SEMINAR: Groups and Combinatorics Seminar: Normal coverings of finite symmetric and alternating groups

Groups and Combinatorics Seminar



Daniela Bubboloni (University of Firenze)

will speak on

Normal coverings of finite symmetric and alternating groups

at 12 noon on Tuesday 22nd of March in MLR2

Abstract: In this talk we consider the symmetric and alternating finite groups G=S_n, A_n and investigate the minimum number gamma(G) of maximal subgroups H_i, i=1 ... k of G such that each element in G lies in some G-conjugate of H_i. The number gamma(G) lies between a*phi(n) and b*n for certain constants a, b, where phi(n) is the Euler phi-function and depends on the arithmetical complexity of n. In the case where n is divisible by at most two primes, we determine the exact value for gamma(S_n) when n is odd and for gamma(A_n) when n is even.

All welcome