Finite simple groups of Lie type as expanders. (Q638776)

Let \(\varepsilon>0\) be a real number and \(k\in\mathbb N\). A finite \(k\)-regular graph \(X\) with vertex set \(V(X)\) is called an \(\varepsilon\)-expander if, for all sets \(A\) consisting of at most half the vertices of \(X\), we have \(|\partial A|\geq\varepsilon|A|\) where \(\partial A\) is the set of vertices of \(V(X)\setminus A\) that are joined by an edge with a vertex in \(A\). This paper gives the last step of the result, conjectured by \textit{L. Babai, W. M. Kantor} and \textit{A. Lubotzky} [Eur. J. Comb. 10, No. 6, 507-522 (1989; Zbl 0702.05042)] and announced by \textit{M. Kassabov, A. Lubotzky} and \textit{N. Nikolov} [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, No. 16, 6116-6119 (2006; Zbl 1161.20010)], that states: There exist \(k\in\mathbb N\) and \(\varepsilon>0\) such that, for every non-Abelian finite simple group \(G\) with the possible exception of the Suzuki groups \(Sz(q)\), \(G\) has a set \(S\) of \(k\) generators for which \(\text{Cay}(G,S)\) is an \(\varepsilon\)-expander (we say that these groups are uniform expanders). As a matter of fact, this conjecture was proved for alternating groups and for classical groups of unbounded rank by \textit{M. Kassabov} [Invent. Math. 170, No. 2, 327-354 (2007; Zbl 1191.20002); ibid. 170, No. 2, 297-326 (2007; Zbl 1140.20039)]. In the paper under review, the author considers groups of Lie type of bounded rank by proving two results. In the first result, he proves the projective special linear groups \(\text{PSL}_2(l)\) (\(l\) is any prime power) form a family of uniform expanders (Theorem 3.7.). In the second result, he shows that there exists a function \(f\colon\mathbb N\to\mathbb N\) such that every finite simple group of Lie type of rank \(r\), except Suzuki type, is a product of \(f(r)\) copies of \(\text{SL}_2\) or \(\text{PSL}_2\). Recently, \textit{E. Breuillard, B. Green} and \textit{T. Tao} [Groups Geom. Dyn. 5, No. 2, 281-299 (2011; Zbl 1247.20017)], have shown that the Suzuki groups are uniform expanders.