Note on primitive permutation groups and a diophantine equation

Note on primitive permutation groups and a diophantine equation

If a group G has a maximal subgroup H, tl-.en G acts by right multiplication on the set fi of right cosets of H in G as a primitive, but not necessarily faithful, permutation group. As part of the search for new finite simple groups it is of interest to determine all possible groups G, and in particular all simple groups, which contain a given group H as a maximal subgroup. This problem is very...

Distinguishing Primitive Permutation Groups

Let G be a permutation group acting on a set V . A partition π of V is distinguishing if the only element of G that fixes each cell of π is the identity. The distinguishing number of G is the minimum number of cells in a distinguishing partition. We prove that if G is a primitive permutation group and |V | ≥ 336, its distinguishing number is two.

On the Orders of Primitive Permutation Groups

The problem of bounding the order of a permutation group G in terms of its degree n was one of the central problems of 19th century group theory (see [4]). It is closely related to the 1860 Grand Prix problem of the Paris Academy, but its history goes in fact much further back (see e.g. [3], [1] and [10]). The heart of the problem is of course the case where G is a primitive group. The best res...

Factorizations of Primitive Permutation Groups

On Orbital Partitions and Exceptionality of Primitive Permutation Groups

Let G and X be transitive permutation groups on a set Ω such that G is a normal subgroup of X. The overgroup X induces a natural action on the set Orbl(G,Ω) of non-trivial orbitals of G on Ω. In the study of Galois groups of exceptional covers of curves, one is led to characterizing the triples (G,X,Ω) where X fixes no elements of Orbl(G,Ω); such triples are called exceptional. In the study of ...