8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

Group Theory (3111)

Christian Hokaj
Friday
Jun 17, 2022 - Sep 16, 2022
7:30 - 9:30 PM ET (4:30 - 6:30 PM PT)

Overview
Week 6 (Jul 22) Class Transcript - Orbits and Stabilizers
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CH328 2022-07-22 19:30:51
Hi everyone!

CH328 2022-07-22 19:30:57

Ready for Group Actions Part 2?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:31:21

Week 6: Orbits and Stabilizers

CH328 2022-07-22 19:31:24

Last week we studied group actions via a hodgepodge of techniques to get a feel for the concept. This week we'll be tackling the
big theorems and using them to attack several concrete questions.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:31:38

First we need some definitions.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:31:39

Orbits

CH328 2022-07-22 19:31:52

Recall from the very end of last week that we had an action of Sn on C[x1 , … , xn ] permuting the variables.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:32:08

(Just: permute the indices)

CH328 2022-07-22 19:32:12

We showed that for D = ∏1≤i<j≤n (xj − xi ), every permutation in An sends D to itself, and every permutation in Sn ∖ An

sends D to −D.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:32:35

A set like {±D} is called an orbit. We saw this word briefly in Week 2, and we'll see it a lot more now. It is the set of all elements
of C[x1 , ⋯ , xn ] that can be reached from D by applying elements of Sn .

CH328 2022-07-22 19:32:51

For another example, what are the orbits in this action of C2 on a five-element set from last time?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:32:52

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CH328 2022-07-22 19:33:58

I haven't formally defined orbit, but if you're not sure, take a guess based on how the diagram looks and what you think it'd mean.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:34:39

Those are all orbits!

CH328 2022-07-22 19:34:40

The orbits are {2, 3}, {4, 5}, and {1}.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:34:51

Many interesting actions, like the action of the group of symmetries of the cube on the vertices of the cube, have only a single
orbit.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:35:02

Generally, if a group action has a single orbit, we call it transitive. We also met this word on some of last week's homework
problems.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:35:16

Alright, let's get a proper definition or two down. If G is a group that acts on a set X and x ∈ X, then how should we define the
orbit of x set-theoretically?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:35:39

We want to capture the notion that it's "Everything that can be reached from x by applying elements of G."

CH328 2022-07-22 19:36:50

The orbit of x is the set

Gx = {gx | g ∈ G}.

This is the set of all elements of X that are reachable from x by applying an element of G.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:37:02

Generally, an orbit of the action is the orbit of any element of X.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:37:11

Notice that this is very analogous to how we write things like ST = {st ∣ s ∈ S, t ∈ T }, though it's not exactly a case of that
notation since x is not a set.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:37:31

For instance, in the example we were just looking at, we'd write Sn D = {D, −D}.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:37:50

Let's see some visual examples to build up our understanding of orbits.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:37:54

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory
For example, the symmetry group of the equilateral triangle below acts on its circumcircle by rotation and reflection.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:37:56

CH328 2022-07-22 19:38:09

Can anybody suggest a particularly nice orbit of this action?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:39:35

Remember orbits should consist of elements of the set, not the group. Here, the group S3 is acting on the set of points on the
circumcircle.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:41:00

The vertices of the triangle! (which you could describe with coordinates or complex numbers if you'd like)

CH328 2022-07-22 19:41:03

CH328 2022-07-22 19:41:15

Which point is this the orbit of?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:42:08

This is equally well the orbit of any of the three vertices of the triangle.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:42:16

Let's look at some other points.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:42:17

Describe the orbit of this point on the circle:

CH328 2022-07-22 19:42:19

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CH328 2022-07-22 19:42:49

How many points are in the orbit of this point (including itself)?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:43:43

A lot of people seem to think 3, but remember there are six symmetries of the equilateral triangle. Do so many of those really send
that point to the same place?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:44:22

The orbit of this point has six elements, given by three rotations of this point and the reflections of these across the vertices of the
triangle.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:44:29

CH328 2022-07-22 19:44:53

It forms the vertices of a hexagon with two distinct side lengths, unless we're really lucky about the point we picked and the side
lengths happen to all be the same.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:45:16

All good so far?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:45:50

Let's get back to talking more abstractly about orbits.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:45:53

Now, the various orbits of X are a very special family of subsets.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:45:57

We want to think about the relationships between Ga, Gb, etc.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:46:19

In the example above, all six vertices of the hexagon have the whole hexagon as their orbit!

