arXiv subjects

Thomas Michael Keller

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Michael Keller.

29 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

The Adjacency Spectra of Some Families of Minimally Connected Prime Graphs

In finite group theory, studying the prime graph of a group has been an important topic for almost the past half-century. Recently, prime graphs of solvable groups have been characterized in graph theoretical terms only. This now allows the study of these graphs without any knowledge of the group theoretical background. In this paper we study prime graphs from a linear algebra angle and focus on the class of minimally connected prime graphs introduced in earlier work on the subject. As our main results, we determine the determinants of the adjacency matrices and the spectra of some important families of these graphs.

math.CO↗

arXiv2020

A lower bound for the number of odd-degree representations of a finite group

Let $G$ be a finite group and $P$ a Sylow $2$-subgroup of $G$. We obtain both asymptotic and explicit bounds for the number of odd-degree irreducible complex representations of $G$ in terms of the size of the abelianization of $P$. To do so, we, on one hand, make use of the recent proof of the McKay conjecture for the prime 2 by Malle and Späth, and, on the other hand, prove lower bounds for the class number of the semidirect product of an odd-order group acting on an abelian $2$-group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2018

Abelian quotients and orbit sizes of finite groups

Let $G$ be a finite group, and let $V$ be a completely reducible faithful $G$-module. It has been known for a long time that if $G$ is abelian, then $G$ has a regular orbit on $V$. In this paper we show that $G$ has an orbit of size at least $|G/G'|$ on $V$. This generalizes earlier work of the authors, where the same bound was proved under the additional hypothesis that $G$ is solvable. For completely reducible modules it also strengthens the 1989 result $|G/G'|<|V|$ by Aschbacher and Guralnick.

math.GR↗

arXiv2014

A combinatorial problem arising in group theory

We consider a combinatorial problem occurring naturally in a group theoretical setting and provide a constructive solution in a special case. More precisely, in 1999 the author established a logarithmic bound for the derived length of the quotient of a finite solvable group modulo the second Fitting subgroup in terms of the number of irreducible character degrees of the group. Along the way, in two key lemmas an inductive process was used which at its core required a solution of some weak form of the combinatorial problem studied in this paper. This problem can be stated and studied without any group theoretical background, and in this paper we present the problem, discuss what is known and what the main conjecture is, and solve the conjecture in the smallest open case.

math.CO↗

arXiv2013

On nilpotent and solvable quotients of primitive groups

It is shown that if $G$ is a primitive permutation group on a set of size $n$, then any nilpotent quotient of $G$ has order at most $n^β$ and any solvable quotient of $G$ has order at most $n^{α+1}$ where $β=\log 32/ \log 9$ and $α=(3 \log (48)+\log (24))/ (3 \cdot \log (9))$. This was motivated by a result of Aschbacher and Guralnick

math.GR↗

arXiv2012

Orbits of finite solvable groups on characters

We prove that if a solvable group A acts coprimely on a solvable group G, then A has a "large" orbit in its corresponding action on the set of ordinary complex irreducible characters of G. This extends (at the cost of a weaker bound) a 2005 result of A. Moreto who obtained such a bound in case that A is a p-group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2011

Regular orbits and p-regular orbits of solvable linear groups

Let $V$ be a faithful $G$-module for a finite group $G$ and let $p$ be a prime dividing $|G|$. An orbit $v^G$ for the action of $G$ on $V$ is $p$-regular if $|v^G|_p=|G:\bC_G(v)|_p=|G|_p$. Zhang asks the following question in \cite{Zhang}. Assume that a finite solvable group $G$ acts faithfully and irreducibly on a vector space $V$ over a finite field $\FF$. If $G$ has a $p$-regular orbit for every prime $p$ dividing $|G|$, is it true that $G$ will have a regular orbit on $V$? In \cite{LuCao}, Lü and Cao construct an example showing that the answer to this question is no, however the example itself is not correct. In this paper, we study Zhang's question in detail. We construct examples showing that the answer to this question is no in general. We also prove the following result. Assume a finite solvable group $G$ of odd order acts faithfully and irreducibly on a vector space $V$ over a field of odd characteristic. If $G$ has a $p$-regular orbit for every prime $p$ dividing $|G|$, then $G$ will have a regular orbit on $V$.

math.GR↗

arXiv2008

Finite groups have even more conjugacy classes

In his paper "Finite groups have many conjugacy classes" (J. London Math. Soc (2) 46 (1992), 239-249), L. Pyber proved the to date best general lower bounds for the number of conjugacy classes of a finite group in terms of the order of the group. In this paper we strengthen the main results in Pyber's paper.

math.GR↗

arXiv2007

A lower bound for the number of conjugacy classes of finite groups

In 2000, L. Héthelyi and B. Külshammer proved that if $p$ is a prime number dividing the order of a finite solvable group $G$, then $G$ has at least $2\sqrt{p-1}$ conjugacy classes. In this paper we show that if $p$ is large, the result remains true for arbitrary finite groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2007

Counting characters in linear group actions

Let $G$ be a finite group and $V$ be a finite $G$--module. We present upper bounds for the cardinalities of certain subsets of $\Irr(GV)$, such as the set of those $χ\in\Irr(GV)$ such that, for a fixed $v\in V$, the restriction of $χ$ to $ $ is not a multiple of the regular character of $ $. These results might be useful in attacking the non--coprime $k(GV)$--problem.

math.RT↗

arXiv2005

Fixed conjugacy classes of normal subgroups and the k(GV)-problem

We establish several new bounds for the number of conjugacy classes of a finite group, all of which involve the maximal number c of conjugacy classes of a normal subgroup fixed by some element of a suitable subset of the group. To apply these formulas effectively, the parameter c, which in general is hard to control, is studied in some important situations. These results are then used to provide a new, shorter proof of the most difficult case of the well-known k(GV)-problem, which occurs for p=5 and V induced from the natural module of a 5-complement of GL(2,5). We also show how, for large p, the new results reduce the k(GV)-problem to the primitive case, thereby improving previous work on this. Furthermore, we discuss how they can be used in tackling the imprimitive case of the as of yet unsolved noncoprime k(GV)-problem.

math.GR↗