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We describe the method of symmetric generation of groups that has been used to produce pleasing, well-motivated constructions of many of the sporadic simple groups. A progenitor 2*n : N is defined to be a free product of n copies of the cyclic group of order 2, extended by a permutation group N of degree n that permutes these n involutory symmetric generators by conjugation. A useful lemma is introduced that leads to suitable relations by which to factor the infinite progenitor in order to produce a finite image that contains n distinct involutions permuted by an isomorphic copy of N. These ideas are employed using .
In the first case, we have and the symmetric generators correspond 4 to tetrads of points of Ω. Factoring this by a single short relation results in the Conway group ·O and the symmetric generators spontaneously reveal themselves to be the negatives of the Conway elements ξT.
In the second case, we have n = 3795 and the symmetric generators correspond to the trios. The Lemma leads us to two simple relations and factoring by them results in the largest Janko group J4. In fact one of the relations is essentially redundant and John Bray has shown that omitting it leads to a group J4 × 2. In order to prove these assertions in the two cases, we first use known representations to verify that the group claimed is indeed an image of the progenitor and satisfies the additional relations. We then use the double coset enumerator of John Bray and the author, written in Magma, to show that the image has the right order. Unfortunately in both these cases the group is too small to enumerate double cosets of form NwN and so we use theoretical arguments to identify subgroups and , respectively, and enumerate double cosets of form HwN.
The hexacode is a 3-dimensional, length 6 code over GF4, the Galois field of order 4, whose codewords are readily remembered. Each of these codewords represents 26 codewords of and thus we obtain the 43.26 = 212 codewords of . Each element of GF4 = {0, 1, ω, ω̄} is given an odd and an even interpretation as a 4-dimensional column vector (corresponding to the columns of the MOG) or its complement: Thus a hexacodeword [1, 0, 0, 1, ω, ω̄] would have a 4-vector corresponding to 1 in the first column of the MOG, 0 in the second, 0 in the third and so on. All entries must be even or all entries odd and the first five columns may be complemented arbitrarily; the sixth column must then be complemented or not so that in the even interpretation the number of entries in the top row is even, and in the odd interpretation it is odd. Once the reader has memorized the hexacodewords, he or she can work with the MOG without the need of a physical copy of Figure 3.2.
The most combinatorially interesting maximal subgroups of M24 are the stabilizers of an octad, a duum, a sextet and a trio. In this chapter we investigate the way in which the stabilizer of one of these objects acts on the others. This involves some basic but fascinating character theory; the approach given here is intended to be self-contained. For each of the four types of object we draw a graph in which each member is joined to members of the shortest orbit of its stabilizer. Thus in the octad graph we join two octads if they are disjoint; we join two dua if they cut one another 8.4/4.8; we join two sextets if the tetrads of one cut the tetrads of the other (22.04)6; and we join two trios if they have an octad in common. A diagram of each of these four graphs is included as is the way in which these graphs decompose under the action of one of the other stabilizers. Each of these graphs is, of course, preserved by M24.
The Conway group ·O is defined to be the group of all symmetries of Λ fixing the origin. The manner in which Λ has been constructed ensures that it is preserved by all permutations of M24 and all sign changes on a ; we now introduce the Conway element ξT that is not in the aforementioned group of shape 212 : M24 and which we can show preserves Λ. We use ξT to prove transitivity on type 2 vectors, type 3 vectors and crosses, and are then able to work out the order of ·O. This construction is now repeated using the algebra package Magma and a full explanation of the computation is included. An important Remark explains how every element of ·O corresponds in a certain sense to one of the crosses. The stabilizers of a type 2 vector and of a type 3 vector are the Conway groups Co2 and Co3, respectively. Each of these sporadic groups is described in some detail, both manually and computationally using Magma. The Classification of Finite Simple Groups (CFSG) states that any finite simple group is either a member of one of the known infinite families or it is one of 26 sporadic groups. We give a brief description of these groups and how they were discovered, and refer the reader to more complete expositions. We conclude by mentioning the remarkable observation made by John McKay that relates the modular function j to the degrees of irreducible representations of the Monster group M. Conway referred to this tantalizing connection with number theory as Monstrous Moonshine.
