Number of conjugacy classes
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Definition
The number of conjugacy classes in a group is defined as the number of conjugacy classes, viz the number of equivalence classes under the equivalence relation of being conjugate.
This number is also sometimes termed the class number of the group.
Related group properties
- A group in which every conjugacy class is finite is termed an FC-group. In particular, a FC-group is finite if and only if it has finitely many conjugacy classes.
- A group with two conjugacy classes is a nontrivial group with exactly one conjugacy class of non-identity elements. Note that the only such finite group is cyclic group:Z2. However, there are many infinite groups with this property.
Facts
Ways of measuring this number for a finite group
- The number of conjugacy classes in a finite group equals the number of equivalence classes of irreducible representations. Further information: number of irreducible representations equals number of conjugacy classes
- The number of conjugacy classes is the product of the order of the group and the commuting fraction of the group, which is the probability that two elements commute. This follows from the orbit-counting theorem. Further information: commuting fraction, equivalence of definitions of commuting fraction
Lower bounds on the number of conjugacy classes
- The number of conjugacy classes in a group is at least as much as the number of elements in the center.
- The number of conjugacy classes in a group is at least as much as the number of elements in the abelianization.
- There are finitely many finite groups with bounded number of conjugacy classes. Thus, the number of conjugacy classes puts an upper bound on the order of a finite group. Conversely, the order of a group puts a lower bound on the number of conjugacy classes. On the other hand, there do exist infinite groups with only finitely many conjugacy classes.
Upper bounds on the number of conjugacy classes
- The number of conjugacy classes is at most as much as the number of elements in the group. Equality (for finite groups) holds if and only if the group is abelian.
- Commuting fraction more than five-eighths implies abelian: In particular, this means that for a finite non-abelian group, the number of conjugacy classes is bounded by
times the order of the group.
Relating the number of conjugacy classes for a group with subgroups, quotients, and direct products
Relationship type | Bound in one direction relating number of conjugacy classes | Bound in other direction relating number of conjugacy classes | Non-bounds |
---|---|---|---|
subgroup | Number of conjugacy classes in a subgroup of finite index is bounded by index times number of conjugacy classes in the whole group: This in particular puts an upper bound on the number of conjugacy classes in a subgroup in terms of the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group or equivalently a lower bound on the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group based on the number of conjugacy classes in the subgroup, using the index of the subgroup as the factor controlling the bounding. | Commuting fraction in subgroup is at least as much as in whole group: This in particular implies that the quotient of the number of conjugacy classes to the order is at least as much in a subgroup as in the whole group. Thus, the number of conjugacy classes in a subgroup puts an upper bound (via multiplication by the index of the subgroup) on the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group, and the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group puts a lower bound (via division by the index of the subgroup) on the number of conjugacy classes in the subgroup. | number of conjugacy classes in a subgroup may be more than in the whole group: Note that the upper and lower bounds bound each number in terms of the index of the subgroup times the other. This leaves a wide range of indeterminacy. It is possible for either of the two numbers to be bigger than the other. |
quotient group | number of conjugacy classes in a quotient is less than or equal to number of conjugacy classes of group: This gives an upper bound on the number of conjugacy classes in a quotient group in terms of the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group, or equivalently a lower bound on the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group based on the number of conjugacy classes in the quotient group. | commuting fraction in quotient group is at least as much as in whole group: This in particular implies that the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group is at most the order of the kernel times the number of conjugacy classes in the quotient group. Thus, it gives an upper bound on the number of conjugacy classes in the whole group in terms of the quotient, and a lower bound on the number of conjugacy classes in the quotient in terms of the whole group. | |
external direct product | number of conjugacy classes in a direct product is the product of the number of conjugacy classes in each factor, equivalently formulated as commuting fraction of direct product is product of commuting fractions | same as previous column, since it's an exact formula | -- |
group extension | number of conjugacy classes in extension group is bounded by product of number of conjugacy classes in normal subgroup and quotient group |
Particular cases
By number of conjugacy classes
Further information: There are finitely many finite groups with bounded number of conjugacy classes
Number of conjugacy classes | List of all finite groups with that number | List of orders of these groups |
---|---|---|
1 | trivial group | 1 |
2 | cyclic group:Z2 | 2 |
3 | cyclic group:Z3, symmetric group:S3 | 3, 6 |
4 | cyclic group:Z4, Klein four-group, dihedral group:D10, alternating group:A4, more? | 4, 4, 10, 12 |
5 | cyclic group:Z5, dihedral group:D8, quaternion group, dihedral group:D14, general affine group:GA(1,5), SmallGroup(21,1), symmetric group:S4, alternating group:A5 | 5, 8, 8, 14, 20, 21, 24, 60 |
By groups
Group | Order | Second part of GAP ID | Number of conjugacy classes | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
trivial group | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
cyclic group:Z2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
cyclic group:Z3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
cyclic group:Z4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
cyclic group:Z5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
symmetric group:S3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | cycle type determines conjugacy class, so number of conjugacy classes equals number of unordered integer partitions for a symmetric group. See also element structure of symmetric group:S3 and element structure of symmetric groups |
cyclic group:Z6 | 6 | 2 | 6 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
cyclic group:Z7 | 7 | 1 | 7 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
cyclic group:Z8 | 8 | 1 | 8 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
direct product of Z4 and Z2 | 8 | 2 | 8 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
dihedral group:D8 | 8 | 3 | 5 | See element structure of dihedral groups (for general formula: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
quaternion group | 8 | 4 | 5 | See element structure of dicyclic groups (for general formula) and element structure of quaternion group for specific information. See also nilpotency class and order determine conjugacy class size statistics for groups up to prime-fourth order |
elementary abelian group:E8 | 8 | 5 | 8 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
cyclic group:Z9 | 9 | 1 | 9 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
elementary abelian group:E9 | 9 | 2 | 9 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
dihedral group:D10 | 10 | 1 | 4 | See element structure of dihedral groups (for general formula: ![]() ![]() ![]() |
cyclic group:Z10 | 10 | 2 | 10 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |
cyclic group:Z11 | 11 | 1 | 11 | for an abelian group, number of conjugacy classes equals number of elements |