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For prime , a transitive subgroup of containing a transposition is all of
Statement
Let be prime and let act transitively on . If contains a transposition, then .
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A prime , a transitive subgroup , and a transposition .
A transitive action is one with a single orbit (Left group actions, transitive actions, and faithful actions).
Orbit-stabilizer identifies the orbit of one point with the left cosets of its stabilizer, and in the finite case gives (Orbit-stabiliser: , , is a well-defined bijection, Orbit-stabiliser cardinality: whenever either side is finite, and for finite ).
If a prime divides the order of a finite group, the group contains an element of that prime order (Cauchy's theorem: if a prime divides , then has an element of order ).
The order of a permutation is the least common multiple of its nontrivial cycle lengths (The order of a permutation is the least positive common multiple of its nontrivial cycle lengths, with value for the identity).
The adjacent transpositions generate the full symmetric group on letters (The adjacent transpositions generate ).
Conjugation relabels cycle entries (Conjugating a cycle relabels each entry: ).
Proof
Because the action of on is transitive, the orbit of any point has size . Hence [L1] gives . By [L2], the group contains an element of order .
By [L3], a permutation of order in must be a -cycle: every nontrivial cycle length divides , so each is or , and there must be one nontrivial cycle. Conjugating inside , we may relabel so that
Write the given transposition as with , and put , choosing . For each , so contains every transposition of the form , with indices read modulo . Because is prime, is invertible modulo , so the sequence lists all symbols exactly once modulo . Therefore the transpositions joining consecutive terms in that order all lie in .
Let be the relabelling permutation carrying to modulo . By step 2.1 and [L5], the conjugates for are exactly the transpositions joining consecutive terms in the ordering of step 2.1, so they lie in . Since [L4] says the standard adjacent transpositions generate , their conjugates also generate . Hence contains a generating set of , so .
Depends on
- Left group actions, transitive actions, and faithful actions
- Orbit-stabiliser: $G/G_x\to G\cdot x$, $gG_x\mapsto g\cdot x$, is a well-defined bijection
- Orbit-stabiliser cardinality: $|G\cdot x|=[G:G_x]$ whenever either side is finite, and $|G|=|G_x|\,|G\cdot x|$ for finite $G$
- Cauchy's theorem: if a prime $p$ divides $|G|$, then $G$ has an element of order $p$
- The order of a permutation is the least positive common multiple of its nontrivial cycle lengths, with value $1$ for the identity
- The adjacent transpositions $(1\,2),(2\,3),\ldots,(n-1\,n)$ generate $S_n$
- Conjugating a cycle relabels each entry: $g(a_1\,\ldots\,a_k)g^{-1}=(g(a_1)\,\ldots\,g(a_k))$
Used by
Nothing in the library uses this result yet.
Dependency tree · two levels
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Sources
- Transitive subgroup of prime degree containing a transposition (standard reference, not scraped)
- P. J. Cameron, Permutation Groups, prime-degree actions (standard reference, not scraped)