The following question is proposed by Martino, Tointon, Valiunas and Ventura in [4, question 1·20]:

Let G be a compact group, and suppose that

\[\mathcal{N}_k(G) = \{(x_1,\dots,x_{k+1}) \in G^{k+1} \;|\; [x_1,\dots, x_{k+1}] = 1\}\]

$G^{k+1}$

We give a positive answer for $k = 2$.

We prove that for positive integers $m \geq 1, n \geq 1$ and a prime number $p \neq 2,3$ there are finitely many finite m-generated Moufang loops of exponent $p^n$.

We exhibit basic algebro-geometric results on the formal model of semi-infinite flag varieties and its Schubert varieties over an algebraically closed field ${\mathbb K}$ of characteristic $\neq 2$ from scratch. We show that the formal model of a semi-infinite flag variety admits a unique nice (ind-)scheme structure, its projective coordinate ring has a $\mathbb {Z}$-model and it admits a Frobenius splitting compatible with the boundaries and opposite cells in positive characteristic. This establishes the normality of the Schubert varieties of the quasi-map space with a fixed degree (instead of their limits proved in [K, Math. Ann. 371 no.2 (2018)]) when $\mathsf {char}\, {\mathbb K} =0$ or $\gg 0$, and the higher-cohomology vanishing of their nef line bundles in arbitrary characteristic $\neq 2$. Some particular cases of these results play crucial roles in our proof [47] of a conjecture by Lam, Li, Mihalcea and Shimozono [60] that describes an isomorphism between affine and quantum K-groups of a flag manifold.

Let G be a permutation group on a set $\Omega $ of size t. We say that $\Lambda \subseteq \Omega $ is an independent set if its pointwise stabilizer is not equal to the pointwise stabilizer of any proper subset of $\Lambda $. We define the height of G to be the maximum size of an independent set, and we denote this quantity $\textrm{H}(G)$. In this paper, we study $\textrm{H}(G)$ for the case when G is primitive. Our main result asserts that either $\textrm{H}(G)< 9\log t$ or else G is in a particular well-studied family (the primitive large–base groups). An immediate corollary of this result is a characterization of primitive permutation groups with large relational complexity, the latter quantity being a statistic introduced by Cherlin in his study of the model theory of permutation groups. We also study $\textrm{I}(G)$, the maximum length of an irredundant base of G, in which case we prove that if G is primitive, then either $\textrm{I}(G)<7\log t$ or else, again, G is in a particular family (which includes the primitive large–base groups as well as some others).

Moduli spaces of bounded local G-shtukas are a group-theoretic generalisation of the function field analogue of Rapoport and Zink’s moduli spaces of p-divisible groups. In this article we generalise some very prominent concepts in the theory of Rapoport-Zink spaces to our setting. More precisely, we define period spaces, as well as the period map from a moduli space of bounded local G-shtukas to the corresponding period space, and we determine the image of the period map. Furthermore, we define a tower of coverings of the generic fibre of the moduli space, which is equipped with a Hecke action and an action of a suitable automorphism group. Finally, we consider the $\ell $-adic cohomology of these towers.

Les espaces de modules de G-chtoucas locaux bornés sont une généralisation des espaces de modules de groupes p-divisibles de Rapoport-Zink, au cas d’un corps de fonctions local, pour des groupes plus généraux et des copoids pas nécessairement minuscules. Dans cet article nous définissons les espaces de périodes et l’application de périodes associés à un tel espace, et nous calculons son image. Nous étudions la tour au-dessus de la fibre générique de l’espace de modules, équipée d’une action de Hecke ainsi que d’une action d’un groupe d’automorphismes. Enfin, nous définissons la cohomologie $\ell $-adique de ces tours.

Similarly to the Frobenius–Schur indicator of irreducible characters, we consider higher Frobenius–Schur indicators $\nu _{p^n}(\chi ) = |G|^{-1} \sum _{g \in G} \chi (g^{p^n})$ for primes p and $n \in \mathbb {N}$, where G is a finite group and $\chi $ is a generalised character of G. These invariants give answers to interesting questions in representation theory. In particular, we give several characterisations of groups via higher Frobenius–Schur indicators.

We develop the relationship between quaternionic hyperbolic geometry and arithmetic counting or equidistribution applications, that arises from the action of arithmetic groups on quaternionic hyperbolic spaces, especially in dimension 2. We prove a Mertens counting formula for the rational points over a definite quaternion algebra A over ${\mathbb{Q}}$ in the light cone of quaternionic Hermitian forms, as well as a Neville equidistribution theorem of the set of rational points over A in quaternionic Heisenberg groups.

