be a component of LO(C(A
O
)) Set
EL = CA(L) Then EL is said to be the base of
L. Let ~ be the set of subgroups of A which
are bases for some component of LO(C(A
O
)) where
A
O
runs through the set of nontrivial subgroups
of A. Then ~ is ordered by inclusion. A
maximal component of G (with respect to A) is
a component with a minimal base group. We say
that two maximal components L
l
and L
2
are
disjoint if
EL
=2 A n L
2
and B
L
~ A n L
l
1 2
THEOREM. Let G be a finite simple group and
let A be an elementary 2-subgroup of maximal
possible order. Assume that IAI > 2
6
Assume
that for each involution t of A, the components
of L (C (t) ) are in :c and that at least one
maximal component of G with respect to A
belongs to :Co but does not have a simple factor
isomorphic to PSL(2, q) Then either
(1) All maximal components are mutually
disjoint; or
(2) All minimal base groups are cyclic and
all maximal components are Chevalley groups e f i ~ e
242
FINITE GROUPS
over fields of the same odd characteristic.
This theorem has numerous and important
applications. Some of the techniques leading to
its proof are important in studying the construction
Jf a signalizer functor as explained by Daniel
Gorenstein in his talk. The proof depends on
establishing a variety of properties for the
Chevalley groups, and not all of this has been
done in complete detail. Nevertheless, the
results have been investigated for most of the
groups in question and at least apply to groups
having general properties which can be conjectured
for the entire class. Thus to be more accurate
but less succinct, the class should be
defined in terms of these properties.
It is expected that using the signalizer
functors, case (1) may be eliminated and that in
case (2), the centralizer of O(C(t can be
shown to cover L(C(t In this case Condition
(2) leads to many important results, which will be
the subject of a forthcoming paper.
ON Y-PROJECTORS
B. Huppert
Let Y be a sa tura ted formation (in the
sense of W. Gaschutz), G a soluble group and F
an Y-projector of G. (Y-projectors are the
generalized Carter-subgroups of Gaschutz.)
THEOREM 1. If N
l
and N
2
are normal subgroups
of G and F an of G, then
Combined with the trivial relation
N
l
n N
2
n F (N
l
n F) n (N
2
n F) this shows,
that N + N n F is a lattice-homomorphism of the
lattice of all normal subgroups of G into the
lattice of normal subgroups of F. So there
exists in particular a unique normal subgroup M
243
244
FINITE GROUPS
of G, maximal with respect to M n F = I
There seems to be no handy description of M
Theorem I seems to be related to Wielandt's
theorem on the lattice-homomorphism of the lattice
of all subnormal sUbgroups of G into the lattice
of subgroups of a Sylow subgroup of G But
Theorem 1 becomes wrong for nearly all formations
g if "normal" is replaced by "subnormal".
Wielandt's results suggest the question under
what conditions the lattice-homomorphism of
Theorem 1 is an epimorphism.
THEOREM 2. Let g be a saturated formation,
locally defined by the formations g(p) Assume
that one of the following assumptions holds:
(a) A l l ~ p 's are equal. (This covers for
instance the formations of nilpotent groups and
groups with nilpotent commutator groups.)
(b) If H E g and N is a minimal normal
subgroup of H , then the automorphism group of N
is in g i further g is closed under taking
subgroups. (This covers supersolvable groups.)
Then the following statements are equivalent:
243
(1) The lattice-homomorphism of Theorem 1 is an
epimorphism.
(2) If G
g
denotes the g-residuum of G (the
smallest normal subgroup of G with factor group
in and F anY-projector of G, then
G = GgF and G
y
- n F = 1 .
If A, B, C are subgroups of G, then the
following statements are trivially equivalent:
(1 )
(2 )
A n BC
AB n AC
(A n B) (A n C)
A(B n C)
Using this we get from Theorem 1 a result of
J. Rose (which now appears to be equivalent to
Theorem 1), namely:
THEOREM 3. If F is of the
soluble group G and N
l
and N
2
are normal
subgroups of G, then
This means that the mapping N NF is a lattice-
homomorphism of the lattice of normal sUbgroups of
G into the lattice of subgroups U with
246
F < U < G .
FINITE GROUP S
(Will appear in Archiv der Mathematik.)
