No label defined (Q4946063)

If \(G\) is a permutation group on a set \(\Omega\), \(G\) is said to have bounded movement if the cardinalities \(|\Gamma^g\setminus\Gamma|\) are bounded above for all \(g\in G\) and \(\Gamma\subseteq\Omega\), and the maximum of these cardinalities \(|\Gamma^g\setminus\Gamma|\) is called the movement of \(G\). The authors prove that if \(G\) is a permutation group with finite movement \(m\) and with no fixed points then \(G\) has at most \(2m-s\) orbits, where \(s\) is the number of terms in the binary expansion of \(m\). This sharpens the bound obtained previously by \textit{C. E. Praeger} [J. Algebra 144, No. 2, 436-442 (1991; Zbl 0744.20004)], namely \(2m-1\). The groups attaining this bound were characterized by \textit{J. R. Cho}, \textit{P. S. Kim} and \textit{C. E. Praeger} [J. Algebra 214, No. 2, 625-630 (1999; Zbl 0932.20003)]. This paper generalizes this result in a certain sense, in particular for \(p\)-groups. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0933.00033].