CH328 2022-07-22 19:46:27

Indeed, in each case we get three of the other vertices by reflections and two more by rotations.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:46:43

How could we conjecturally generalize this observation? (which we also saw with the three vertices of the equilateral triangle)

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CH328 2022-07-22 19:48:23

Ther are a few ways you could phrase it. We might conjecture that, if b ∈ Ga, then a ∈ Gb.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:48:42

Prove that if a is in the orbit of b then b is in the orbit of a.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:49:00

How can we write the condition "a is in the orbit of b" more explicitly with an element g ∈ G ?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:50:22

a is in the orbit of b means there is some g with a = gb .

CH328 2022-07-22 19:50:25

We need to show b = ha for some h ∈ G. Do you see a good candidate?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:51:18

We can apply g −1 to both sides of a = gb, to find g −1 a = g
−1
(gb) = b, so g −1 works for h.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:51:23

This says that a being in b's orbit is a "symmetric relation": we can just say two things are "in each other's orbit" without keeping
track of which of the two things comes first.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:51:43

Let's push this further to show that orbits that overlap must be equal.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:51:48

More generally, show that if Gx ∩ Gy is nonempty, then Gx = Gy .

CH328 2022-07-22 19:51:57

How is such a proof usually structured?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:53:33

You might be able to make a proof by contradiction work for this like a lot of people are suggesting.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:53:53

A "set containment" proof works here, too.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:53:55

To prove Gx = Gy, we have to prove Gx ⊂ Gy and Gy ⊂ Gx. Since x and y are symmetric in the problem, both proofs will be
identical.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:54:01

So it suffices to prove Gx ⊂ Gy.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:54:10

OK, so if b ∈ Gx, we need to prove b ∈ Gy.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:54:14

What should we do to keep moving?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:55:32

We can write b = gx for some g ∈ G, by definition of Gx. We want to find h ∈ G such that b = hy.

CH328 2022-07-22 19:55:39

So far, we haven't really done anything, just unfolded the definitions. How can we now really do something?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:56:44

We should use the assumption that Gx ∩ Gy is nonempty!

CH328 2022-07-22 19:56:47

Well, take an element a ∈ Gx ∩ Gy. How can we write a?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:58:04

We can write a = k1 x = k2 y for some k1 , k2 ∈ G.

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CH328 2022-07-22 19:58:06

How does the existence of a = k1 x = k2 y help us write b = gx as hy for some h?

CH328 2022-07-22 19:59:42

(It would help if we could relate b to a somehow.. )

CH328 2022-07-22 20:00:52

We can solve for x in terms of a! Namely, we have x so b
−1 −1
= k a, = gk a. . .
1 1

CH328 2022-07-22 20:00:57

−1 −1
Finally, since a = k2 y, we see b = gk
1
k2 y, so setting h = gk
1
k2 finishes the proof.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:01:02

So we've shown that if we have two different orbits, they don't intersect at all. What does this mean about how X is formed from
the action's orbits?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:02:05

Of course, every x ∈ X is in its own orbit, so the orbits can't be empty.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:02:07

Thus, the orbits of the action form a partition of X: a decomposition of X into disjoint and nonempty subsets.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:02:31

Furthermore, the action of G restricts to an action on each of the orbits.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:02:35

What's the word for the kind of action that G has on a single orbit Gx?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:03:44

The action on a single orbit has, well, a single orbit. So it's transitive!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:03:46

The conclusion of all this abstraction is this: we can decompose any G-action in a unique way as a disjoint union of transitive
actions (the orbits).

CH328 2022-07-22 20:03:52

Thus, every G-action is built out of transitive ones, so if you want to classify all G-actions, you might start by understanding the
transitive ones.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:03:59

In fact, we'll find in a couple weeks that a finite group has only finitely many transitive actions (up to isomorphism, of course), so
this is actually a plausible problem to try to solve!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:04:11

That said, many actions don't come to us decomposed in any obvious way into their orbits, so there's lots of interesting work to be
done with non-transitive actions too.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:04:31

Alright, enough abstraction for the moment! Are there questions before we play with an example?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:05:19

Example: the tetrahedron

CH328 2022-07-22 20:05:22

OK, let's play around with a tetrahedron now. Here's one:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:05:23