Mainz, Germany
LOCALLY FINITE VERSUS FINITE SIMPLE GROUPS
O. H. Kegel
Every countably infinite locally finite
simple group G has a family
00
{S. }
l
of finite
sUbgroups S.
l
with: G
U
i=l
S.
l
and there is a maximal normal subgroup N
i
+
l
of
Si+l with Si n N
i
+
l
= <1>. Thus, in a way, the
simple group G may be viewed as a limit of the
sequence of finite simple groups {S./N.} which
l l
is ordered by "involvement". The following is an
easy observation: If each of the finitt simple
groups S./N.
l l
is "known", then either G contains
an infinite, elementary abelian p-subgroup for
every prime p, or there is a field F and a
natural number n such that G is isomorphic to
a subgroup of GL(n, F)
247
The essential point in
248 FINITE GROUPS
the proof of this is the fact that the finitely
many two-parameter families of "known" finite
simple groups have "nice" linear representation
properties (and these may be given a form which
allows us to define a "classically parametrized
two-parameter family" of finite simple groups, for
which the above theorem still holds) .
Now, from the point of view of infinite
groups, it seems rather unlikely that in a countable
locally finite simple group the smallness with
respect to one prime p, i.e. the fact that
elementary abelian p-subgroups are finite, should
entail the smallness for all but one prime, and
even for that prime c, the characteristic of F,
the linearity of G imposes severe structural
restrictions on c-subgroups of G.
By the above theorem, the existence of a
non-linear simple, locally finite group G which
for (at least) One prime p has only finite
elementary abelian p-subgroups (possibly <1,
entails the existence of a family of finite
subgroups {S.} as above, such that each of the

simple groups {S./N.} is "new".

Discussing locally finite groups in this
spirit, many questions about finite groups come
up. Here is one example, to which I would like ~ ~
know the answer: If GF(q) ~ GF(ql) , then the
classical group C(q) can in general be embeddec
in many ways into the classical group C(ql) h ~ e
all of these embeddings equivalent under the t i ~
of the automorphism group of C(ql) ?
REFERENCE
1. O. H. Kegel, Uber Lokal endliche einfache
Gruppen, Math. Zeit. 95 (1966).
AUTOMORPHIC ALGEBRAS
Ernest Shult
A (not necessarily associative) algebra A
is said to be automorphic if its automorphism group
transitively permutes its one-dimensional subspaces.
The object of this note is to report the following:
THEOREM 1. Let A be a finite automorphic
algebra whose ground field F contains more than
two elements. Then either A = F or
The following group-theoretic corollaries
stem from this theorem:
COROLLARY 1. Let P be a p-group of odd order
which admits a group of automorphisms transitively
permuting its subgroups of order p. Then P is
251
252
abelian.
COROLLARY 2.
FINITE GROUPS
Suppose G is a group containing
one conjugate class of sUbgroups of odd prime order.
Then a p-Sylow sUbgroup S of G is abelian if
and only if ~ l S ~ Z(S)
COROLLARY 3. Let p be an odd prime. Suppose
G is a p-solvable group whose subgroups of order
p are conjugate in the automorphism group of G.
Then G has p-length 1 and abelian p-Sylow
subgroups.
The 2-Sylow subgroups S of the Suzuki
groups are non-abelian 2-groups whose normalizer
transitively permutes the involutions of S For
this reason the requirement that p be odd is
necessary in Corollaries 1 through 3. These groups
also give rise to an automorphic nil algebra A
over GF(2) , for which A
2
~ O. In addition,
examples exist in every dimension of automorphic
non-nil algebras A over GF(2) for which
A
2
~ O. Thus Theorem 1 gives a best-possible
criterion on dim (A) and that a finite
253
automorphic algebra be a zero-algebra.
Corollary 3 is a generalization and
sharpening of a theorem of Gaschutz and Yen [5]
which concerned only the p-length conclusion.
Corollary 1 was first considered by Eoen [1] and
Higman [6]. Special cases of this corollary as
well as partial results on anticommutative
automorphic algebras of odd characteristic have
been obtained by a number of authors under special
assumptions on dim A , IFI and transitive
subgroups of Aut lA) [I, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, la].