We emphasize the unique position enjoyed by the Mathieu groups as the only quadruply or quintuply transitive permutation groups that exist, other than the alternating and symmetric groups. Their involvement in the largest Conway group ·O, the Monster group M and many other exceptional sporadic simple groups is mentioned. Brief descriptions of several of the most important constructions of the group M24 are given.
We explain what is meant by a Steiner system S(l,m,n) and give various examples including the Fano plane, the 9-point affine plane and the projective plane of order 4. Extensions of these systems lead to the systems S(5, 6, 12) and S(5, 8, 24) that are at the heart of this book. Mention is made of the more general t − (v, k, λ) designs.
We derive an asymptotic expansion for the critical percolation density of the random connection model as the dimension of the encapsulating space tends to infinity. We calculate rigorously the first expansion terms for the Gilbert disk model, the hyper-cubic model, the Gaussian connection kernel, and a coordinate-wise Cauchy kernel.
The Leech lattice Λ, the Conway group ∙O, and the Monster group M are immensely famous structures. They each grow out of the Mathieu group M24 and its underlying combinatorial structure, and play an important role in various branches of mathematics and in theoretical physics. Written by an expert in the field, this book provides a new generation of mathematicians with the intimate knowledge of M24 needed to understand these beautiful objects, and many others. It starts by exploring Steiner systems, before introducing the Miracle Octad Generator (MOG) as a device for working with the Steiner system S(5,8,24). Emphasizing how theoretical and computational approaches complement one another, the author describes how familiarity with M24 leads to the concept of 'symmetric generation' of groups. The final chapter brings together the various strands of the book to produce a nested chain of groups culminating in the largest Conway simple group Co1.
The walk matrix associated to an $n\times n$ integer matrix $\mathbf{X}$ and an integer vector $b$ is defined by ${\mathbf{W}} \,:\!=\, (b,{\mathbf{X}} b,\ldots, {\mathbf{X}}^{n-1}b)$. We study limiting laws for the cokernel of $\mathbf{W}$ in the scenario where $\mathbf{X}$ is a random matrix with independent entries and $b$ is deterministic. Our first main result provides a formula for the distribution of the $p^m$-torsion part of the cokernel, as a group, when $\mathbf{X}$ has independent entries from a specific distribution. The second main result relaxes the distributional assumption and concerns the ${\mathbb{Z}}[x]$-module structure.
The motivation for this work arises from an open problem in spectral graph theory, which asks to show that random graphs are often determined up to isomorphism by their (generalised) spectrum. Sufficient conditions for generalised spectral determinacy can, namely, be stated in terms of the cokernel of a walk matrix. Extensions of our results could potentially be used to determine how often those conditions are satisfied. Some remaining challenges for such extensions are outlined in the paper.
Given an $n\times n$ symmetric matrix $W\in [0,1]^{[n]\times [n]}$, let ${\mathcal G}(n,W)$ be the random graph obtained by independently including each edge $jk\in \binom{[n]}{2}$ with probability $W_{jk}=W_{kj}$. Given a degree sequence $\textbf{d}=(d_1,\ldots, d_n)$, let ${\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d})$ denote a uniformly random graph with degree sequence $\textbf{d}$. We couple ${\mathcal G}(n,W)$ and ${\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d})$ together so that asymptotically almost surely ${\mathcal G}(n,W)$ is a subgraph of ${\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d})$, where $W$ is some function of $\textbf{d}$. Let $\Delta (\textbf{d})$ denote the maximum degree in $\textbf{d}$. Our coupling result is optimal when $\Delta (\textbf{d})^2\ll \|\textbf{d}\|_1$, that is, $W_{ij}$ is asymptotic to ${\mathbb P}(ij\in{\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d}))$ for every $i,j\in [n]$. We also have coupling results for $\textbf{d}$ that are not constrained by the condition $\Delta (\textbf{d})^2\ll \|\textbf{d}\|_1$. For such $\textbf{d}$ our coupling result is still close to optimal, in the sense that $W_{ij}$ is asymptotic to ${\mathbb P}(ij\in{\mathcal G}(n,\textbf{d}))$ for most pairs $ij\in \binom{[n]}{2}$.
