Replacing a subgroup by a normal subgroup
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It often happens that we have a subgroup of a group
satisfying certain properties, but we want a normal subgroup
of
satisfying the same, or similar, properties. One way of going about this is to try showing that
itself is normal. However, this may be hard to establish, and may in fact be false. There are some other techniques that we can use to replace
by a normal subgroup
of
.
For more on techniques to directly prove that a given subgroup is normal, refer to proving normality.
Contents
The normal core
Further information: normal core
General approach
The normal core of a subgroup in a group
, denoted
, is defined as the intersection of all conjugate subgroups of
in
. It is also the largest normal subgroup of
contained in
, and also equals the kernel of the homomorphism from
to
given by the left multiplication action on the left coset space.
Here are some important facts:
- The normal core of
is contained inside
. Thus, if we are interested in preserving some property that is subgroup-closed, we can pass to the normal core. For instance, if
is abelian, the normal core of
is abelian. If
is a solvable group, the normal core of
is also solvable.
- The normal core of
is not much smaller than
. Specifically, if
has index
, the index of the normal core of
divides
. This result is called Poincare's theorem, and it implies that if
has finite index, so does the normal core of
. Even in finite groups, this can be used to show that the normal core is a nontrivial normal subgroup, by showing that the index of the normal core is strictly smaller than the order of the group. The latter technique is called the small-index subgroup technique and is used in Sylow theory to show that groups of certain orders cannot be simple.
- The normal core operator also preserves any intersection-closed subgroup property, and for subgroups of finite index, preserves any finite-intersection-closed subgroup property. Also, the normal core of an automorph-conjugate subgroup, and more generally, of a core-characteristic subgroup, is characteristic.
Thus, we can replace a subgroup by its normal core, while preserving subgroup-closed group properties, and not getting too much smaller in the sense that the index of the normal core is bounded in terms of the index of the subgroup.
The normal closure
The normal closure of a subgroup in a group
, denoted
, is the join of all conjugate subgroups of
in
. It is also the smallest normal subgroup of
containing
.
The normal closure is a larger subgroup than the original subgroup, but there is no size bound on it in terms of the size of the original subgroup. Thus, it is not possible to guarantee, for instance, that the normal closure of a finite subgroup is finite, or even finitely generated. Also, since the normal subgroup is bigger, it need not satisfy any of the subgroup-closed group properties satisfied by the original subgroup. On the other hand, if a group property is closed under taking joins of groups, then the normal closure of a group satisfying it also satisfies it. For instance, the normal closure of a perfect subgroup is a perfect subgroup.
The normal closure does preserve subgroup properties that are strongly join-closed. Also, it preserves every conjugate-join-closed subgroup property. Other related facts include: The normal closure of an automorph-conjugate subgroup (for instance, a Sylow subgroup) is a characteristic subgroup.
Abelian-to-normal replacement theorems
Further information: Category:Replacement theorems, collection of groups satisfying a weak normal replacement condition
Replacement theorems are results that allow us to replace one subgroup in a group by another that is similar in some ways and better in others. There are a number of replacement theorems related to groups of prime power order, that guarantee the existence of normal subgroups similar to subgroups we have found. These are discussed below.
Below are given conditions under which, in a group of prime power order , we can guarantee that the existence of a subgroup of a certain type of order
guarantees the existence of a normal subgroup of the same type and same order.
Satisfaction
Collection of groups of order ![]() |
Condition on prime ![]() |
Condition on ![]() |
Proof |
---|---|---|---|
Elementary abelian group of order ![]() |
Odd | ![]() |
Jonah-Konvisser congruence condition on number of elementary abelian subgroups of small prime power order for odd prime |
Elementary abelian group of order ![]() |
Odd | ![]() |
Elementary abelian-to-normal replacement theorem for large primes |
Abelian groups of order ![]() |
Odd | ![]() |
Jonah-Konvisser congruence condition on number of abelian subgroups of small prime power order for odd prime |
Abelian groups of order ![]() ![]() |
Odd | ![]() |
Congruence condition on number of abelian subgroups of small prime power order and bounded exponent for odd prime |
Abelian groups of order ![]() ![]() |
Any | ![]() |
Glauberman's abelian-to-normal replacement theorem for bounded exponent and half of prime plus one |
Groups of order ![]() ![]() |
-- | ![]() |
Mann's replacement theorem for subgroups of prime exponent |
Dissatisfaction
Collection of groups of order ![]() |
Condition on prime ![]() |
Condition on ![]() |
Proof |
---|---|---|---|
Klein four-group | ![]() |
![]() |
Elementary abelian-to-normal replacement fails for Klein four-group |
Elementary abelian group of order ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
elementary abelian-to-normal replacement fails for half of prime plus nine for prime greater than five |
Abelian groups of order ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
abelian-to-normal replacement fails for half of prime plus nine for prime greater than five |
Groups of order ![]() ![]() |
all ![]() |
![]() |
Threshold values
This lists threshold values of : the largest value of
for which the collection of
-groups of order
satisfying the stated condition satisfies a weak normal replacement condition. The nature of all these is such that the weak normal replacement condition is satisfied for all smaller
but for no larger
. The between
and
below means that the minimum known value is
and the maximum known value is
.
Collection of groups | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abelian groups of order ![]() |
between 4 and 5 | between 5 and 13 | between 5 and 6 | between 5 and 7 | between 6 and 9 | between ![]() ![]() |
Abelian groups of order ![]() ![]() |
between 2 and 5 | between 5 and 13 | between 5 and 6 | between 5 and 7 | between 6 and 9 | between ![]() ![]() |
Elementary abelian group of order ![]() |
1 | between 5 and 13 (?) | between 5 and 6 (?) | between 5 and 7 | between 6 and 9 | between ![]() ![]() |
Groups of exponent ![]() ![]() |
1 | at least 2 | at least 4 | at least 6 |
Other replacement theorems
There are some other replacement theorems in both the finite and infinite case. For instance:
Replacement theorem by characteristic subgroup satisfying multilinear commutator identities is a weak analogue for characteristic subgroups to Poincare's theorem, which says that the normal core of a subgroup of index has index dividing
.