arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Bob Oliver.
We give several examples of finite groups $G$ for which the rank of the tensor product $\mathbb{Z} \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}\mathrm{Aut}(G)}$ Wh$(G)$ is or is not zero. This is motivated by an earlier theorem of the first author, which implies as a special case that when this group has nonzero rank, the Whitehead group of any other group (finite or infinite) that contains $G$ as a normal subgroup is rationally nontrivial.
We compare four different types of realizability for saturated fusion systems over discrete $p$-toral groups. For example, when $G$ is a locally finite group all of whose $p$-subgroups are artinian (hence discrete $p$-toral), we show that it has ``weakly Sylow'' $p$-subgroups and give explicit constructions of saturated fusion systems and associated linking systems associated to $G$. We also show that a fusion system over a discrete $p$-toral group $S$ is saturated if its set of morphisms is closed under a certain topology and the finite subgroups of $S$ satisfy the saturation axioms, and prove a version of the Cartan-Eilenberg stable elements theorem for locally finite groups.
We correct an error in the paper [BLO3], and take the opportunity to examine in more detail the derived functors of inverse limits over orbit categories of (infinite) locally finite groups. The main results show how to reduce this in many cases to limits over orbit categories of finite groups, but we also look at generalizations of the Lyndon-Hochschild-Serre spectral sequence for higher limits over orbit categories for an extension of locally finite groups.
We point out some minor errors in a paper by the first author, and explain why they do not affect the main results in the paper.
We correct here two errors in our earlier paper "An algebraic model for finite loop spaces" [arXiv:1212.2033]
For a prime $p$, fusion systems over discrete $p$-toral groups are categories that model and generalize the $p$-local structure of Lie groups and certain other infinite groups in the same way that fusion systems over finite $p$-groups model and generalize the $p$-local structure of finite groups. In the finite case, it is natural to say that a fusion system $\mathcal{F}$ is realizable if it is isomorphic to the fusion system of a finite group, but it is less clear what realizability should mean in the discrete $p$-toral case. In this paper, we look at some of the different types of realizability for fusion systems over discrete $p$-toral groups, including realizability by linear torsion groups and sequential realizability, of which the latter is the most general. After showing that fusion systems of compact Lie groups are always realized by linear torsion groups (hence sequentially realizable), we give some new tools for showing that certain fusion systems are not sequentially realizable, and illustrate it with two large families of examples.
We correct an error in Lemma 3.1 of my paper coauthored with Ran Levi on the Benson-Solomon fusion systems, and show that the change does not affect any of the other results in that paper. More precisely, as pointed out to us by Justin Lynd, there are two conjugacy classes of elementary abelian subgroups of rank $3$ in each of the fusion systems $\cal{F}_{{\rm Sol}}(q)$, and not only one as claimed in our paper.
For a finite abelian $p$-group $A$ and a subgroup $\Gamma\le\text{Aut}(A)$, we say that the pair $(\Gamma,A)$ is fusion realizable if there is a saturated fusion system $\mathcal{F}$ over a finite $p$-group $S\ge A$ such that $C_S(A)=A$, $\textrm{Aut}_{\mathcal{F}}(A)=\Gamma$ as subgroups of $\text{Aut}(A)$, and $A$ is not normal in $\mathcal{F}$. In this paper, we develop tools to show that certain representations are not fusion realizable in this sense. For example, we show, for $p=2$ or $3$ and $\Gamma$ one of the Mathieu groups, that the only $\mathbb{F}_p\Gamma$-modules that are fusion realizable (up to extensions by trivial modules) are the Todd modules and in some cases their duals.
We study a certain family of simple fusion systems over finite $3$-groups, ones that involve Todd modules of the Mathieu groups $2M_{12}$, $M_{11}$, and $A_6=O^2(M_{10})$ over $\mathbb{F}_3$, and show that they are all isomorphic to the $3$-fusion systems of almost simple groups. As one consequence, we give new $3$-local characterizations of Conway's sporadic simple groups.
We describe some new ways to construct saturated fusion subsystems, including, as a special case, the normalizer of a set of components of the ambient fusion system. This was motivated in part by Aschbacher's construction of the normalizer of one component, and in part by joint work with three other authors where we had to construct the normalizer of all of the components.
