Let ℓ be a prime number. It is not known whether every finite ℓ-group of rank n≥1 can be realized as a Galois group over with no more than n ramified primes. We prove that this can be done for the (minimal) family of finite ℓ-groups which contains all the cyclic groups of ℓ-power order and is closed under direct products, (regular) wreath products and rank-preserving homomorphic images. This family contains the Sylow ℓ-subgroups of the symmetric groups and of the classical groups over finite fields of characteristic not ℓ. On the other hand, it does not contain all finite ℓ-groups.

In this paper, four new discreteness criteria for isometric groups on complex hyperbolic spaces are proved, one of which shows that the Condition C hypothesis in Cao [‘Discrete and dense subgroups acting on complex hyperbolic space’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc.78 (2008), 211–224, Theorem 1.4] is removable; another shows that the parabolic condition hypothesis in Li and Wang [‘Discreteness criteria for Möbius groups acting on II’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc.80 (2009), 275–290, Theorem 3.1] is not necessary.

We use the technique of Fischer matrices to write a program to produce the character table of a group of shape (2×2.G):2 from the character tables of G, G:2, 2.G and 2.G:2.

Let R be a ring, S a strictly ordered monoid, and ω:S→End(R) a monoid homomorphism. The skew generalized power series ring R[[S,ω]] is a common generalization of (skew) polynomial rings, (skew) power series rings, (skew) Laurent polynomial rings, (skew) group rings, and Mal’cev–Neumann Laurent series rings. We study the (S,ω)-Armendariz condition on R, a generalization of the standard Armendariz condition from polynomials to skew generalized power series. We resolve the structure of (S,ω)-Armendariz rings and obtain various necessary or sufficient conditions for a ring to be (S,ω)-Armendariz, unifying and generalizing a number of known Armendariz-like conditions in the aforementioned special cases. As particular cases of our general results we obtain several new theorems on the Armendariz condition; for example, left uniserial rings are Armendariz. We also characterize when a skew generalized power series ring is reduced or semicommutative, and we obtain partial characterizations for it to be reversible or 2-primal.

We decompose the restriction of ramified principal series representations of the $p$ -adic group $\text{GL}\left( 3,\,\text{k} \right)$ to its maximal compact subgroup $K\,=\,\text{GL}\left( 3,\,\mathcal{R} \right)$ . Its decomposition is dependent on the degree of ramification of the inducing characters and can be characterized in terms of filtrations of the Iwahori subgroup in $K$ . We establish several irreducibility results and illustrate the decomposition with some examples.

Marques-Smith and Sullivan [‘Partial orders on transformation semigroups’, Monatsh. Math.140 (2003), 103–118] studied various properties of two partial orders on P(X), the semigroup (under composition) consisting of all partial transformations of an arbitrary set X. One partial order was the ‘containment order’: namely, if α,β∈P(X) then α⊆β means xα=xβ for all x∈dom α, the domain of α. The other order was the so-called ‘natural order’ defined by Mitsch [‘A natural partial order for semigroups’, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc.97(3) (1986), 384–388] for any semigroup. In this paper, we consider these and other orders defined on the symmetric inverse semigroup I(X) and the partial Baer–Levi semigroup PS(q). We show that there are surprising differences between the orders on these semigroups, concerned with their compatibility with respect to composition and the existence of maximal and minimal elements.

An almost-direct product of free groups is an iterated semidirect product of finitely generated free groups in which the action of the constituent free groups on the homology of one another is trivial. We determine the structure of the cohomology ring of such a group. This is used to analyze the topological complexity of the associated Eilenberg–MacLane space.

Let G be a finitely generated group. We investigate the graph ΓM(G), whose vertices are the maximal subgroups of G and where two vertices M1 and M2 are joined by an edge whenever M1∩M2≠1. We show that if G is a finite simple group then the graph ΓM(G) is connected and its diameter is 62 at most. We also show that if G is a finite group, then ΓM(G) either is connected or has at least two vertices and no edges. Finite groups G with a nonconnected graph ΓM(G) are classified. They are all solvable groups, and if G is a finite solvable group with a connected graph ΓM(G), then the diameter of ΓM(G) is at most 2. In the infinite case, we determine the structure of finitely generated infinite nonsimple groups G with a nonconnected graph ΓM(G). In particular, we show that if G is a finitely generated locally graded group with a nonconnected graph ΓM(G), then G must be finite.