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CH328 2022-07-22 20:05:34

As we know, the symmetry group of the oriented tetrahedron is isomorphic with A4 , and in particular, it has twelve elements.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:05:50

Geometrically, what kind of elements are there?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:07:18

Lots of good descriptions!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:07:26

All kids of rotations and reflections!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:07:27

The most obvious kind of element is a vertex rotation: rotate around the line through a vertex and the midpoint of its opposite face,
like so:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:07:29

CH328 2022-07-22 20:07:43

There are also edge rotations. These fix the midpoints of two opposite edges and rotate through π:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:07:44

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CH328 2022-07-22 20:07:55

What kind of elements of A4 do these transformations correspond to?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:09:10

The edge rotations come from double 2-cycles like (12)(34), and the vertex rotations come from 3-cycles like (123).

CH328 2022-07-22 20:09:20

Is there any way to distinguish the two rotations at each vertex from each other?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:10:11

Yes, there is! Viewing a vertex rotation from the vertex it fixes, we can ask whether the rotation rotates the viewing plane clockwise
or counterclockwise.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:10:15

Here's a picture of a tetrahedron with labelled vertices, viewed from each of the four different vertices.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:10:16

CH328 2022-07-22 20:10:24

In the notation of which four vertex rotations are counterclockwise?

(123) (321) (124) (421) (134) (431) (234) (432)

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CH328 2022-07-22 20:12:43

The vertex rotations corresponding to the permutations (234), (143), (124), and (132) are counterclockwise.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:12:51

This is a case where geometry really assists group theory. I doubt you would think there was anything special about those
particular four elements of A4 without seeing the geometric picture!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:02

So, all in all, we have:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:05

1 identity element

4 counterclockwise rotations around vertices

4 clockwise rotations about vertices

3 rotations about the lines through opposite edges

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:12

We'll use this group a lot today, so let's name it, say, Tet.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:17

We'll look at a couple of actions of Tet. First, the definitional one: elements of Tet move around the vertices of the tetrahedron.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:26

Here's my favorite element of Tet. Call it ρ :

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:28

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:31

So, ρ is the counterclockwise rotation that fixes the vertex 1.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:47

Let's narrow our focus from the action of Tet to the action of the subgroup H = ⟨ρ⟩.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:13:52

What are the orbits of the action of H on the vertices of the tetrahedron?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:15:15

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Remember the orbits should be subsets of {1, 2, 3, 4}.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:15:58

The element does nothing to the top vertex. It is fixed by the rotation ρ (or is a fixed point of ρ.) The bottom three vertices are
cyclically permuted by the element.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:16:01

There are thus two orbits: {1} and {2, 3, 4}.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:16:03

CH328 2022-07-22 20:16:10

Here's another element of the group, the rotation about the line through the midpoints of a pair of opposite sides:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:16:11

CH328 2022-07-22 20:16:13

What are the orbits of this element?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:17:49

This element splits the vertices into two orbits:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:17:50

CH328 2022-07-22 20:17:57

We will denote the 3 edge-rotation symmetries by the following pictures, removing the vertex labels for concision:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:17:59

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CH328 2022-07-22 20:18:11

We will denote the 8 vertex-rotation symmetries as below. The fixed vertex is blue and the other 3-element orbits are red. We'll use
+ to denote the counter-clockwise rotation and − to denote the clockwise rotation.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:18:12

CH328 2022-07-22 20:18:29

Therefore the entire group Tet, including e, will be described today, symbolically, as:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:18:30

CH328 2022-07-22 20:18:37

I've included the name of each corresponding element in A4 as well.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:19:02

But we need one more definition to continue on with group actions.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:19:08

The stabilizer of an element x. This is the set of elements of G that fix x.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:19:24

So an orbit is a subset of X, but a Stabilizer is a subset of G.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:19:36

We saw in the example of Sn acting on C[x1 , … , xn ] that the stabilizer of D was An .

