1 Tuesday, 3/25/2014

1.1 Conjugacy and the Class Equation

Conjugacy in S
n
Recall that every in S
n
is a product of disjoint cycles,
and this decomposition is unique (up to order). We say that S
n
have
the same cycle type, i.e =
1

2
...
m
and =
1

2
....
m
, where length

i
=
i
Lemma 1. Let = (i
1
, i
2
, ...i
k
) be a k-cycle S
n
and S
n
. Then
1
=
((i
1
)(i
2
)...(i
k
))
Proof. a) r = (i
j
) for any j, k1 j k

1
(r) = i
j
....

1
(r) = (
1
(r) = r b)
1
((i
j
)) = ((i
j
) = (i
j+1
)
Theorem 1. 2 elements of S
n
are conjugate they have the same cycle
type.
Proof. Let , conjugate. The conjugate of the product is the product of
the conjugate. Mainly =
1

2
...
m
and =
1
=
1

2
...
m

1
=
(
1

1
)(
2

1
)...(
m

1
) which has the same cycle length.
We prove the converse by letting S
n
such that take the elements in
i
to
corresponding elements in
i
, 1 i n. Then
i
=
i

1
by lemma above.
=
1
Example in S
9
= (123)(45)(6789)
= (462)(13)(9875) Let
=

123456789
462139875

Nothing unique about this sigma. However they have unique properties the
many dierent possibilities of For example
gag
1
= hah
1
(g
1
h) Z(a), Z(a) centralizer of a.
Recall: If G a group, conjugacy is an equivalence relation on G; a G, the
equiv class containing
a = {gag
1
: g G} = C(a)
the conjugacy class of a. So G = disjoint union of all the conjugacy classes of
elements of G.
Examples Conjugacy Classes
(1) C(id) = {id}
(2) G abelian gag
1
= aa, g G c(a) = {a}
(3)Since 1a1
1
= a, a C(a)
(4)If a Z(G), gag
1
= ag G C(a) = {a} (5) In S
n
, C()
has same cycle type as
1
S
5
:
cycle types #
1
(.....) 24
(....) 30
(...) 20
(..) 10
(...)(..) 20
(..)(..) 15
Recall a G, Z(a) = {g G : gag
1
= a}
(1) Z(a) G (usually not )
(2) a Z(a) = < a >< Z(a)
(3) Z(G) Z(a) a G
(4) G abelian = Z(a) = G
The order of a centralizer must divide the order of the group.
Examples Take = (12) S
4
What is Z()?
We know
1
= ((1)(2)).
Z() = ((1)(2)) = (12) = (1) = 1&(2) = 2OR(1) = 2&(2) =
1
Thus
= {1, (34), (12), (12)(34)}

= Z
2
Z
2
Theorem 2. Let G be a nite group , a G. Then
|C(a)| =
|G|
|Z(a)|
Corollary 1. |C(a)| divides |G| (Since Z(a) < G, |Z(a)| divides |G|
Proof. Let
G
Z(a)
= {left cosets of Z(a) in G}.
Then |
G
Z(a)
| =
|G|
|Z(a)|
Dene f C(a)
G
Z(a)
by gag
1
gZ(a)
gag
1
= hah
1
(g
1
h)a(g
1
h)
1
= a g
1
h Z(a) gZ(a) = hZ(a)
= shows f is well dened and shows f is 1-1
f is a bijection and thus |C(a)| = |
G
Z(a)
| =
|G|
|Z(a)|
2 Tuesday, 3/25/2014 (II)
How many abelian groups of order 3600 are there (up to

=) First
step is to nd the prime factorization of 3600. 3600 = 2
4
3
2
5
2
Focus on one
prime at a time. The number of groups is equal to the partition of the power
of the prime i.e.
Z
16
Z
8
Z
2
Z
4
Z
4
Z
4
Z
2
Z
2
Z
2
Z
2
Z
2
Z
2
Z
9
Z
3
Z
3
Z
25
Z
5
Z
5
Total number of

