Computing Sylow subgroups of permutation groups using homomorphic images of centralizers (Q1192227)

Finding a \(p\)-Sylow subgroup is a basic task for any program system for the investigation of a permutation group given by some set of generators. The second author has designed algorithms for it as early as 1971. The authors now present a new approach, based on the observation that a \(p\)- Sylow subgroup \(S\) will be contained in the centralizer of an element of order \(p\) in the centre of \(S\), and that the orbits of such an element allow to reduce computation to homomorphic images. A remaining difficulty is to find an element of order \(p\) that is central in a Sylow subgroup. This part involves random methods. The authors provide a clear description of the algorithms and their mathematical background and also give careful and extensive experimental evidence of the performance of the new method (in some variations of detail), showing the superiority of it in many, in particular in some time-critical cases compared to earlier methods used by them in the context of the Cayley-System.