Subgroups of Maximal Rank in Finite Exceptional Groups of Lie Type (Q4024972)

Consider the problem of classification of maximal subgroups of finite exceptional groups \(X\) of Lie type. The present paper gives a complete classification of those maximal subgroups which are, in a suitable sense, `subgroups of maximal rank'. This result is used by \textit{A. M. Cohen} and the authors [ibid. 64, No. 1, 21-48 (1992; Zbl 0706.20037)] in their classification of all maximal subgroups of \(X\) which are local, and by the first and the third author [Geom. Dedicata 35, No. 1, 353-387 (1990; Zbl 0721.20030)] to prove their `reduction theorem', that any maximal subgroup of \(X\) is either known or almost simple. The proof divides naturally into three parts: first, the semi-simple subgroups, second, the normalizers of maximal tori (both classified without using the classification theorem for finite simple groups), and third, the proof of maximality (which uses the classification theorem heavily). \{Note: The authors rightly point out that the reviewer omitted the group \(SU_ 3(2).2\) from his list of maximal subgroups of \(^ 2 F_ 4(2)\). They then unfortunately introduce a new error of their own: in fact \(^ 2 F_ 4(2)'\) has two classes of subgroups \(Sp_ 4(2).2\), not one as they claim in Table 5.1. This means that the `four cases' in their main Theorem, and Lemma 2.5, are actually five. A much stronger version of Lemma 4.2 is proved by \textit{P. B. Kleidman} and the reviewer [J. Algebra 157, No. 2, 316-330 (1992)], who determine exactly when a sporadic group is contained in an exceptional group of Lie type\}.