Irreducible subgroups of algebraic groups

A closed subgroup of a semisimple algebraic group G is said to be G‐irreducible if it lies in no proper parabolic subgroup of G. We prove a number of results concerning such subgroups. Firstly they have only finitely many overgroups in G; secondly, with some specified exceptions, there exist G‐irreducible subgroups of type A1; and thirdly, we prove an embedding theorem for G‐irreducible subgroup

Multiplicity-free representations of algebraic groups II

We continue our work (started in ``Multiplicity-free representations of algebraic groups", arXiv:2101.04476), on the program of classifying triples $(X,Y,V)$, where $X,Y$ are simple algebraic groups over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero with $X<Y$, and $V$ is an irreducible module for $Y$ such that the restriction $V\downarrow X$ is multiplicity-free. In this paper we handle the case where $X$ is of type $A$, and is irreducibly embedded in $Y$ of type $B,C$ or $D$. It turns out that there are relatively few triples for $X$ of arbitrary rank, but a number of interesting exceptional examples arise for small ranks.Comment: 60 page

Rank 3 permutation characters and maximal subgroups

In this paper we classify all maximal subgroups M of a nearly simple primitive rank 3 group G of type L=Omega_{2m+1}(3), m > 3; acting on an L-orbit E of non-singular points of the natural module for L such that 1_P^G <=1_M^G where P is a stabilizer of a point in E. This result has an application to the study of minimal genera of algebraic curves which admit group actions.Comment: 41 pages, to appear in Forum Mathematicu

A Census Of Highly Symmetric Combinatorial Designs

As a consequence of the classification of the finite simple groups, it has been possible in recent years to characterize Steiner t-designs, that is t-(v,k,1) designs, mainly for t = 2, admitting groups of automorphisms with sufficiently strong symmetry properties. However, despite the finite simple group classification, for Steiner t-designs with t > 2 most of these characterizations have remained longstanding challenging problems. Especially, the determination of all flag-transitive Steiner t-designs with 2 < t < 7 is of particular interest and has been open for about 40 years (cf. [11, p. 147] and [12, p. 273], but presumably dating back to 1965). The present paper continues the author's work [20, 21, 22] of classifying all flag-transitive Steiner 3-designs and 4-designs. We give a complete classification of all flag-transitive Steiner 5-designs and prove furthermore that there are no non-trivial flag-transitive Steiner 6-designs. Both results rely on the classification of the finite 3-homogeneous permutation groups. Moreover, we survey some of the most general results on highly symmetric Steiner t-designs.Comment: 26 pages; to appear in: "Journal of Algebraic Combinatorics