Product decompositions in finite simple groups

Abstract

We propose a general conjecture on decompositions of finite simple groups as products of conjugates of an arbitrary subset. We prove this conjecture for bounded subsets of arbitrary finite simple groups, and for large subsets of groups of Lie type of bounded rank. Some of our arguments apply recent advances in the theory of growth in finite simple groups of Lie type, and provide a variety of new product decompositions of these groups.