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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Etingof, Pavel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16364
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author Etingof, Pavel
author_facet Etingof, Pavel
contents This is an expository paper about iterations of a smooth real function $f$ on $[0,\varepsilon)$ such that $f(0)=0$, $f'(0)=1$, and $f(x)<x$ for $x>0$, i.e., the sequence defined by $x_{n+1}=f(x_n)$. This sequence has interesting asymptotics, whose study leads to the question of classifying conjugacy classes in the group of formal changes of variable $y=f(x)$, i.e., formal series $f(x)=x+a_2x^2+a_3x^2+...$ with real coefficients (under composition). The same classification applies over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_p$ for suitably truncated series $f$, defining a family of $p$-groups which have the smallest number of conjugacy classes for a given order, i.e., are the ``most noncommutative" finite groups currently known. The paper should be accessible to undergraduates and at least partially to advanced high school students.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_16364
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Iterating sine, equivalence classes of variable changes, and groups with few conjugacy classes
Etingof, Pavel
History and Overview
This is an expository paper about iterations of a smooth real function $f$ on $[0,\varepsilon)$ such that $f(0)=0$, $f'(0)=1$, and $f(x)<x$ for $x>0$, i.e., the sequence defined by $x_{n+1}=f(x_n)$. This sequence has interesting asymptotics, whose study leads to the question of classifying conjugacy classes in the group of formal changes of variable $y=f(x)$, i.e., formal series $f(x)=x+a_2x^2+a_3x^2+...$ with real coefficients (under composition). The same classification applies over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_p$ for suitably truncated series $f$, defining a family of $p$-groups which have the smallest number of conjugacy classes for a given order, i.e., are the ``most noncommutative" finite groups currently known. The paper should be accessible to undergraduates and at least partially to advanced high school students.
title Iterating sine, equivalence classes of variable changes, and groups with few conjugacy classes
topic History and Overview
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.16364