Alternating groups as flag-transitive automorphism groups of 2-designs with block size seven

In this article, we study flag-transitive $2$-$(v,k,\lambda)$ designs with small block size. We show that if $k$ is prime, then $G$ is point-primitive. In particular, we show that if $k=7$, then $G$ is of almost simple or affine type. We also prove that if $\mathcal{D}$ is a $2$-design with $k=7$ admitting flag-transitive almost simple automorphism group with socle an alternating group, then $\mathcal{D}$ is $PG_{2}(3,2)$ with parameter set $(15,7,3)$ and $G=A_7$, or $\mathcal{D}$ is the $2$-design with parameter set $(55, 7, 1680)$ and $G=A_{11}$ or $S_{11}$

Symmetry properties of subdivision graphs

The subdivision graph $S(\Sigma)$ of a graph $\Sigma$ is obtained from $\Sigma$ by `adding a vertex' in the middle of every edge of \Si. Various symmetry properties of $\S(\Sigma)$ are studied. We prove that, for a connected graph $\Sigma$, $S(\Sigma)$ is locally $s$-arc transitive if and only if $\Sigma$ is $\lceil\frac{s+1}{2}\rceil$-arc transitive. The diameter of $S(\Sigma)$ is $2d+\delta$, where $\Sigma$ has diameter $d$ and $0\leqslant \delta\leqslant 2$, and local $s$-distance transitivity of $\S(\Sigma)$ is defined for $1\leqslant s\leqslant 2d+\delta$. In the general case where $s\leqslant 2d-1$ we prove that $S(\Sigma)$ is locally $s$-distance transitive if and only if $\Sigma$ is $\lceil\frac{s+1}{2}\rceil$-arc transitive. For the remaining values of $s$, namely $2d\leqslant s\leqslant 2d+\delta$, we classify the graphs $\Sigma$ for which $S(\Sigma)$ is locally $s$-distance transitive in the cases, $s\leqslant 5$ and $s\geqslant 15+\delta$. The cases $\max\{2d, 6\}\leqslant s\leqslant \min\{2d+\delta, 14+\delta\}$ remain open

On groups with the same character degrees as almost simple groups with socle the Mathieu groups

Let $G$ be a finite group and $cd(G)$ denote the set of complex irreducible character degrees of $G$. In this paper, we prove that if $G$ is a finite group and $H$ is an almost simple group whose socle is Mathieu group such that $cd(G) =cd(H)$, then there exists an Abelian subgroup $A$ of $G$ such that $G/A$ is isomorphic to $H$. This study is heading towards the study of an extension of Huppert's conjecture (2000) for almost simple groups.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1108.0010 by other author