We study computational aspects of repulsive Gibbs point processes, which are probabilistic models of interacting particles in a finite-volume region of space. We introduce an approach for reducing a Gibbs point process to the hard-core model, a well-studied discrete spin system. Given an instance of such a point process, our reduction generates a random graph drawn from a natural geometric model. We show that the partition function of a hard-core model on graphs generated by the geometric model concentrates around the partition function of the Gibbs point process. Our reduction allows us to use a broad range of algorithms developed for the hard-core model to sample from the Gibbs point process and approximate its partition function. This is, to the extent of our knowledge, the first approach that deals with pair potentials of unbounded range.
Let $r$ be any positive integer. We prove that for every sufficiently large $k$ there exists a $k$-chromatic vertex-critical graph $G$ such that $\chi (G-R)=k$ for every set $R \subseteq E(G)$ with $|R|\le r$. This partially solves a problem posed by Erdős in 1985, who asked whether the above statement holds for $k \ge 4$.
We use Stein’s method to obtain distributional approximations of subgraph counts in the uniform attachment model or random directed acyclic graph; we provide also estimates of rates of convergence. In particular, we give uni- and multi-variate Poisson approximations to the counts of cycles and normal approximations to the counts of unicyclic subgraphs; we also give a partial result for the counts of trees. We further find a class of multicyclic graphs whose subgraph counts are a.s. bounded as $n\to \infty$.
For given positive integers $r\ge 3$, $n$ and $e\le \binom{n}{2}$, the famous Erdős–Rademacher problem asks for the minimum number of $r$-cliques in a graph with $n$ vertices and $e$ edges. A conjecture of Lovász and Simonovits from the 1970s states that, for every $r\ge 3$, if $n$ is sufficiently large then, for every $e\le \binom{n}{2}$, at least one extremal graph can be obtained from a complete partite graph by adding a triangle-free graph into one part.
In this note, we explicitly write the minimum number of $r$-cliques predicted by the above conjecture. Also, we describe what we believe to be the set of extremal graphs for any $r\ge 4$ and all large $n$, amending the previous conjecture of Pikhurko and Razborov.
We consider the community detection problem in sparse random hypergraphs under the non-uniform hypergraph stochastic block model (HSBM), a general model of random networks with community structure and higher-order interactions. When the random hypergraph has bounded expected degrees, we provide a spectral algorithm that outputs a partition with at least a $\gamma$ fraction of the vertices classified correctly, where $\gamma \in (0.5,1)$ depends on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the model. When the SNR grows slowly as the number of vertices goes to infinity, our algorithm achieves weak consistency, which improves the previous results in Ghoshdastidar and Dukkipati ((2017) Ann. Stat.45(1) 289–315.) for non-uniform HSBMs.
Our spectral algorithm consists of three major steps: (1) Hyperedge selection: select hyperedges of certain sizes to provide the maximal signal-to-noise ratio for the induced sub-hypergraph; (2) Spectral partition: construct a regularised adjacency matrix and obtain an approximate partition based on singular vectors; (3) Correction and merging: incorporate the hyperedge information from adjacency tensors to upgrade the error rate guarantee. The theoretical analysis of our algorithm relies on the concentration and regularisation of the adjacency matrix for sparse non-uniform random hypergraphs, which can be of independent interest.
We derive a sufficient condition for a sparse random matrix with given numbers of non-zero entries in the rows and columns having full row rank. The result covers both matrices over finite fields with independent non-zero entries and $\{0,1\}$-matrices over the rationals. The sufficient condition is generally necessary as well.
Given a family of graphs $\mathcal{F}$ and an integer $r$, we say that a graph is $r$-Ramsey for $\mathcal{F}$ if any $r$-colouring of its edges admits a monochromatic copy of a graph from $\mathcal{F}$. The threshold for the classic Ramsey property, where $\mathcal{F}$ consists of one graph, in the binomial random graph was located in the celebrated work of Rödl and Ruciński.
In this paper, we offer a twofold generalisation to the Rödl–Ruciński theorem. First, we show that the list-colouring version of the property has the same threshold. Second, we extend this result to finite families $\mathcal{F}$, where the threshold statements might also diverge. This also confirms further special cases of the Kohayakawa–Kreuter conjecture. Along the way, we supply a short(-ish), self-contained proof of the $0$-statement of the Rödl–Ruciński theorem.