Collapsing permutation groups. (Q5932594)

For a finite algebra \({\mathcal A}=(A,F)\), the unary part of the clone of \({\mathcal A}\) is a transformation monoid on the set \(A\). In the lattice of clones on \(A\), the collection of clones whose unary part is \(M\), forms an interval. It has long been known that if \(| A|\geq 3\) and \(M\) consists of all the constant operations and the identity function, then this interval has only one element. A transformation monoid \(M\) on \(A\) is called collapsing if the only algebra up to term equivalence whose base set is \(A\) and whose unary term operations are exactly the operations in \(M\) is \((A,M)\). A permutation group \(\Gamma\) on \(A\) is called nonregular if some \(\gamma\in\Gamma\setminus\{1\}\) has a fixed point. \(\Gamma\) is quasiprimitive if every nontrivial normal subgroup of \(\Gamma\) acts transitively on \(A\). In the paper, new results about collapsing monoids that are permutation groups are proved. The main theorem of the paper states the following: Let \(\Gamma\) be a nonregular transitive permutation group acting on a finite set \(A\). If for every normal subgroup \(N\) of \(\Gamma\) either \(N\Gamma_a= \Gamma\) or \(N\cap\Gamma_a= \{\text{id}\}\), then \(\Gamma\) is collapsing (\(\Gamma_a\) is a 1-point stabilizer). In the last section of the paper, some examples of collapsing permutation groups which do not satisfy the condition in the main theorem are described. The arguments used to show that these examples are collapsing suggest that a full characterization of collapsing permutation groups requires a study of `geometries' associated to finite groups.