Relation implication expression

Definition

A subgroup relation is a property that can be evaluated for an ordered pair of subgroups of a group. It can thus be thought of as a property over ordered pairs of subgroups in the same group.

The relation implication operator takes as input two subgroup relations and outputs a subgroup property, as follows. Given two subgroup relations $a$ and $b$, the subgroup property $a\implies b$ is defined as follows:

$H\leq G$ satisfies $a\implies b$ if for any subgroup $K$ such that $(H,K)$ satisfies $a$, $(H,K)$ must also satisfy $b$.

Examples

Equivalence relation implications

Some important equivalence relations are:

• Having the same order
• Being isomorphic as abstract groups
• Being automorphs, that is, being subgroups such that one can be taken to the other via an automorphism of the whole group
• Being conjugate subgroups, that is, being subgroups such that one can be taken to the other via an inner automorpism of the whole group
• Being the same subgroup

These equivalence relations are in increasing order of fineness.

Some natural relation implication properties arising from these are:

• Order-unique subgroup = Same order → Same subgroup
• Isomorph-free subgroup = Isomorphic → Same subgroup