Theory of Finite Simple Groups

This book provides the first representation theoretic and algorithmic approach to the theory of abstract finite simple groups. It presents self-contained proofs of classical and new group order formulas, and a new structure theorem for abstract finite simple groups. This, and the famous Brauer-Fowler theorem, provides the theoretical background for the author's algorithm which constructs all finite simple groups G having a 2-central involution z with a given centralizer CG(z)=H. The methods presented are designed for the construction of matrix representations, permutation representations and character tables of large finite groups. The author constructs all the simple satellites of the known simple groups that are not uniquely determined by a given centralizer H. Uniform existence and uniqueness proofs are given for the modern sporadic simple groups discovered by Janko, Higman and Sims, Harada, and Thompson. This latter result proves a long standing open problem in the theory. The experimental results (courtesy of M. Weller) for Chapter 12 are documented in the accompanying DVD.

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'The approach described and advocated by Michler in this book is remarkable in that it offers a uniform method that can, in principle, be used to prove computationally the existence and uniqueness of almost all the sporadic simple groups.' Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society

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Product details

• Date Published: October 2006
• format: Mixed media product
• isbn: 9780521866255
• length: 614 pages

• dimensions: 235 x 161 x 39 mm
• weight: 1.049kg
• contains: 200 tables
• availability: Unavailable - out of print