CH328 2022-07-22 20:19:42

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory
What's the stabilizer of a vertex in the action of Tet on the vertices of the tetrahedron?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:20:50

The stabilizer of any vertex is the subset of Tet formed by the rotations whose axis goes through that vertex.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:20:54

So how many elements are in the stabilizer?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:22:07

There are three: the identity plus two nontrivial rotations about that axis.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:22:09

More formally, if G is a group acting on a set X and x ∈ X, how can we define the stabilizer of x?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:23:25

The stabilizer of x is the subset

Stab(x) = {g ∈ G | gx = x}.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:23:27

Can you spot any nice properties of the subset Stab(x)?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:24:19

Based on the examples above, we've got to wonder whether it's a subgroup! What do we have to check?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:25:11

We have to check that Stab(x) is closed under inverses and under the group operation.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:25:13

Let g, h ∈ Stab(x). Why is h−1 also in Stab(x)?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:26:09

Well, we need to show that h−1 x = x.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:26:10

We know x = hx!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:26:11

Thus

−1 −1 −1
h x = h (hx) = (h h)x = x,

as desired.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:26:15

OK, why is gh in the stabilizer too?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:10

We have gh(x) = g(hx) = gx = x, so there's nothing much to say here.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:15

Thus the stabilizer of any element in any action is a subgroup. That's a great way to produce tons of subgroups!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:22

The examples we have so far are a bit too simple to really get a good sense for what stabilizers are all about, and how they interact
with orbits.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:28

So, let's look at a more complex action of Tet.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:31

Consider the set X of all ways of coloring the tetrahedron's vertices black or white. We can see that Tet acts on the set X by
transforming a colored tetrahedron.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:41

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Note that, though some of our pictures have been unlabelled, we want to think of the tetrahedron's vertices as labelled by
{1, 2, 3, 4}. For the purposes of combinatorics, that means the vertices are distinguishable.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:46

How many elements are there in X?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:27:47

4 8 12 16 24

CH328 2022-07-22 20:29:11

There are 16 4
= 2 , since each of four vertices can have either of two colors.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:29:12

So, this is a much bigger action of Tet than before. For a big, complicated action, we want to break things down by looking at the
orbits (the transitive pieces of the action) and the stabilizers.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:29:18

In the below, we'll often call elements of X "paintings", "pictures", or "colorings" so we don't sound too boring.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:29:28

What is the stabilizer of this coloring?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:29:29

CH328 2022-07-22 20:30:22

This element is fixed by the identity (every element is fixed by the identity). It is also fixed by the two rotations around the black
vertex. The stabilizer is a cyclic group of order 3:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:30:26

CH328 2022-07-22 20:30:31

What is the orbit of the above picture?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:32:04

Remember the orbit should be a subset of X, which is the set of colorings of the tetrahedron where we color the vertices black or
white.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:32:25

It's the set of the four one-black-vertex paintings:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:32:26

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CH328 2022-07-22 20:32:29

Given any two of these paintings, we just have to send the black vertex to the black vertex by some symmetry to be sure we're
getting from one painting to the other, and we know the action of Tet on the set of vertices is transitive.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:32:40

What is the stabilizer of this painting?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:32:41

CH328 2022-07-22 20:33:39

This painting is fixed by every element, so the stabilizer is Tet.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:33:41

What's its orbit?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:34:40

Right, the orbit contains just that painting.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:34:44

What is the stabilizer of this painting?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:34:45

CH328 2022-07-22 20:36:20

This painting is stabilized by the cyclic group of order 2 generated by the edge rotation below:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:36:21

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CH328 2022-07-22 20:36:24

And its orbit?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:27

Yes, the orbit is all six two-black-vertex paintings since there's an element of Tet sending any edge to any other edge:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:28

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:32

In short, we have a stabilizer Tet paired with a one-element orbit, a stabilizer C3 paired with a four-element orbit, and a stabilizer
C2 paired with a six-element orbit, like so:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:35

Coloring Stabilizer Size of stabilizer Size of orbit

0B, 4W Tet 12 1

1B, 3W C3 3 4

2B, 2W C2 2 6

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:43

To complete the chart, we ought to look at orbits and stabilizers of a 3B, 1W coloring and a 4B, 0W coloring.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:50

By symmetry these will work the same as the colorings that interchange the numbers of black and white vertices.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:55

That expands our table like so:

CH328 2022-07-22 20:37:56

Coloring Stabilizer Size of stabilizer Size of orbit

0B, 4W Tet 12 1

1B, 3W C3 3 4

2B, 2W C2 2 6

3B, 1W C3 3 4

4B, 0W Tet 12 1

CH328 2022-07-22 20:38:02

How can we be check that we've found all the colorings?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:38:55

