COUNTING SUBGROUPS OF THE HECKE GROUPS (Q4039404)

For each prime \(p\) the Hecke group \(H_ p\) is the discrete subgroup of \(\text{PSL}_ 2(\mathbb{R})\) generated by the transformations \(a: z'=-1/z\) and \(t_ p: z'=z+h_ p\) where \(h_ p=2\cos (\pi/p)\). These groups were introduced by Hecke in studying certain Dirichlet series. Group theoretically each \(H_ p=\mathbb{Z}_ 2*\mathbb{Z}_ p\) while further each \(H_ p\) is Fuchsian and a fundamental domain is given by \[ D_ p=\{z=x+iy;\;-h_ p/2 \leq x \leq h_ p/2,\;y > 0,\;| x+iy| > 1\}. \] The Hecke groups are the natural generalization of the classical modular group \(M=\text{PSL}_ 2(\mathbb{Z})\) which in this context is \(H_ 3\). In the present work we examine several results on the subgroup structure of the Hecke groups in general. In particular, using permutation representations we derive closed form formulas for the number of subgroups of \(H_ p\) for indices \(2p\) or less. The basic result is the following. Theorem 1. Let \(G=H_ p\) and let \(N_ k(G)\) denote the number of subgroups of index \(k\) in \(G\) then: (1) \(N_ 2(G)=1\); (2) \(N_ k(G)=0\) if \(2 < k < p\); (3) \(N_ p(G)=d_ 2(p)\); and \[ N_{p+n}(G)=\Bigl({p+n\over n}\Bigr)\Bigl({p-1\over n-1}\Bigr)d_ 2(p-n) \text{ for }1\leq n\leq p-1\tag{4} \] \[ N_{2p}(G)=2+d_ 2(2p- 2)+\sum^ p_{k=2}\sum^{p-1}_{j=k-1}\sum^ j_{l=k-1}(-1)^{j- 1}\Bigl({p-k\over j-k+1}\Bigr) d_ 2(p-2-j)d_ 2(l)\tag{5} \] where \(d_ 2(m)=\) number of elements of order dividing 2 in \(S_ m\). As a consequence of this result we obtain the striking and surprising result that the number of subgroups of index \(2p-1\) in the \(H_ p\) is exactly \(2p-1\) for all odd primes \(p\). \{The number of subgroups of a given index is known recursively from a technique of I. M. S. Dey, however in practice for general \(H_ p\) this formula is extremely difficult to compute with.\} The permutation representation methods we employ should in principle generalize to all indices but the corresponding formulas become increasingly complex. In addition we prove several results on the power subgroups \((H_ p)^ n\) which for \(p > 3\) are in distinction to the case of the modular group. These results were motivated by certain computations done on the Hecke groups by Morris Newman and Mike Grady.