On the number of conjugacy classes of a permutation group

We prove that any permutation group of degree $n \geq 4$ has at most $5^{(n-1)/3}$ conjugacy classes.Comment: 9 page

The minimal base size for a p-solvable linear group

Let $V$ be a finite vector space over a finite field of order $q$ and of characteristic $p$. Let $G\leq GL(V)$ be a $p$-solvable completely reducible linear group. Then there exists a base for $G$ on $V$ of size at most $2$ unless $q \leq 4$ in which case there exists a base of size at most $3$. The first statement extends a recent result of Halasi and Podoski and the second statement generalizes a theorem of Seress. An extension of a theorem of P\'alfy and Wolf is also given.Comment: 11 page

A lower bound for the number of conjugacy classes of a finite group

Every finite group whose order is divisible by a prime $p$ has at least $2 \sqrt{p-1}$ conjugacy classes.Comment: references added to the Introductio

Normalizers of Primitive Permutation Groups

Let $G$ be a transitive normal subgroup of a permutation group $A$ of finite degree $n$. The factor group $A/G$ can be considered as a certain Galois group and one would like to bound its size. One of the results of the paper is that $|A/G| < n$ if $G$ is primitive unless $n = 3^{4}$, $5^4$, $3^8$, $5^8$, or $3^{16}$. This bound is sharp when $n$ is prime. In fact, when $G$ is primitive, $|\mathrm{Out}(G)| < n$ unless $G$ is a member of a given infinite sequence of primitive groups and $n$ is different from the previously listed integers. Many other results of this flavor are established not only for permutation groups but also for linear groups and Galois groups.Comment: 44 pages, grant numbers updated, referee's comments include

Finite groups have more conjugacy classes

We prove that for every $\epsilon > 0$ there exists a $\delta > 0$ so that every group of order $n \geq 3$ has at least $\delta \log_{2} n/{(\log_{2} \log_{2} n)}^{3+\epsilon}$ conjugacy classes. This sharpens earlier results of Pyber and Keller. Bertram speculates whether it is true that every finite group of order $n$ has more than $\log_{3}n$ conjugacy classes. We answer Bertram's question in the affirmative for groups with a trivial solvable radical

Set-Direct Factorizations of Groups

We consider factorizations $G=XY$ where $G$ is a general group, $X$ and $Y$ are normal subsets of $G$ and any $g\in G$ has a unique representation $g=xy$ with $x\in X$ and $y\in Y$. This definition coincides with the customary and extensively studied definition of a direct product decomposition by subsets of a finite abelian group. Our main result states that a group $G$ has such a factorization if and only if $G$ is a central product of $\left\langle X\right\rangle$ and $\left\langle Y\right\rangle$ and the central subgroup $\left\langle X\right\rangle \cap \left\langle Y\right\rangle$ satisfies certain abelian factorization conditions. We analyze some special cases and give examples. In particular, simple groups have no non-trivial set-direct factorization