There are 16 elements accounted for in our five orbits, and that's our whole set X.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:38:59

Do we notice anything cool about all our orbit-stabilizer pairings?
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CH328 2022-07-22 20:39:44

In every case, the product of the orbit and stabilizer cardinalities is 12, the cardinality of Tet!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:39:51

And this holds in general!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:39:53

The Orbit-Stabilizer Theorem says that if G is a finite group acting on a finite set X, then for every x ∈ X we have

|Gx| ⋅ |Stab(x)| = |G|.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:40:19

We'll hopefully get to prove this later. But first we'll play around with it a little after the break. We resume at 8:46 EST! (5:46 PST)

CH328 2022-07-22 20:46:08

Alright, let's get back to it!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:46:22

We'll see how powerful the Orbit-Stabilizer Theorem is first!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:46:25

Lagrange's Theorem

CH328 2022-07-22 20:46:32

Consider any group G. Then G acts on the set P(G) of subsets of G. If S ∈ P(G) (that is, S ⊂ G ,) then by definition

gS = {gs | s ∈ S}.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:46:45

a) Any subgroup H is, of course, itself a subset of G. That is, H ∈ P(G). What is the stabilizer of H ∈ P(G) under this action of
G on P(G)?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:46:55

What does this mean, more explicitly?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:48:51

We are looking for the elements g ∈ G such that gh ∈ H for every h in H .

CH328 2022-07-22 20:48:57

What are they?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:49:44

Right!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:49:48

If g ∈ H then gh ∈ H for sure since H is a subgroup.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:49:52

If g ∉ H then, for instance, ge ∉ H so gH ≠ H .

CH328 2022-07-22 20:49:57

So, the stabilizer of H under this action is exactly H .

CH328 2022-07-22 20:50:04

b) Prove Lagrange's Theorem: The order of a subgroup of a finite group divides the order of the group.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:50:09

What are we going to use?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:50:40

Probably the theorem that's still stuck on top of the screen! And part (a), what we just showed.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:50:44

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory
We already have a group action in mind: it's G acting on its set of subsets, P(G), by left multiplication.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:50:50

We also just mentioned that H is the stabilizer of H under this action.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:51:01

What does the orbit-stabilizer theorem let us conclude?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:52:09

|G| |G|
Whatever the orbit, it has size = .
|Stab(H )| |H |

CH328 2022-07-22 20:52:13

Whatever else we know, we're sure that's an integer! So, the order of H divides the order of G.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:52:32

There we have it! A slick proof of Lagrange's Theorem.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:52:37

What does Lagrange say about the subgroup ⟨g⟩ < G ?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:53:38

Lagrange tells us that |⟨g⟩| divides |G|, but we also know |⟨g⟩| = |g|. So, we know the order of an element is a divisor of the order
of the group (what we've been calling Lagrange's Theorem all along).

CH328 2022-07-22 20:53:58

What are the possible cardinalities of a transitive G-action, according to the Orbit-Stabilizer Theorem (OST)?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:54:03

Recall that transitive actions have, by definition, a single orbit.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:54:08

What does transitivity give us here, relevant to the OST?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:55:12

If G acts transitively on X, then for any x ∈ X, we know |Gx| = |X|.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:55:15

|G|
In this case, the OST says |X| = , for any x ∈ X.
|Stab(x)|

CH328 2022-07-22 20:55:25

So |X| must be a divisor of G. That's getting at what I said earlier: there can't be that many different transitive actions!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:55:35

We got the same calculation for every x ∈ X. So in a transitive action, every point has the same size of stabilizer. Namely, for any
|G|
x ∈ X , we must have |Stab(x)| = .
|X|

CH328 2022-07-22 20:55:54

That's quite useful!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:56:16

Ready to prove the OST?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:56:43

OK, let's prove the orbit-stabilizer theorem.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:56:52

First, let's see how this works back with our painted-tetrahedron example.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:56:54

Recall that we were coloring the vertices of a tetrahedron black and white. Consider this coloring, x:

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

CH328 2022-07-22 20:56:55

CH328 2022-07-22 20:57:02

We found that the stabilizer was the cyclic group of order 3 formed by rotations fixing the black vertex, while the orbit was the four
paintings with one black vertex. This was evidence toward the OST, since here |G| = 12, |Gx| = 4, and |Stab(x)| = 3.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:57:09

But can we see the equation |G| = |Gx||Stab(x)| set-theoretically, here?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:57:18

That is, we'd like to actually see the symmetry group of the tetrahedon as the union of four pairwise disjoint three-element sets
somehow related to the above painting.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:57:21

Does anybody see any tempting three-element subsets of G = Tet?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:58:30

Well, what's one three element subset that is somehow related to Gx or Stab(x)?

