The maximal subgroups of the exceptional groups \(F_4(q)\), \(E_6(q)\) and \(^2\!E_6(q)\) and related almost simple groups (Q6095144)

In this seminal paper, the author exhibits a complete list of all maximal subgroups of the finite simple groups of type \(F_{4}\), \(E_{6}\) and \(^{2}\!E_{6}\) over all finite fields. Prior to this paper, a complete answer was only known for \(F_{4}(2)\) [\textit{S. P. Norton} and \textit{R. A. Wilson} Commun. Algebra 17, No. 11, 2809--2824 (1989; Zbl 0692.20010)] and \(E_{6}(2)\) [\textit{P. B. Kleidman} and \textit{R. A. Wilson} Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 60, No. 2, 266--294 (1990; Zbl 0715.20008)]. The main results are summarized in several tables (where the ``subfield groups'' are omitted) to which the reviewer refers the interested reader. Let \(q\) be a power of the prime \(p\). The main novelty are the following. In Table 2, two new maximal subgroups of \(E_{6}(q)\) appear: \[ \mathrm{PSL}_{2}(13) \leq E_{6}(p) \quad\text{for } p \equiv 1,2,4 \mod 7, \quad p \equiv \pm 1,\pm 3, \pm 4 \mod 13 \] and \(\mathrm{PSL}_{2}(19)\) in \(E_{6}(4)\). In Table 3, two new maximal subgroups of \(^{2}\!E_{6}(q)\) appear, namely \(\Omega_{7}(3)\) is maximal in \(^{2}\! E_{6}(2)\) and \(\mathrm{PSL}_{2}(13)\) is maximal in \(^{2}\!E_{6}(p)\) for \(p \equiv 2,5,6 \mod 7\), \(p \equiv \pm 1,\pm 3, \pm 4 \mod 13\). In the process of determining the maximal subgroups of \(F_{4}(q)\) for \(q\) even, a new maximal subgroup of the large Ree groups was found by the author. More precisely, there are exactly three conjugacy classes of maximal subgroups isomorphic to \(\mathrm{PGL}_{2}(13)\) in \(^{2}\!F_{4}(8)\), permuted transitively by the field automorphism (this subgroup was omitted in [\textit{G. Malle}, J. Algebra 139, No. 1, 52--69 (1991; Zbl 0725.20014)]). This beautiful paper is a valuable source of new information about the structure of simple groups of exceptional type (see also the author's book [Maximal \(\mathrm{PSL}_2\) Subgroups of exceptional groups of Lie type. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2022; Zbl 1525.20014)]). As mentioned by the author, the techniques used in this paper are a mixture of algebraic groups, representation theory, computational algebra, and use of the trilinear form on the 27-dimensional minimal module for \(E_{6}\).