Covering the group<i>psl_n</i>{<i>F</i>) by the square of a conjugacy class (Q4236933)

Let \(G\) be a group and let \(C_1\) and \(C_2\) be conjugacy classes in \(G\). We say that the product \(C_1C_2\) covers \(G\) if each element of \(G\) is expressible as the product of an element of \(C_1\) and an element of \(C_2\), that is, if \(C_1C_2=G\). In particular, taking \(C_1=C_2=C\), we say that \(C^2\) covers \(G\) if \(C^2=G\). Now J. G. Thompson has conjectured that if \(G\) is a finite non-abelian simple group, there is some conjugacy class \(C\) in \(G\) with \(C^2=G\). It is elementary to see that the truth of Thompson's conjecture implies that each element of \(G\) is expressible as a commutator. This conjecture has been extended to simple groups of Lie type over infinite fields. Recent work of Ellers and Gordeev shows that Thompson's conjecture is true if the underlying field is sufficiently large. The author of the present paper considers the case when \(G\) is the projective special linear group \(\text{PSL}_n(F)\) of degree \(n\geq 2\) over a field \(F\). This group is simple unless \(n=2\) and \(| F|=2\) or \(| F|=3\). He shows that, when the group is simple, there is a class \(C\) with \(C^2=G\) (a result previously obtained by the author under the supposition that \(| F|\geq 4\)). Moreover, when \(F\) is algebraically closed, he shows that \(G=C_1C_2\) if and only if \(C_1\) is cyclic and \(C_2=C_1^{-1}\), where \(C_1^{-1}\) is the conjugacy class containing the inverse of each element of \(C_1\). (A conjugacy class in \(G\) is cyclic if its inverse image in \(\text{SL}_n(F)\) consists of elements that act as cyclic linear transformations on the underlying \(n\)-dimensional vector space over \(F\).) He also shows that this result need not be true if the field \(F\) is finite.