The proof of Theorem 1 does not depend on
these results, and its proof from first principles
appears in [11] and [12]. The object of [11] was
the proof of the weaker
THEOREM 2.
either A
2
Under the hypothesis of Theorem I,
o or A has no zero divisors.
The fact that Theorem 2 actually implies
Theorem 1 is the content of [12]. Theorem 2, in
turn, is the consequence of the following more
general result, which seems to isolate the
essential mechanics of what is going on:
254
THEOREM 3.
FINITE GROUPS
Let A be a finite dimensional
algebra over GF(q) and let B be a left ideal
in A Suppose left multiplication by any element
a of A induces a nilpotent linear transformation
La : B B. Suppose A admits a group of
automorphisms G which transitively permutes the
one-dimensional subspaces of B. If q > 2 , then
AB = 0 .
Perhaps a few sketchy remarks concerning the
proofs of these theorems would be appropriate.
The version of Theorem 3 appearing in [11]
is augmented by the additional hypothesis that
B
2
= O. This alone implies Theorem 2 and hence
the fact that the "B" involved in Theorem 3
above satisfies B
2
= 0 This can be seen as
follows: Let A be a finite automorphic algebra
over GF(q) q > 2 , and let G = Aut A View
A as a G-module and let W
l
and W
2
be two
module isomorphisms. The G-module A = Wl(A) ffi W
2
(A)
can be converted into an algebra by defining
2 2
(Wl(A = (W
2
(A W2(A) 'Wl(A) = 0 and products
Wl(A) 'W
2
(A) by the rule wl(a) .w
2
(b) = w
2
(ab)
By a theorem of Chevalley [3J if an automorphic
255
algebra A has zero divisors, it is a nil-algebra
(left multiplications are nilpotent transformations).
Now G acts on A in such a manner that A and
].12 (A)
play the role of A and B respectively
in the augmented Theorem 3. Then A].12(A) = 0
implies
2
].12 (A ) = 0
or A
2
= 0 , since is a
module isomorphism.
The proof of Theorem 3 utilizes induction on
dim A, dim B = nand IGI ' and occurs in three
stages. The first is to "shape up" the algebra so
that A
W ffi B where w
2
= B
2
= BW = 0, WB = B
and both Wand B are irreducible G-modules.
The second stage is a reduction to the case that
p = char F does not divide From this
point on, the nilpotence of the left-multiplications
produces a congruence
where q = IFI
and C is a cyclic subgroup of
G acting irreducibly on B. A largely number-
theoretic case analysis forces dim B < 14 , and
G '" LF(2, n + 1) or LF(2, 2n + 1)
In proving Theorem 1 from Theorem 2, it
suffices to show that for a finite automorphic
256
FINITE GROUPS
algebra A over GF(q) , the following hypotheses
are inconsistent:
(i) A
2
0
(ii) q > 2
(iii) A GF(q)
An extension of Chevalley's methods yields
LEMMA. Let F be a finite field and let R be
the vector space of n-tuples with entries from F
Let p be a homogeneous polynomial of degree n
in F[Xl, ... ,xnJ Suppose G is a group of
linear transformations of R which acts transitive-
lyon the one-dimensional subspaces of Rand
suppose
p(v)
for every v E Rand g E G. Then either
(i) p(v) 0 for all v E R
or (ii) the stabilizer in G of a one-dimension-
al subspace of R fixes every vector in that
subspace: i.e. for any v ERg E G, vg AV
for some A E F implies A = 1 or v = 0
257
With the aid of this lemma and Theorem 2,
hypotheses (i)-(iii) imply
(i v) (g - 1, IAut (A) I) 1 .
This result assumes the role that the hypothesis
of nilpotent multiplication played in the proof of
Theorem 3: To provide enough number-theoretic
ammunition to dispose of the case that a g'-group
of automorphisms can transitively permute the
one-dimensional subspaces of A. Thus Aut (A)
has a non-trivial p-Sylow subgroup P , where
p = char GF (g) Since A has no zero-divisors,
neither does A
1
' the sub-algebra of fixed points
of P in A It follows that (iii) fails for
A
l
' and so everyone-dimensional subspace of A
is a sub-algebra. In this case A contains two
linearly independent idempotent elements, x and
y , and that for any 8 E GF(g)
(v)
2
(x + 8y) x +
2
8 Y + 8(xy + yx)
If A were commutative, 8 = 0 or 1, whence
g = 2 , against (ii). Thus A is not commutative.
