Primitive permutation groups of unitary type with a regular subgroup. (Q2471457)

This paper is a part of the author's project to complete the classification of all primitive permutation groups having a regular subgroup. Note that such a classification leads to a complete list of primitive graphs which are Cayley graphs. The main result is Theorem 1: Let \((G,\Omega)\) be a primitive permutation group with socle \(T\) isomorphic to the unitary group \(U_n(q)\), \(n\geq 3\), with \(\Omega\) the set of non-isotropic \(1\)-spaces of the natural module for \(T\). Then \(G\) has no regular subgroup. By this result and the author's paper [J. Algebra 310, No. 2, 569-618 (2007; Zbl 1122.20002)] it follows that the primitive groups \((G,\Omega)\) with socle \(T\) isomorphic to \(U_n(q)\) having a regular subgroup \(X\) can be classified, see Theorem 2. The examples of Theorem 2 and some other previous results from the author's habilitation thesis [Factorizations of groups and permutation groups, Habilitationsschrift, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle (2004)] about groups with other socles are also presented in the paper. Of course, the classification of finite simple groups and the work of Liebeck, Praeger and Saxl on the maximal factorizations of almost simple groups is used extensively.