Rational rigidity and the sporadic groups (Q1079594)

This paper is concerned with the famous ``inverse problem'' of Galois theory: Which groups occur as Galois groups over a fixed ground field? Results of \textit{J. G. Thompson} [J. Algebra 89, 437--499 (1984; Zbl 0552.12004)] - see also \textit{B. H. Matzat} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 349, 179--220 (1984; Zbl 0555.12005)] - relate this problem to the purely group theoretic notion of ``rigidity''. Based on this result the author now proves that 14 of the 26 sporadic simple groups occur as Galois groups over the rationals. The main ingredients in proving rigidity for each of these 14 groups are complex character tables and the knowledge of their maximal subgroups -- based on the ``Atlas of finite groups'' by \textit{J. H. Conway}, \textit{R. T. Curtis}, \textit{S. P. Norton}, \textit{R. A. Parker}, \textit{R. A. Wilson} (1985; Zbl 0568.20001). For further results on this topic see \textit{G. Hoyden-Siedersleben} and \textit{B. H. Matzat} [J. Algebra 101, 273--286 (1986; Zbl 0598.12006)] and \textit{G. Malle} [Exzeptionelle Gruppen vom Lie-Typ als Galoisgruppen. Univ. Karlsruhe, Fakultät für Mathematik, Diss. 86 S. (1986; Zbl 0732.12006)].