CH328 2022-07-22 20:58:46

(Don't look too hard. )

CH328 2022-07-22 20:59:23

Yeah! The Stabilizer of x itself!

CH328 2022-07-22 20:59:31

We need to find three more such sets, and we can probably imagine one should be associated to each element of the orbit Gx.

CH328 2022-07-22 20:59:39

So we want a subset Sy ⊂ G for each y ∈ Gx, and we have Sx = Stab(x).

CH328 2022-07-22 20:59:48

How can we generalize Stab(x) = {g ∈ G ∣ gx = x} to give a set associated to each y ∈ Gx?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:00:40

What might we change in the equation gx = x to involve y?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:01:20

We could try setting Sy = {g ∈ G ∣ gx = y}!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:01:24

So Sy is the set of gs that send x to y.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:01:33

Let's look at an example of Sy . For instance, here's x again, next to a choice of y.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:01:35

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

CH328 2022-07-22 21:01:44

We have Stab(x) = {e, (234), (432)}.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:01:47

Next, what is Sy for the y above?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:02:46

Careful, Sy is not the stabilizer of y.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:03:30

We have

Sy = {(123), (124), (12)(34)}.

What do we want to prove about these Sy s?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:04:26

We'd like to prove that they're mutually disjoint and that |Sy | = |Stab(x)|, so that |G| = |Stab(x)||Gx|.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:04:29

How do these conditions look in our example?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:05:20

They look great! We calculated |Sy | = 3 , first of all.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:05:34

And Sy is disjoint from Stab(x).

CH328 2022-07-22 21:05:38

So far, so good.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:05:40

Why are all the Sy = {g ∈ G ∣ gx = y} disjoint?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:06:45

Well, if g ∈ Sy , then gx = y, so we certainly can't have g ∈ Sz , unless y = z.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:06:46

That's actually the general, non-example-dependent proof.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:06:52

But so far we don't have a general argument for the cardinality of Sy .

CH328 2022-07-22 21:07:00

In general, we know we want all the Sy to have the same cardinality as Sx = Stab(x). So what are we going to need to do?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:08:34

We'll need to give a bijection between Sx = {g ∣ gx = x} and Sy = {g ∣ gx = y}, for every y ∈ Gx!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:08:41

Well, if there is any bijection, there are lots. In our example above, maybe we can start by trying to find a nice bijection sending
e ↦ (123).

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

CH328 2022-07-22 21:08:48

Recalling that Stab(x) = {e, (234), (432)}, is there some nice way to decide whether we should then send (234) to (124) or to
(12)(34)?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:09:39

(Hint: We sent e to (123) = (123) ⋅ e ...)

CH328 2022-07-22 21:11:00

We have (123)(234) = (12)(34). . . Interesting!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:11:15

And (123)(234) is (124), wow! So we have a really nice bijection from Stab(x) to Sy , here. How can we summarize all of its
values in a single formula?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:11:33

Some of you said it already, but to summarize.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:12:03

Errr... sorry, (123)(432) = (124).

CH328 2022-07-22 21:12:35

The bijection is g ↦ (123)g.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:12:44

Does that give us any ideas for other nice bijections, by the way?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:13:42

We could also map g ↦ (124)g or g ↦ (12)(34)g. Check them--they work!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:13:55

Alright, I think we have the idea! Let's prove it in general.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:13:56

Let G now be any finite group acting on any set X with x ∈ X. We want to prove |G| = |Gx||Stab(x)|.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:14:05

Remember our proposal: We consider the Sy , where Sy = {g ∈ G ∣ gx = y}. These are subsets of G (but not necessarily
subgroups).

CH328 2022-07-22 21:14:16

To be sure we have the notation clear in our heads, what's Sx ?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:14:53

We have Sx = Stab(x).

