The binary actions of alternating groups

DOI10.5802/CML.101MaRDI QIDQ6889656zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Nick Gill, Pierre Guillot

Publication date 4 December 2025

Published in Confluentes Mathematici (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.5802/CML.101

zbMATH Keywords

alternating groupbinary actionpermutation grouprelational complexity

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Characterization theorems for permutation groups (20B10) Finite automorphism groups of algebraic, geometric, or combinatorial structures (20B25) Simple groups: alternating groups and groups of Lie type (20D06) Conjugacy classes for groups (20E45)

Review text

The relational complexity of a permutation group \(G\) acting on \(\Omega\) is the smallest \(k\ge 2\) such that the orbits of \(G\) on \(\Omega^r\) for all \(r\ge k\) are determined by its orbits on \(\Omega^k\). Actions with relational complexity \(2\) are called binary.\N\NThe paper under review investigates binary actions of \(A_n\), discussing separately the exceptional case \(A_5\) and establishing the main classification for \(n\ge 6\). The authors attach to each conjugacy class \(C\) of elements of prime order a graph \(\Gamma(C)\) whose vertices are the elements of \(C\), with adjacency defined by commutation and the requirement that suitable products remain in \(C\). \N\NCorollary~2.13 links connectivity properties of \(\Gamma(C)\) with constraints on point stabilizers in binary actions.\N\NTheorem~1.2 shows that if \(A_n\) with \(n\ge 6\) acts binary on a set \(\Omega\), then every orbit is trivial or regular. The proof analyzes in detail the components of \(\Gamma(C)\) for involutions and for elements of odd prime order, combining fixity arguments with structural properties of alternating groups.

Cites work

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