A group G is called morphic if every endomorphism α:G→G for which Gα◃G satisfies G/Gα≅ker (α). Call an endomorphism α∈end(G) regular if αβα=α for some β∈end(G), and call α unit regular if β can be chosen to be an automorphism of G. The main purpose of this paper is to prove the following group-theoretic analogue of a theorem of Ehrlich: if G is a morphic group, an endomorphism α:G→G for which Gα◃G is unit regular if and only if it is regular. As an application, a cancellation theorem is proved that characterizes the morphic groups among those with regular endomorphism monoids.

We complete a classification of the groups of endotrivial modules for the modular group algebras of symmetric groups and alternating groups. We show that, for n ≥ p2, the torsion subgroup of the group of endotrivial modules for the symmetric groups is generated by the sign representation. The torsion subgroup is trivial for the alternating groups. The torsion-free part of the group is free abelian of rank 1 if n ≥ p2 + p and has rank 2 if p2 ≤ n < p2 + p. This completes the work begun earlier by Carlson, Mazza and Nakano.

In a soluble group G, if the metabelian subgroups have finite (or polycyclic, or Černikov) quotients by their centres, then so too does G.

Let G be a discrete group.We give a decomposition theorem for the Hochschild cohomology of l1(G) with coefficients in certain G-modules. Using this we show that if G is commutative-transitive, the canonical inclusion of bounded cohomology of G into simplicial cohomology of l1(G) is an isomorphism.

Using the Gille–Merkurjev norm principle we compute in a uniform way the image of the degree map for quadrics (Springer’s theorem), for twisted forms of maximal orthogonal Grassmannians (a theorem of Bayer-Fluckiger and Lenstra), and for E6- (a theorem of Rost) and E7-varieties.

Finite groups with abelian Sylow p-subgroups for certain primes p are characterized in terms of arithmetical properties of commutators.

Colmez has given a recipe to associate a smooth modular representation Ω(W) of the Borel subgroup of GL2(Qp) to a -representation W of by using Fontaine’s theory of (φ,Γ)-modules. We compute Ω(W) explicitly and we prove that if W is irreducible and dim (W)=2, then Ω(W) is the restriction to the Borel subgroup of GL2(Qp) of the supersingular representation associated to W by Breuil’s correspondence.

Let G be a finite group and let δ(G) be the number of prime order subgroups of G. We determine the groups G with the property δ(G)≥∣G∣/2−1, extending earlier work of C. T. C. Wall, and we use our classification to obtain new results on the generation of near-rings by units of prime order.

A group is said to be, finitely co-Hopfian when it contains no proper subgroup of finite index isomorphic to itself. It is known that irreducible lattices in semisimple Lie groups are finitely co-Hopfian. However, it is not clear, and does not appear to be known, whether this property is preserved under direct product. We consider a strengthening of the finite co-Hopfian condition, namely the existence of a non-zero multiplicative invariant, and show that, under mild restrictions, this property is closed with respect to finite direct products. Since it is also closed with respect to commensurability, it follows that lattices in linear semisimple groups of general type are finitely co-Hopfian.

This paper continues the investigation of semigroup constructions motivated by applications in data mining. We give a complete description of the error-correcting capabilities of a large family of clusterers based on Rees matrix semigroups well known in semigroup theory. This result strengthens and complements previous formulas recently obtained in the literature. Examples show that our theorems do not generalize to other classes of semigroups.

A p-group is called powerful if every commutator is a product of pth powers when p is odd and a product of fourth powers when p=2. In the group algebra of a group G of p-power order over a finite field of characteristic p, the group of normalized units is always a p-group. We prove that it is never powerful except, of course, when G is abelian.

This paper gives the classification of the Whittaker unitary dual for affine graded Hecke algebras of type E. By the Iwahori–Matsumoto involution, this is also equivalent to the classification of the spherical unitary dual for type E. Together with some results of Barbasch and Moy (D. Barbasch and A. Moy, Unitary spherical spectrum for p-adic classical groups, Acta Appl. Math. 44 (1996), 3–37; D. Barbasch, The spherical unitary spectrum of split classical real and p-adic groups, Preprint (2006), math/0609828) and Ciubotaru (D. Ciubotaru, The Iwahori spherical unitary dual of the split group of type F4, Represent. Theory 9 (2005), 94–137), this work completes the classification of the Whittaker Iwahori-spherical unitary dual or, equivalently, the spherical unitary dual of any split p-adic group.