\documentclass{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{latexsym} \title{Group Theory: Sheet 5} \author{\copyright G. C. Smith 2001} \date{} \begin{document} \maketitle \textit{The copyright is waived for non-profit making educational purposes.} {\it The course web site is available via {\tt http://www.bath.ac.uk/$\sim$masgcs/}} \begin{enumerate} \item Let $G$ be a group, and let $S$ be a subset of $G$. Let \[ C_G(S) = \{ g \in G \mid g^{-1}sg = s \forall s \in G\} \mbox{ and } N_G(S) = \{ g \in G \mid g^{-1}Sg = S\}.\] \begin{enumerate} \item[(a)] Prove that $C_G(S) \leq N_G(S) \leq G$. \item[(b)] Prove that $C_G(S) \unlhd N_G(S)$. \item[(c)] Show that $N_G(S)/C_G(S)$ is isomorphic to a subgroup of $\mbox{Sym} S$. \end{enumerate} \item Let $G$ be a finitely generated group in which for each $x \in G$, the set $S_x = \{g^{-1}xg \mid g \in G\}$ is finite. Let $Z(G)$ denote the centre of $G$ (the subgroup of $G$ consisting of those elements of $G$ which commute with all elements of $G$). Prove that $Z(G)$ has finite index in $G$. {\em (Hint: Do Question 1 first)} \item Prove that $\mbox{Aut }S_5$ is isomorphic to $S_5$. \item Suppose that $G = \langle x, y \rangle$ and $x^2 = y^2 = 1$. Prove that $G$ has a cyclic subgroup of index at most 2. \item Suppose that $G = \langle S \rangle$ is a group and that $S$ is finite. Now suppose that also $G = \langle T \rangle$. Show that there is a finite subset $U$ of $T$ such that $G = \langle U \rangle$. \item Consider the maps $\alpha, \beta \in \mbox{Sym }\mathbb Z$ defines by $\alpha: i \mapsto i+2$ for all $i \in \mathbb Z$, and $\beta = (0,1)$. Thus $\beta$ fixes all integers except $0$ and $1$, and it swaps those. Consider the groups $G = \langle \alpha, \beta \rangle$ and $H = \langle T \rangle$ where $T = \{ \alpha^{-k} \beta \alpha^{k} \mid k \in \mathbb Z\}$. Observe that all elements of $H$ have finite support (i.e. each one moves only finitely many integers). Deduce that a finitely generated group may have a subgroup which has no finite generating set. \item Let $G$ be a finite cyclic group of order $n$. Suppose that $d$ is a divisor of $n$. Show that $G$ has a unique subgroup of order $d$. \end{enumerate} \end{document}