CH328 2022-07-22 21:15:00

First, we quickly note that G = ⋃ Sy , since every element of G sends x somewhere in Gx, and the Sy are all disjoint.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:15:10

Thus we've written G as a disjoint union of |Gx| sets. The key step comes now: what do we do?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:16:09

We try to prove that all |Gx| of these sets have the same cardinality, namely, |Stab(x)|.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:16:19

We know |Sx | = |Stab(x)|, since these sets are literally equal, and things are often in bijection in group theory, so hopefully this
conjecture isn't too bold.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:16:30

We want to define bijections Stab(x) → Sy for every y to prove it.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:16:33

What do we have to do to define a bijection like the one in our example?

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

CH328 2022-07-22 21:17:36

We have to choose, arbitrarily, some gy ∈ Sy for each y. This will be the image of e under our bijection. There's no "best" choice!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:17:41

Now our proposed bijection Stab(x) → Sy sends g ↦ gy g.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:17:51

First, it's not hard to prove that this is really a bijection, since its inverse is h
−1
↦ gy h.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:18:04

But we have to prove this is well-defined: we have to prove that gy g is actually in Sy !

CH328 2022-07-22 21:18:13

Explicitly, we have to prove that gy gx = y. Why is that true?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:18:48

(remember g ∈ Stab(x))

CH328 2022-07-22 21:19:42

Well, gx = x since g ∈ Stab(x). And gy x = y by definition of gy !

CH328 2022-07-22 21:19:46

We're done! We've written G as a union of |Gx| sets, each being of cardinality |Stab(x)|. There we have it!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:19:52

By the way, the sets gy Stab(x) are called left cosets of Stab(x). Any subgroup has cosets defined in the same way. We'll study
them more in a couple weeks.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:20:11

Just now, we sent Stab(x) to Sy using the left action of G on itself (Well, OK, on its set of subsets, same idea.)

CH328 2022-07-22 21:20:46

Let's now study another important action:

CH328 2022-07-22 21:20:47

Conjugation

CH328 2022-07-22 21:20:52

The conjugation action of a group is one of the examples that comes up most frequently.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:21:00

We say that h ∈ G is conjugate to k if there is some g such that h = gkg
−1
; in other words, if h and k share an orbit under the
conjugation action.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:21:06

If h is conjugate to k, is k always conjugate to h?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:21:56

Sure, because we have k = g
−1
hg = g
−1
h(g
−1
)
−1
.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:21:59

And if h is conjugate to k and k is conjugate to ℓ, is h conjugate to ℓ?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:22:39

Yep! If h and k then we see h
−1 −1 −1
= g1 kg = g2 ℓg , = (g1 g2 )ℓ(g1 g2 ) .
1 2

CH328 2022-07-22 21:22:41

Finally, a silly point that's surprisingly relevant in a lot of situations: is h conjugate to itself?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:23:13

Of course! We can just take h = ehe
−1
.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:23:14

Because of these three properties, conjugacy of group elements is what we call an equivalence relation.

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

CH328 2022-07-22 21:23:24

In fact, what we've just said is equivalent to the fact that the conjugation action partitions G as a disjoint union of the orbits, which
we already know holds for any action.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:23:43

In general, an "equivalence relation" on a set determines a "partition" on the set.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:23:45

Like the orbits of any action, the conjugation action partitions G into a union of disjoint subsets, in which any two elements are
conjugate to each other. We call the elements of this partition conjugacy classes.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:24:00

Understanding a group's conjugacy classes is often key to understanding the group.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:24:22

For this week's writing problem, you'll get to explore the conjugacy classes of permutation groups!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:24:47

Let's finish today with another very important result in group theory that will allow us to start classifying groups of nice order.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:24:48

The Class Equation

CH328 2022-07-22 21:24:53

If we let C be the set of conjugacy classes of some group G, we get that

G = ⋃ c

c∈C

and the classes are disjoint, as happens with the orbits of any action.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:25:02

What counting relationship does this give us?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:25:53

(In other words, how else can we think of |G|? )

CH328 2022-07-22 21:26:34

We can conclude |G| = ∑ |c|.

c∈C

CH328 2022-07-22 21:26:38

This isn't quite useful yet, but we can make it useful with a couple of observations.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:26:48

Which elements of G are in conjugacy classes of size 1?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:27:41

An element z is in a conjugacy class of size 1 if

−1
gzg = z

for every g ∈ G, that is, gz = zg.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:27:45

By definition, this is true if and only if z is in the center of G.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:28:03

What does the Orbit-Stabilizer Theorem tell us about |c| for an arbitrary conjugacy class?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:28:59

The OST tells us that |G| = |c||Stab(x)|, for any x in the conjugacy class c.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:29:03

Since the conjugacy classes are orbits of a G-action, the numbers |c| must all be factors of |G|.