We may now define a new l g e r ~ B = A(+, 0) where
258
B = A as vector spaces over GF(q)
FINITE GROUPS
and a new
product
11 "
o
is defined by
x 0 y xy + yx .
Then B admits Aut (A) and is a commutative
automorphic algebra satisfying (ii)-(v). It
follows that B
2
= 0 so A is anti-commutative.
Since A has no zero divisors q is a power of
2 and A is commutative, a contradiction.
REFERENCES
1. J. Boen, On p-automorphic p-groups, Pac. J.
Math. vol. 12 (1962), 813-816.
2. J. Boen, O. Rothaus, and J. Thompson, Further
results on p-automorphic p-groups, Pac. J.
Ma th. vo1. 12 ( 1962), 817- 8 21 .
3. C. Chevalley, Demonstration d'une hypothese
de M. Artin, Abh. Math. Sem. U. Hamburg vol.
II (1936).
4. L. Dornhoff, p-automorphic p-groups and
homogeneous algebras, preprint, Yale
University.
259
5. W. Gaschutz and T. Yen, Groups with an
automorphism group which is transitive on the
elements of prime order, Math. Z. 86 (1964),
123-127.
6. G. Higman, Suzuki 2-groups, Ill. J. Math. 7
(1963),73-96.
7. A. I. Kostrikin, On homogeneous algebras,
Izvestia Acad. Nauk SSSR, 29 (1965), 471-483.
8. D. Passman, personal communication, fall 1967.
9. E. Shult, On semi-p-automorphic groups, I.
Submitted to Pac. J. Math (February, 1966).
10.
11.
, On semi-p-automorphic groups, 11.
Submitted to Pac. J. Math (April, 1966).
, On finite automorphic algebras,
Submitted to Ill. J. Math. (February 1968)
12. , On the triviality of finite
automorphic algebras, submitted to Ill. J.
Math. (April 1968).
AUTOMORPHISMS OF FINITE GROUPS
Chih-Han Sah
A rather general question in group theory is:
Given a finite group G , what is
the relation between the normal
structure of G and the normal
structure of the automorphism group
Aut (G) ?
Schreier conjectured that Aut (G)/Inn (G)
is solvable when G is a finite simple group.
During the 1963 Harvard Symposium, Brauer verified
the Schreier conjecture when the 2-Sylow subgroup
of G has certain special forms. Later, Glauberman
generalized this result. The difficulty in
applying Glauberman's result is that we need to
know something about the 2-Sylow subgroup or its
261
262
FINITE GROUPS
embedding in G. For all the known simple groups,
the Schreier conjecture has been verified.
It appears reasonable to insert a number of
groups between Aut (G) and Inn (G) in such a
way that they reflect the normal structure of G
From the point of view of representation theory,
two candidates appeared in Burnside's work:
A (G) = group of all automorphisms fixing all
c
complex characters.
group of all automorphisms carrying
each complex character onto an
algebraic conjugate (over .
It is clear that other such groups can be
introduced.
It is easy to see that we have a normal
series:
Using Brauer's permutation lemma, one sees
that Af(G) is the group of all automorphisms
preserving the conjugate classes of cyclic
subgroups of G and A (G)
c
is the group of
automorphisms preserving the conjugate classes of
G. It is then easy to show that Af(G)/Ac(G) is
263
an abelian group.
Schreier's conjecture can obviously be split
up into two halves.
Burnside claimed that, for any finite group
G , A (G)/Inn (G)
c
is always abelian. At first,
it was not certain if this group could be non-
trivial. Later Burnside, G. E. Wall and others
showed that A (G)/Inn (G) could be non-trivial
c
abelian groups. In a forthcoming paper in the
Journal of Algebra we constructed p-groups (for
any prime p) for which
A (G)/Inn (G)
c
is
non-abelian. Using cohomological arguments, we
can show:
THEOREM. If all the composition factors of the
finite group G satisfy Schreier's conjecture,
then Ac(G)/Inn (G) is solvable.
It is known to Burnside that the primes
dividing lAC (G) I must divide IGI . Nothing much
is known about the general structure of
Harvard University and
University of Pennsylvania