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Algebra Difficulty 7.8 National olympiad, round 2 Find the answer

Does there exist a finite group GG with a normal subgroup HH such that Aut H>Aut G|\text{Aut } H|>|\text{Aut } G|?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Yes. Let HH be the commutative group H=F23H=\mathbb{F}_{2}^{3}, where F2Z/2Z\mathbb{F}_{2} \cong \mathbb{Z} / 2 \mathbb{Z} is the field with two elements. The group of automorphisms of HH is the general linear group GL3F2\mathrm{GL}_{3} \mathbb{F}_{2}; it has (81)(82)(84)=764=168(8-1) \cdot(8-2) \cdot(8-4)=7 \cdot 6 \cdot 4=168 elements. One of them is the shift operator ϕ:(x1,x2,x3)(x2,x3,x1)\phi:\left(x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3}\right) \mapsto\left(x_{2}, x_{3}, x_{1}\right). Now let T={a0,a1,a2}T=\left\{a^{0}, a^{1}, a^{2}\right\} be a group of order 3 (written multiplicatively); it acts on HH by τ(a)=ϕ\tau(a)=\phi. Let GG be the semidirect product G=HτTG=H \rtimes_{\tau} T. In other words, GG is the group of 24 elements G={bai:bH,i(Z/3Z)},ab=ϕ(b)aG=\left\{b a^{i}: \quad b \in H, i \in(\mathbb{Z} / 3 \mathbb{Z})\right\}, \quad a b=\phi(b) a GG has one element ee of order 1 and seven elements b,bH,beb, b \in H, b \neq e of order 2 If g=bag=b a, we find that g2=baba=bϕ(b)a2eg^{2}=b a b a=b \phi(b) a^{2} \neq e, and that g3=bϕ(b)a2ba=bϕ(b)aϕ(b)a2=bϕ(b)ϕ2(b)a3=ψ(b)g^{3}=b \phi(b) a^{2} b a=b \phi(b) a \phi(b) a^{2}=b \phi(b) \phi^{2}(b) a^{3}=\psi(b) where the homomorphism ψ:HH\psi: H \rightarrow H is defined as ψ:(x1,x2,x3)(x1+x2+x3)(1,1,1)\psi:\left(x_{1}, x_{2}, x_{3}\right) \mapsto\left(x_{1}+x_{2}+x_{3}\right)(1,1,1). It is clear that g3=ψ(b)=eg^{3}=\psi(b)=e for 4 elements bHb \in H, while g6=ψ2(b)=eg^{6}=\psi^{2}(b)=e for all bHb \in H. We see that GG has 8 elements of order 3, namely bab a and ba2b a^{2} with bKerψb \in \operatorname{Ker} \psi, and 8 elements of order 6 namely bab a and ba2b a^{2} with bKerψb \notin \operatorname{Ker} \psi. That accounts for orders of all elements of GG. Let b0H\Kerψb_{0} \in H \backslash \operatorname{Ker} \psi be arbitrary; it is easy to see that GG is generated by b0b_{0} and aa. As every automorphism of GG is fully determined by its action on b0b_{0} and aa, it follows that GG has no more than 78=567 \cdot 8=56 automorphisms. Remark. GG and HH can be equivalently presented as subgroups of S6S_{6}, namely as H=(12),(34),(56)H=\langle(12),(34),(56)\rangle and G=(135)(246),(12)G=\langle(135)(246),(12)\rangle

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.