Projective linear groupIn mathematics, especially in the group theoretic area of algebra, the projective linear group (also known as the projective general linear group or PGL) is the induced action of the general linear group of a vector space V on the associated projective space P(V). Explicitly, the projective linear group is the quotient group PGL(V) = GL(V)/Z(V) where GL(V) is the general linear group of V and Z(V) is the subgroup of all nonzero scalar transformations of V; these are quotiented out because they act trivially on the projective space and they form the kernel of the action, and the notation "Z" reflects that the scalar transformations form the center of the general linear group.
Sylow theoremsIn mathematics, specifically in the field of finite group theory, the Sylow theorems are a collection of theorems named after the Norwegian mathematician Peter Ludwig Sylow that give detailed information about the number of subgroups of fixed order that a given finite group contains. The Sylow theorems form a fundamental part of finite group theory and have very important applications in the classification of finite simple groups. For a prime number , a Sylow p-subgroup (sometimes p-Sylow subgroup) of a group is a maximal -subgroup of , i.
Character theoryIn mathematics, more specifically in group theory, the character of a group representation is a function on the group that associates to each group element the trace of the corresponding matrix. The character carries the essential information about the representation in a more condensed form. Georg Frobenius initially developed representation theory of finite groups entirely based on the characters, and without any explicit matrix realization of representations themselves.
P-groupIn mathematics, specifically group theory, given a prime number p, a p-group is a group in which the order of every element is a power of p. That is, for each element g of a p-group G, there exists a nonnegative integer n such that the product of pn copies of g, and not fewer, is equal to the identity element. The orders of different elements may be different powers of p. Abelian p-groups are also called p-primary or simply primary. A finite group is a p-group if and only if its order (the number of its elements) is a power of p.
Modular representation theoryModular representation theory is a branch of mathematics, and is the part of representation theory that studies linear representations of finite groups over a field K of positive characteristic p, necessarily a prime number. As well as having applications to group theory, modular representations arise naturally in other branches of mathematics, such as algebraic geometry, coding theory, combinatorics and number theory.
Burnside's theoremIn mathematics, Burnside's theorem in group theory states that if G is a finite group of order where p and q are prime numbers, and a and b are non-negative integers, then G is solvable. Hence each non-Abelian finite simple group has order divisible by at least three distinct primes. The theorem was proved by using the representation theory of finite groups. Several special cases of the theorem had previously been proved by Burnside, Jordan, and Frobenius.
Representation theoryRepresentation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebraic structures by representing their elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies modules over these abstract algebraic structures. In essence, a representation makes an abstract algebraic object more concrete by describing its elements by matrices and their algebraic operations (for example, matrix addition, matrix multiplication).
Conway groupIn the area of modern algebra known as group theory, the Conway groups are the three sporadic simple groups Co1, Co2 and Co3 along with the related finite group Co0 introduced by . The largest of the Conway groups, Co0, is the group of automorphisms of the Leech lattice Λ with respect to addition and inner product. It has order 8,315,553,613,086,720,000 but it is not a simple group. The simple group Co1 of order 4,157,776,806,543,360,000 = 221395472111323 is defined as the quotient of Co0 by its center, which consists of the scalar matrices ±1.
Group extensionIn mathematics, a group extension is a general means of describing a group in terms of a particular normal subgroup and quotient group. If and are two groups, then is an extension of by if there is a short exact sequence If is an extension of by , then is a group, is a normal subgroup of and the quotient group is isomorphic to the group . Group extensions arise in the context of the extension problem, where the groups and are known and the properties of are to be determined.
Mathieu groupIn group theory, a topic in abstract algebra, the Mathieu groups are the five sporadic simple groups M11, M12, M22, M23 and M24 introduced by . They are multiply transitive permutation groups on 11, 12, 22, 23 or 24 objects. They were the first sporadic groups to be discovered. Sometimes the notation M9, M10, M20 and M21 is used for related groups (which act on sets of 9, 10, 20, and 21 points, respectively), namely the stabilizers of points in the larger groups.