Maximal implies normal or abnormal

From Groupprops

This article gives the statement, and possibly proof, of a result according to which any Maximal subgroup (?) of a group satisfies exactly one of the following two subgroup properties: Normal subgroup (?) and Abnormal subgroup (?)
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Statement

Any maximal subgroup of a group is either normal or abnormal.

Related facts

Weaker facts

Definitions used

Maximal subgroup

Further information: Maximal subgroup

A proper subgroup of a group is termed a maximal subgroup if there is no proper subgroup of properly containing . In other words, if is a subgroup of such that , then or .

Normal subgroup

Further information: Normal subgroup

A subgroup of a group is termed normal in if it satisfies the following equivalent conditions:

  • For any , the subgroup is equal to .
  • The normalizer of in equals .

Abnormal subgroup

Further information: Abnormal subgroup

A subgroup of a group is termed abnormal in if, for any , where .

Proof

Given: A group , a maximal subgroup of .

To prove: is either normal or abnormal in .

Proof: Let be the normalizer of in . Then, . Thus, either , or . In the former case, is normal in .

In the latter case, . Now, pick any . Consider the subgroup . There are three cases:

  • is not contained in : By maximality of , , so .
  • : Thus, , and since , we get . Thus, .
  • is a proper subgroup of : is a proper subgroup of , forcing , which would imply that , a contradiction.