Projective special linear group is simple

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This article gives the statement, and possibly proof, of a particular group or type of group (namely, Projective special linear group (?)) satisfying a particular group property (namely, Simple group (?)).

Statement

Let be a field and be a natural number greater than . Then, the projective special linear group is a simple group provided one of these conditions holds:

  • .
  • has at least four elements.

Facts used

  1. Special linear group is perfect: Under the same conditions ( or has at least four elements), is a perfect group: it equals its own commutator subgroup.
  2. Perfectness is quotient-closed: The quotient of a perfect group by a normal subgroup is perfect.
  3. Abelian normal subgroup of core-free maximal subgroup is contranormal implies commutator subgroup is monolith

Related facts

Proof

The proof proceeds in the following steps:

  1. satisfies the hypotheses for fact (3): Consider the natural action of on the projective space . This is a primitive group action, and the stabilizer of any point is thus a core-free maximal subgroup. PLACEHOLDER FOR INFORMATION TO BE FILLED IN: [SHOW MORE]
  2. The commutator subgroup of is contained in every nontrivial normal subgroup of : This follows from the previous step and fact (3).
  3. equals its own commutator subgroup when or has at least four elements: This follows from facts (1) and (2).
  4. is simple when or has at least four elements: : This follows from the last two steps.