We prove an explicit inverse Chevalley formula in the equivariant K-theory of semi-infinite flag manifolds of simply laced type. By an ‘inverse Chevalley formula’ we mean a formula for the product of an equivariant scalar with a Schubert class, expressed as a $\mathbb {Z}\left [q^{\pm 1}\right ]$-linear combination of Schubert classes twisted by equivariant line bundles. Our formula applies to arbitrary Schubert classes in semi-infinite flag manifolds of simply laced type and equivariant scalars $e^{\lambda }$, where $\lambda $ is an arbitrary minuscule weight. By a result of Stembridge, our formula completely determines the inverse Chevalley formula for arbitrary weights in simply laced type except for type $E_8$. The combinatorics of our formula is governed by the quantum Bruhat graph, and the proof is based on a limit from the double affine Hecke algebra. Thus our formula also provides an explicit determination of all nonsymmetric q-Toda operators for minuscule weights in ADE type.

To each automorphism of a spherical building, there is a naturally associated opposition diagram, which encodes the types of the simplices of the building that are mapped onto opposite simplices. If no chamber (that is, no maximal simplex) of the building is mapped onto an opposite chamber, then the automorphism is called domestic. In this paper, we give the complete classification of domestic automorphisms of split spherical buildings of types $\mathsf {E}_6$, $\mathsf {F}_4$, and $\mathsf {G}_2$. Moreover, for all split spherical buildings of exceptional type, we classify (i) the domestic homologies, (ii) the opposition diagrams arising from elements of the standard unipotent subgroup of the Chevalley group, and (iii) the automorphisms with opposition diagrams with at most two distinguished orbits encircled. Our results provide unexpected characterizations of long root elations and products of perpendicular long root elations in long root geometries, and analogues of the density theorem for connected linear algebraic groups in the setting of Chevalley groups over arbitrary fields.

Let G be a connected reductive group over a p-adic number field F. We propose and study the notions of G-$\varphi $-modules and G-$(\varphi ,\nabla )$-modules over the Robba ring, which are exact faithful F-linear tensor functors from the category of G-representations on finite-dimensional F-vector spaces to the categories of $\varphi $-modules and $(\varphi ,\nabla )$-modules over the Robba ring, respectively, commuting with the respective fiber functors. We study Kedlaya’s slope filtration theorem in this context, and show that G-$(\varphi ,\nabla )$-modules over the Robba ring are “G-quasi-unipotent,” which is a generalization of the p-adic local monodromy theorem proved independently by Y. André, K. S. Kedlaya, and Z. Mebkhout.

Let p be a prime. A pro-p group G is said to be 1-smooth if it can be endowed with a continuous representation $\theta \colon G\to \mathrm {GL}_1(\mathbb {Z}_p)$ such that every open subgroup H of G, together with the restriction $\theta \vert _H$, satisfies a formal version of Hilbert 90. We prove that every 1-smooth pro-p group contains a unique maximal closed abelian normal subgroup, in analogy with a result by Engler and Koenigsmann on maximal pro-p Galois groups of fields, and that if a 1-smooth pro-p group is solvable, then it is locally uniformly powerful, in analogy with a result by Ware on maximal pro-p Galois groups of fields. Finally, we ask whether 1-smooth pro-p groups satisfy a “Tits’ alternative.”

For any (Hausdorff) compact group G, denote by $\mathrm{cp}(G)$ the probability that a randomly chosen pair of elements of G commute. We prove that there exists a finite group H such that $\mathrm{cp}(G)= {\mathrm{cp}(H)}/{|G:F|^2}$, where F is the FC-centre of G and H is isoclinic to F with $\mathrm{cp}(F)=\mathrm{cp}(H)$ whenever $\mathrm{cp}(G)>0$. In addition, we prove that a compact group G with $\mathrm{cp}(G)>\tfrac {3}{40}$ is either solvable or isomorphic to $A_5 \times Z(G)$, where $A_5$ denotes the alternating group of degree five and the centre $Z(G)$ of G contains the identity component of G.

We prove a constructive existence theorem for abelian envelopes of non-abelian monoidal categories. This establishes a new tool for the construction of tensor categories. As an example we obtain new proofs for the existence of several universal tensor categories as conjectured by Deligne. Another example constructs interesting tensor categories in positive characteristic via tilting modules for ${\rm SL}_2$.

A subgroup H of a group G is said to be contranormal in G if the normal closure of H in G is equal to G. In this paper, we consider groups whose nonmodular subgroups (of infinite rank) are contranormal.

In this paper, we study the relation of the size of the class two quotients of a linear group and the size of the vector space. We answer a question raised in Keller and Yang [Class 2 quotients of solvable linear groups, J. Algebra 509 (2018), 386-396].

L'analyse de la démonstration par contradiction de Frécon 2018 qui est faite dans Poizat 2018 met en évidence la structure symétrique des groupes de rang de Morley fini sans involutions; en effet, cette démonstration consiste en la construction d'un espace symétrique de dimension deux (“un plan”), puis à montrer que ce plan ne peut exister.