= classes can be found by counting 5 2 2 = 20
2
Theorem 3 One way of checking the second requirement, mainly that HK =
{1} is by seeing if H,K cyclic. If H =< a >; K =< b >; (| < a > |, | < b > |) = 1
then H K = {1} as every element in H must have order that divides p
H
and
every element in K must have order that divide p
K
thus since (p
H
, p
K
) = 1,
H K = {1}
Normal subgroup determination The center of a group Z(G) is always a
normal subgroup of G, i.e Z(G) G The kernel of a homomorphism is a always
a normal subgroup of G. ker G
Lets say a is an element in G with order n. Then < a >

= Z
n
and < a >

=<
a
k
> (k, n) = 1 Similarly since < a >

= Z
n
, [k] Z
n
. k has order
n
(n,k)
.
Hence k has order n (k, n) = 1
Let a G. We have two subsets of G
C(a) = {gag
1
: g G} G
Z(a) = {g G : gag
1
= a} G
Theorem 8 shows that |C(a)||Z(a)| = |G|, intriguing as C(a) is not even a
subgroup of G, merely a subset
Example: Conjugacy in S
n
vs. conjugacy in A
n
The conjugacy classes
of S
n
are in the table in Section 3. What cycles of S
n
exist in A
n
? We, the
ve-cycles, the three-cycles, and the product of two disjoint two-cycles.
Focusing on the three cycles: e.g. = (123). Note that all 3-cycles are congru-
ent in S
5
by Theorem 7. There are 20 3-cycles as shown in the table in Section
3. Thus
|C()| = 20
But by Theorem 8:
|Z()| =
|S
n
|
|C()|
= 6
We attempt to nd elements that commute with (123), and we nd two obvious
elements, {1,(123)} and since Z is a subgroup, we also include {(132)}. (45)
also obviously commutes with (123) thus by denition of group
Z() {1, (123), (132), (45), (123)(45), (132)(45)}
We see that |Z()| = 6, and contains elements of order 3 and order 2, we have
Z()

= Z
6
But what of the centralizer in A
n
? Well we have this obvious fact mainly that
a H < G = Z
H
(a) = Z
G
(a) H
This follows from the fact that the elements that commute with a H is simply
the elements that commute with a G that also happen to lie in H.
So applying to A
5
Z
A
5
() = Z() A
5
= {1, (123), (132)}
3
We now know that the order of the centralizer of A
5
is 3! Using Theorem 8
again, we know that
|C
A
5
() =
|A
5
|
|Z
A
5
()|
= 20 = |C
S
5
()|
Thus all 3-cycles are conjugate in A
5
!
Focus now on the 5-cycles, which are all conjugation in S
5
and whose set has
24 elements. We have that the order of the centralizer is as follows:
Z() =
|S
5
|
|C()|
= 5
Note that since < > is always a subgroup of Z(), and since has order 5,
in this case Z() =< >.
Are all 5-cycles conjugate in A
5
?
Z
A
5
() = Z() A
5
=< > A
5
=
Thus
|C
A
5
() =
|A
5
|
Z
A
5
()
= 12
Note that not all 5-cycles are congruent in A
5
!! To demonstrate we have =
(12345) and = (21345). Note that = (12)(12)
1
. But =
1
, A
5
So (12) must commute with and be in A
5
but (12) is not in A
5
as A
5
and (12) / A
5
cycle types #
id 1
(.....) 12
(....) 12
(...) 20
(..)(..) 15
Theorem 3. A
5
is a simple group, i.e the only subgroups of A
5
are {1} and G.
Proof. Suppose H G, 1 < |H| < 60. If a H then C(a) H. H is a
disjoint union of conjugacy lases. Thus H = 1 + some sum of distinct elements.
Howerver no value of 1+{12,12,20,15} divides 60. Thus H cant be a normal
subgroup.
4