scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1254504
A well-known theorem of Birch, Burns, Oates-Macdonald and Neumann states that if \(G\) is a permutation group on a set \(\Omega\) with no finite orbits, and \(\Gamma\), \(\Delta\) are finite subsets of \(\Omega\), then there is \(g\in G\) with \(\Gamma^g\cap\Delta=\emptyset\). This papers surveys quantitative versions of this theorem. If \(\Gamma\) is a finite subset of \(\Omega\), then the movement \(\text{move}(\Gamma)\) is defined to be \(\max\{|\Gamma^g\setminus\Gamma|:g\in G\}\), and \(\Gamma\) is said to have restricted movement if \(\text{move}(\Gamma)<|\Gamma|\). The intuition is that a set of restricted movement should be close to a \(G\)-invariant set, and the results quoted include one of P. M. Neumann, that if \(\text{move}(\Gamma)=m<|\Gamma|\), then there is \(G\)-invariant \(\Sigma\subseteq\Omega\) such that \(|\Gamma\triangle\Sigma|\leq 2m-1\). The notion of restricted movement can also be defined for infinite \(\Gamma\), and the author describes several results in this setting, typically with \(G\) intransitive on \(\Omega\). There are also classification results where bounds are attained. Section 6 of the paper considers the case when for some positive integer \(m\), every subset \(\Gamma\) of \(\Omega\) satisfies \(\text{move}(\Gamma)\leq m\). One result of the author here is that if \(G\) has no fixed points, then \(|\Omega|\leq 5m-2\). In Section 7, connections with the small squaring property \(SS(k)\) are considered. The group \(G\) has \(SS(k)\) if for every \(k\)-element subset \(K\) of \(G\), \(|\{ab:a,b\in K\}|<k^2\). Using the separation theorem above, Neumann has shown that if \(G\) satisfies \(SS(k)\) for some \(k\geq 2\) then \(G\) is finite-by-abelian-by-finite, and more detailed extensions of this are considered. The paper concludes with some probabilistic results on movement and separation, and combinatorial applications. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0899.00027].
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