Aux sous-espaces symétriques définissables de ces groupes sont associées des symétries et des transvexions, qu'on entreprend d'étudier ici dans l'abstrait, sans référence à un groupe qui les enveloppe; cela nous mène à considérer des structures introduites axiomatiquement que nous appelons symétrons (plutôt qu'ensembles symétriques diadiques, comme les ont nommées Lawson & Lim 2004).

Le $Z^*$-Theorem de Glauberman permet d'élucider complètement la structure des symétrons finis: chacun est isomorphe à l'ensemble des symétries associées à un sous-espace symétrique d'un groupe fini sans involutions, qui est loin d'être uniquement déterminé: de fait, il existe des groupes finis non isomorphes qui ont les mêmes symétries, et aussi des symétrons finis qui ne sont pas isomorphes aux symétries d'un groupe,

La situation est plus incertaine dans le cas des symétrons de rang de Morley fini, ou même algébriques, qui sont l'objet d'étude principal de cet article. Mais bien qu'un symétron soit une structure nettement plus faible qu'un groupe, nous pouvons étendre aux symétrons des résultats bien connus à propos des groupes de rang de Morley fini: condition de chaîne, décomposition en composantes connexes, caractérisation des parties définissables génériques, génération elliptique, etc. Ces propriétés sont nouvelles même dans le cas des sous-espaces symétriques d’un groupe, et permettent de court-circuiter les calculs de Frécon dans la construction de son plan paradoxal.

En outre, sous l'hypothèse de la Conjecture d'Algébricité, nous généralisons le Théorème de Glauberman au contexte de rang de Morley fini.

For any given subgroup H of a finite group G, the Quillen poset ${\mathcal {A}}_p(G)$ of nontrivial elementary abelian p-subgroups is obtained from ${\mathcal {A}}_p(H)$ by attaching elements via their centralisers in H. We exploit this idea to study Quillen’s conjecture, which asserts that if ${\mathcal {A}}_p(G)$ is contractible then G has a nontrivial normal p-subgroup. We prove that the original conjecture is equivalent to the ${{\mathbb {Z}}}$-acyclic version of the conjecture (obtained by replacing ‘contractible’ by ‘${{\mathbb {Z}}}$-acyclic’). We also work with the ${\mathbb {Q}}$-acyclic (strong) version of the conjecture, reducing its study to extensions of direct products of simple groups of p-rank at least $2$. This allows us to extend results of Aschbacher and Smith and to establish the strong conjecture for groups of p-rank at most $4$.

Let $G$ be a finite permutation group of degree $n$ and let ${\rm ifix}(G)$ be the involution fixity of $G$, which is the maximum number of fixed points of an involution. In this paper, we study the involution fixity of almost simple primitive groups whose socle $T$ is an alternating or sporadic group; our main result classifies the groups of this form with ${\rm ifix}(T) \leqslant n^{4/9}$. This builds on earlier work of Burness and Thomas, who studied the case where $T$ is an exceptional group of Lie type, and it strengthens the bound ${\rm ifix}(T) > n^{1/6}$ (with prescribed exceptions), which was proved by Liebeck and Shalev in 2015. A similar result for classical groups will be established in a sequel.

The problem of finding the number of ordered commuting tuples of elements in a finite group is equivalent to finding the size of the solution set of the system of equations determined by the commutator relations that impose commutativity among any pair of elements from an ordered tuple. We consider this type of systems for the case of ordered triples and express the size of the solution set in terms of the irreducible characters of the group. The obtained formulas are natural extensions of Frobenius’ character formula that calculates the number of ways a group element is a commutator of an ordered pair of elements in a finite group. We discuss how our formulas can be used to study the probability distributions afforded by these systems of equations, and we show explicit calculations for dihedral groups.

We address the question of determining which mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces admit nonelementary continuous actions on hyperbolic spaces.

More precisely, let $\Sigma $ be a connected, orientable surface of infinite type with tame endspace whose mapping class group is generated by a coarsely bounded subset. We prove that ${\mathrm {Map}}(\Sigma )$ admits a continuous nonelementary action on a hyperbolic space if and only if $\Sigma $ contains a finite-type subsurface which intersects all its homeomorphic translates.

When $\Sigma $ contains such a nondisplaceable subsurface K of finite type, the hyperbolic space we build is constructed from the curve graphs of K and its homeomorphic translates via a construction of Bestvina, Bromberg and Fujiwara. Our construction has several applications: first, the second bounded cohomology of ${\mathrm {Map}}(\Sigma )$ contains an embedded $\ell ^1$; second, using work of Dahmani, Guirardel and Osin, we deduce that ${\mathrm {Map}} (\Sigma )$ contains nontrivial normal free subgroups (while it does not if $\Sigma $ has no nondisplaceable subsurface of finite type), has uncountably many quotients and is SQ-universal.