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.
Prüfer groupIn mathematics, specifically in group theory, the Prüfer p-group or the p-quasicyclic group or p∞-group, Z(p∞), for a prime number p is the unique p-group in which every element has p different p-th roots. The Prüfer p-groups are countable abelian groups that are important in the classification of infinite abelian groups: they (along with the group of rational numbers) form the smallest building blocks of all divisible groups. The groups are named after Heinz Prüfer, a German mathematician of the early 20th century.
Finite groupIn abstract algebra, a finite group is a group whose underlying set is finite. Finite groups often arise when considering symmetry of mathematical or physical objects, when those objects admit just a finite number of structure-preserving transformations. Important examples of finite groups include cyclic groups and permutation groups. The study of finite groups has been an integral part of group theory since it arose in the 19th century.
Classification of finite simple groupsIn mathematics, the classification of finite simple groups is a result of group theory stating that every finite simple group is either cyclic, or alternating, or it belongs to a broad infinite class called the groups of Lie type, or else it is one of twenty-six or twenty-seven exceptions, called sporadic. The proof consists of tens of thousands of pages in several hundred journal articles written by about 100 authors, published mostly between 1955 and 2004.
Powerful p-groupIn mathematics, in the field of group theory, especially in the study of p-groups and pro-p-groups, the concept of powerful p-groups plays an important role. They were introduced in , where a number of applications are given, including results on Schur multipliers. Powerful p-groups are used in the study of automorphisms of p-groups , the solution of the restricted Burnside problem , the classification of finite p-groups via the coclass conjectures , and provided an excellent method of understanding analytic pro-p-groups .
Representation theory of finite groupsThe representation theory of groups is a part of mathematics which examines how groups act on given structures. Here the focus is in particular on operations of groups on vector spaces. Nevertheless, groups acting on other groups or on sets are also considered. For more details, please refer to the section on permutation representations. Other than a few marked exceptions, only finite groups will be considered in this article. We will also restrict ourselves to vector spaces over fields of characteristic zero.
Abelian groupIn mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is commutative. With addition as an operation, the integers and the real numbers form abelian groups, and the concept of an abelian group may be viewed as a generalization of these examples. Abelian groups are named after early 19th century mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.
Free moduleIn mathematics, a free module is a module that has a basis, that is, a generating set consisting of linearly independent elements. Every vector space is a free module, but, if the ring of the coefficients is not a division ring (not a field in the commutative case), then there exist non-free modules. Given any set S and ring R, there is a free R-module with basis S, which is called the free module on S or module of formal R-linear combinations of the elements of S. A free abelian group is precisely a free module over the ring Z of integers.
Frattini subgroupIn mathematics, particularly in group theory, the Frattini subgroup of a group G is the intersection of all maximal subgroups of G. For the case that G has no maximal subgroups, for example the trivial group {e} or a Prüfer group, it is defined by . It is analogous to the Jacobson radical in the theory of rings, and intuitively can be thought of as the subgroup of "small elements" (see the "non-generator" characterization below). It is named after Giovanni Frattini, who defined the concept in a paper published in 1885.
Rank of an abelian groupIn mathematics, the rank, Prüfer rank, or torsion-free rank of an abelian group A is the cardinality of a maximal linearly independent subset. The rank of A determines the size of the largest free abelian group contained in A. If A is torsion-free then it embeds into a vector space over the rational numbers of dimension rank A. For finitely generated abelian groups, rank is a strong invariant and every such group is determined up to isomorphism by its rank and torsion subgroup.
