Algebraic groups over finite fields: connections between subgroups and isogenies (Q6082369)

Let \(G\) be a linear algebraic group defined over a finite field \(\mathbb{F}_q\). The author presents several connections between the isogenies of \(G\) and the finite groups of rational points \((G(\mathbb{F}_{q^n}))_{n\geq 1}\). He shows that an isogeny \(\phi:G'\to G\) over \(\mathbb{F}_q\) gives rise to a subgroup of fixed index in \(G(\mathbb{F}_{q^n})\) for infinitely many \(n\). Conversely, he shows that if \(G\) is reductive, the existence of a subgroup \(H_n\) of fixed index \(k\) for infinitely many \(n\) implies the existence of an isogeny of order \(k\). In particular, he shows that the infinite sequence \(H_n\) is covered by a finite number of isogenies. This result applies to classical groups \(\mathrm{GL}_m\), \(\mathrm{SL}_m\), \(\mathrm{SO}_m\), \(\mathrm{SU}_m\), \(\mathrm{Sp}_{2m}\) and can be extended to non-reductive groups if \(k\) is prime to the characteristic. As a special case, if \(G\) is simply connected, the minimal indices of proper subgroups of \(G(\mathbb{F}_{q^n})\) diverge to infinity. Similar results are investigated regarding the sequence \((G(\mathbb{F}_{p}))_p\) by varying the characteristic \(p\).