Finite group actions and asymptotic expansion of \(e^{P(z)}\) (Q1276302)

The main result of the paper is an asymptotics for the number of \(G\) actions on \(S_n\), where \(G\) is a fixed finite group, \(S_n\) is the symmetric group, and \(n\) goes to infinity. A special case was solved by \textit{S. Chowla, I. N. Herstein} and \textit{W. K. Moore} in [Canadian J. Math. 3, 328-334 (1951; Zbl 0043.25904)], where they investigate the size of \(| \Hom(C_2,S_n)| \). This work is based on the exponential principle [see \textit{A. Dress} and \textit{T. Müller}, Adv. Math. 129, No. 2, 188-221 (1997)], which expresses the exponential generating function of the sequence \(| \operatorname{Hom}(G,S_n)| \) by \(e^{P(z)}\), where \(P(z)\) is a polynomial depending on \(s_G(d)\), the number of subgroups of \(G\) having index \(d\). To derive the asymptotic behaviour for this type of expansion is rather cumbersome, nevertheless the author manages to tackle this not only in the needed case, but also under a more general setting. This pays off since the method yields the asymptotic behaviour for Hermite and Laguerre polynomials, an ``asymptotic stability'' property for finite groups and the calculation of the subgroup growth rate for certain virtually free groups. The paper is very carefully written, and well balanced.