Rank 4 groups with a 3-transitive suborbit (Q1066993)

The rank of a transitive permutation group is defined to be the number of orbits of the stabilizer of a point. This paper is concerned with a rank 4 permutation group G acting on a set \(\Omega\) such that one of the orbits, \(\Delta\) (x), of \(G_ x\) \((=\) the stabilizer of x) has length \(k\geq 3\) and on which \(G_ x\) is 3-transitive. A certain graph \(\Gamma\), whose vertices are the elements of \(\Omega\), is associated with the suborbit \(\Delta\) (x). It is further assumed that \(\Gamma\) is connected and has no quadrangles. The two main theorems contain hypotheses on the 2-transitive representations of an edge stabilizer on two sets of vertices adjacent to that edge. The respective conclusions give descriptive information about such groups. Further, the connection between one of the two theorems and the point-line incidence graphs of Desarguesian projective planes is investigated.