A₁-type subgroups containing regular unipotent elements

Abstract: Let

G

be a simple exceptional algebraic group of adjoint type over an algebraically closed field of characteristic

p > 0

and let

X = {m P S L}_{2} (p)

be a subgroup of

G

containing a regular unipotent element

x

of

G

. By a theorem of Testerman,

x

is contained in a connected subgroup of

G

of type

A_{1}

. In this paper we prove that with two exceptions,

X

itself is contained in such a subgroup (the exceptions arise when

(G, p) = (E_{6}, 13)

or

(E_{7}, 19)

). This extends earlier work of Seitz and Testerman, who established the containment under some additional conditions on

p

and the embedding of

X

in

G

. We discuss applications of our main result to the study of the subgroup structure of finite groups of Lie type.

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