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

CH328 2022-07-22 21:29:07

Now we're getting somewhere. We can remove the center from the sum above and get

CH328 2022-07-22 21:29:09

The Class Equation: |G| = |Z(G)| + ∑ |c|.

|c|>1

CH328 2022-07-22 21:29:17

A key thing that makes this equation useful is that all of those |c|s must be divisors of |G|.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:29:28

Let's finish class with a beautiful problem.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:29:31

Prove that any group of order p2 is Abelian.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:30:01

That's really powerful! All we need to know is that the order is the square of a prime and we have an Abelian group!

CH328 2022-07-22 21:30:05

How could we talk about a group being Abelian in a way that might be relevant to the class equation?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:30:21

(Sorry we're going to run over a bit, but I think it's worth it to solve this cool problem! )

CH328 2022-07-22 21:30:46

A group is Abelian if and only if Z(G) = G.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:30:47

Let's try to prove this by contradiction. Suppose that |G| = p
2
but Z(G) is not the entire group.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:30:53

What can we say about |Z(G)|?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:31:32

By Lagrange's Theorem, since Z(G) is a proper subgroup of G, we know that |Z(G)| is either 1 or p.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:31:35

If |Z(G)| = 1 then the class equation reads

2
p = 1 + ∑ |c|.

|c|>1

CH328 2022-07-22 21:31:41

Why is this a problem?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:32:49

Every other class has order that is a nontrivial factor of p2 (so p or p2 ), and the sides of the equation are not congruent modulo p.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:32:54

Therefore if Z(G) is not G, then |Z(G)| = p.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:33:11

We still need to find a contradiction in this case.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:33:12

Well, it's nice to work with some individual elements, and effectively all we know right now is that we have some central element, z,
and some noncentral element, g.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:33:25

Putting those two elements together gives a group ⟨z, g⟩ that is larger than Z(G), but any subgroup larger than Z(G) has order
p
2
, so it must be all of G.

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8/8/22, 11:51 PM 3111 Group Theory

CH328 2022-07-22 21:33:39

Therefore every element of the group is a word in z and g. How does this help?

CH328 2022-07-22 21:34:27

Since g commutes with z and with g, we conclude that g commutes with everything! This is impossible since we assumed that g
was noncentral, i.e. it did not commute with everything.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:34:41

Thus we've reached a contradiction: if |G| = p
2
and Z(G) is not the whole group, then G must be Abelian, so in fact Z(G) is the
whole group after all. We've shown that all groups of order p2 are Abelian.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:35:34

With some cleverness, you can use the class equation in similar classification problems. But not groups of order p3 or pq. Those
are not all Abelian (like Q8 and S3 are not Abelian) and will require deeper theory to fully understand...

CH328 2022-07-22 21:36:38

Sorry for running over! I'll speed through the summary.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:36:40

Summary

CH328 2022-07-22 21:36:46

Today, we made big strides in the depth of our understanding of group actions.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:36:49

We met some more examples of actions, from the merely amusing (the Rubik's group) to the very important (the action of Sn on
the set of polynomials.)

CH328 2022-07-22 21:36:51

We also figured out one of the most important results so far in the course: the Orbit-Stabilizer theorem, which says that the
cardinality of a group G is the product of the cardinalities of any orbit of an action of G and the stabilizer of any element in that
orbit.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:36:55

Here, if G acts on X, an orbit is a subset of X of the form Gx = {gx ∣ g ∈ G} while a stabilizer is the subgroup of G of the form
{g ∈ G ∣ gx = x}.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:37:08

This already empowers a lot of great group-theoretic counting, including proving the general form of Lagrange's theorem: the order
of a subgroup divides the order of the group.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:37:11

Next week, we'll kick that up yet another notch.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:37:17

Finally, we studied the conjugation action a bit. We learned that conjugacy classes can be geometrically meaningful, and we
derived the class equation, a simple enough result with surprisingly profound consequences.

CH328 2022-07-22 21:37:21

See you next time for perhaps the single best application of fancy college math to nice concrete combinatorics!

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