Hopf-Galois structures on extensions of degree \(p^2q\) and skew braces of order \(p^2q\): the cyclic Sylow \(p\)-subgroup case (Q2178550)

Let \(p\) and \(q\) be distinct primes with \(p>2\). The authors study regular subgroups in the holomorph \(\mathrm{Hol}(G)\) of groups \(G\) of order \(p^2q\). (Note: Groups of order \(p^2q\) have been classified by [\textit{O. Hölder}, Math. Ann. 43, 301--412 (1893; JFM 25.0201.02)]. They showed that any such regular subgroups must have isomorphic Sylow \(p\)-subgroups as \(G\). Moreover, when \(\Gamma\) is a group of order \(p^2q\) having isomorphic and cyclic Sylow \(p\)-subgroups as \(G\), they determined the number of (conjugacy classes of) regular subgroups in \(\mathrm{Hol}(G)\) which are isomorphic to \(\Gamma\). It was done by considering these so-called \textit{gamma functions} \(\gamma : G\rightarrow \mathrm{Aut}(G)\), which are defined by the functional equation \[ \gamma(g^{\gamma(h)}h ) = \gamma(g)\gamma(h)\text{ for all }g,h\in G, \] and are in one-to-one correspondence with regular subgroups of \(\mathrm{Hol}(G)\). The authors developed some methods to deal with these gamma functions. The motivation comes from the fact that regular subgroups in \(\mathrm{Hol}(G)\) which are isomorphic to \(\Gamma\) correspond to the following objects: 1. Hopf-Galois structures of type \(G\) on a Galois extension of fields with Galois group \(\Gamma\); 2. Isomorphism classes of skew braces with additive group isomorphic to \(G\) and circle group isomorphic to \(\Gamma\). (Note: The correspondences here are not bijective in general.) Thus, when \(\Gamma\) and \(G\) are groups of order \(p^2q\) having non-isomorphic Sylow \(p\)-subgroups, such Hopf-Galois structures or skew braces do not exist. When \(\Gamma\) and \(G\) are groups of order \(p^2q\) having isomorphic and cyclic Sylow \(p\)-subgroups, the authors were able to give exact counts of these objects (see Theorems 1.3 and 1.4 of the paper). Remark: As the authors noted in Subsection 1.4, skew braces of order \(p^2q\), with no restriction on the Sylow \(p\)-subgroups, were independently classified by \textit{E. Acri} and \textit{M. Bonatto} [``Skew braces of size \(p^2q\). I: Abelian type'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2004.04291}; ``Skew braces of size \(p^2q\). II: Non-abelian type'', J. Algebra Appl. (to appear)].