Random Generation of Simple Groups by Two Conjugate Elements

DOI10.1112/S002460939700338XMaRDI QIDQ4399264zbMATH OpenWikidataFDO

Authors Aner Shalev

Publication date 22 November 1998

Published in Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1112/S002460939700338X

zbMATH Keywords

finite simple groupsgeneration of simple groupsmaximal subgroupsrandom generation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Finite simple groups and their classification (20D05) Subgroup theorems; subgroup growth (20E07) Maximal subgroups (20E28) Generators, relations, and presentations of groups (20F05) Probabilistic methods in group theory (20P05)

Review text

Let \(G\) denote a finite simple group. Let \(P_2(G)\) denote the probability that \(2\) randomly chosen elements of \(G\) generate \(G\). A consequence of the classification of finite simple groups is that \(P_2(G)>0\) for all such \(G\). A recent result due to a combination of the results of \textit{J. D. Dixon} [Math. Z. 110, 199-205 (1969; Zbl 0176.29901)], \textit{W. M. Kantor, A. Lubotzky} [Geom. Dedicata 36, No. 1, 67-87 (1990; Zbl 0718.20011)]\ and \textit{M. W. Liebeck, A. Shalev} [ibid. 56, No. 1, 103-113 (1995; Zbl 0836.20068)]\ shows that \(P_2(G)\to 1\) as \(| G|\to\infty\). In this note, the author considers a variation of the problem suggested by G. Robinson. Let \(G\) be a finite simple group. Let \(P_c(G)\) denote the probability that if \(x\) and \(y\) are chosen randomly, then \(G=\langle x,y\rangle\). Note that \(P_c(G)\leq P_2(G)\). The author shows that for many families of simple groups, \(P_c(G)\to 1\) as \(| G|\to\infty\). The main idea of the proof is just to compute the probability that \(x\) and \(x^y\) are contained in a maximal subgroup in a given conjugacy class. There are two key ingredients in the proof. The first is to observe that often, one can show that most elements cannot be contained in many of the classes of maximal subgroups. The second is to use fixed point ratios of elements in permutation groups. We note that in subsequent work of the author and others, the same result has been shown for all finite simple groups (using the classification of finite simple groups). See \textit{R. Guralnick, M. Liebeck, J. Saxl} and \textit{A. Shalev} [Random generation of finite simple groups, preprint].

Recommendations

• Random generation of finite simple groups
• Probabilistic generation of finite simple groups. II.
• The probability of generating a finite simple group
• Random generation of finite simple groups by p-regular or p-singular elements

Cited in

(18)

• Random generation of finite simple groups
• A theorem on random matrices and some applications
• Almost independence and irreducibility in simple finite and algebraic groups
• Probabilistic generation of finite simple groups
• The probability of generating a finite simple group
• Classical groups, probabilistic methods, and the (2,3)-generation problem
• The probability of generating a finite classical group
• Random generation with cycle type restrictions
• The probability of generating a finite soluble group.
• RANDOM (r, s)-GENERATION OF FINITE CLASSICAL GROUPS
• On the Random Generation of Finite Simple Classical Groups
• Simple groups, permutation groups, and probability
• Probabilistic Generation of Wreath Products of Non-abelian Finite Simple Groups
• Zero-one generation laws for finite simple groups
• Random generation of finite simple groups by p-regular or p-singular elements
• Dixon's asymptotic without the classification of finite simple groups
• Mixing and generation in simple groups.
• Probabilistic generation of finite simple groups. II.

This page was built for publication: Random Generation of Simple Groups by Two Conjugate Elements

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q4399264)