We prove that the factorization of a saturated fusion system over a discrete $p$-toral group as a product of indecomposable subsystems is unique up to normal automorphisms of the fusion system and permutations of the factors. In particular, if the fusion system has trivial center, or if its focal subgroup is the entire Sylow group, then this factorization is unique (up to the ordering of the factors). This result was motivated by questions about automorphism groups of products of fusion systems.
A saturated fusion system over a finite $p$-group $S$ is a category whose objects are the subgroups of $S$ and whose morphisms are injective homomorphisms between the subgroups satisfying certain axioms. A fusion system over $S$ is realized by a finite group $G$ if $S$ is a Sylow $p$-subgroup of $G$ and morphisms in the category are those induced by conjugation in $G$. One recurrent question in this subject is to find criteria as to whether a given saturated fusion system is realizable or not. One main result in this paper is that a saturated fusion system is realizable if all of its components (in the sense of Aschbacher) are realizable. Another result is that all realizable fusion systems are tame: a finer condition on realizable fusion systems that involves describing automorphisms of a fusion system in terms of those of some group that realizes it. Stated in this way, these results depend on the classification of finite simple groups, but we also give more precise formulations whose proof is independent of the classification.
We fill in a gap in the proof of the main theorem in our earlier paper [Ol]. At the same time, we prove a slightly stronger version of the theorem needed for another paper.
We determine for which known finite simple groups $G$ and which primes $p$ the $p$-fusion system of $G$ is simple. This means first collecting together the results that were already known (and correcting two errors made in an earlier study of this question), and then handling the remaining cases. At the same time, we develop some new tools to use when determining $O^{p'}(\mathcal{F})$ for arbitrary saturated fusion systems.
In a 2009 paper, Dave Benson gave a description in purely algebraic terms of the mod $p$ homology of $\Omega(BG^\wedge_p)$, when $G$ is a finite group, $BG^\wedge_p$ is the $p$-completion of its classifying space, and $\Omega(BG^\wedge_p)$ is the loop space of $BG^\wedge_p$. The main purpose of this work is to shed new light on Benson's result by extending it to a more general setting. As a special case, we show that if $\mathcal{C}$ is a small category, $|\mathcal{C}|$ is the geometric realization of its nerve, $R$ is a commutative ring, and $|\mathcal{C}|^+_R$ is a "plus construction" for $|\mathcal{C}|$ in the sense of Quillen (taken with respect to $R$-homology), then $H_*(\Omega(|\mathcal{C}|^+_R);R)$ can be described as the homology of a chain complex of projective $R\mathcal{C}$-modules satisfying a certain list of algebraic conditions that determine it uniquely up to chain homotopy. Benson's theorem is now the case where $\mathcal{C}$ is the category of a finite group $G$, $R=\mathbb{F}_p$ for some prime $p$, and $|\mathcal{C}|^+_R=BG^\wedge_p$.
We finish the classification, begun in two earlier papers, of all simple fusion systems over finite nonabelian $p$-groups with an abelian subgroup of index $p$. In particular, this gives many new examples illustrating the enormous variety of exotic examples that can arise. In addition, we classify all simple fusion systems over infinite nonabelian discrete $p$-toral groups with an abelian subgroup of index $p$. In all of these cases (finite or infinite), we reduce the problem to one of listing all $\mathbb{F}_pG$-modules (for $G$ finite) satisfying certain conditions: a problem which was solved in the earlier paper by Craven, Oliver, and Semeraro using the classification of finite simple groups.
Let $p$ be an odd prime, and let $S$ be a $p$-group with a unique elementary abelian subgroup $A$ of index $p$. We classify the simple fusion systems over all such groups $S$ in which $A$ is essential. The resulting list, which depends on the classification of finite simple groups, includes a large variety of new, exotic simple fusion systems.
We prove, when $S$ is a $2$-group of order at most $2^9$, that each reduced fusion system over $S$ is the fusion system of a finite simple group and is tame. It then follows that each saturated fusion system over a $2$-group of order at most $2^9$ is realizable. What is most interesting about this result is the method of proof: we show that among $2$-groups with order in this range, the ones which can be Sylow $2$-subgroups of finite simple groups are almost completely determined by criteria based on Bender's classification of groups with strongly $2$-embedded subgroups.