Subgroups of symmetric groups: enumeration and asymptotic properties

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Roney-Dougal, Colva M., Tracey, Gareth
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866910863633416192
author Roney-Dougal, Colva M.
Tracey, Gareth
author_facet Roney-Dougal, Colva M.
Tracey, Gareth
contents In this paper, we prove that the symmetric group $\mathrm{S}_n$ has $2^{n^2/16+o(n^2)}$ subgroups, settling a conjecture of Pyber from 1993. We also derive asymptotically sharp upper and lower bounds on the number of subgroups of $\mathrm{S}_n$ of various kinds, including the number of $p$-subgroups. In addition, we prove a range of theorems about random subgroups of $\mathrm{S}_n$. In particular, we prove the surprising result that for infinitely many $n$, the probability that a random subgroup of $\mathrm{S}_n$ is nilpotent is bounded away from $1$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_05416
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Subgroups of symmetric groups: enumeration and asymptotic properties
Roney-Dougal, Colva M.
Tracey, Gareth
Group Theory
20B35, 20F69, 05A16, 20E07, 20E25
In this paper, we prove that the symmetric group $\mathrm{S}_n$ has $2^{n^2/16+o(n^2)}$ subgroups, settling a conjecture of Pyber from 1993. We also derive asymptotically sharp upper and lower bounds on the number of subgroups of $\mathrm{S}_n$ of various kinds, including the number of $p$-subgroups. In addition, we prove a range of theorems about random subgroups of $\mathrm{S}_n$. In particular, we prove the surprising result that for infinitely many $n$, the probability that a random subgroup of $\mathrm{S}_n$ is nilpotent is bounded away from $1$.
title Subgroups of symmetric groups: enumeration and asymptotic properties
topic Group Theory
20B35, 20F69, 05A16, 20E07, 20E25
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.05416