Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/ib/paper-3/1e/solution

For
define its action on the projective line by the Möbius transformation
with the usual conventions when the denominator vanishes or . Matrix multiplication agrees with composition, so this is a group action. If fixes every projective point, then it fixes and , forcing , and fixing then gives . Thus the kernel consists exactly of the nonzero scalar matrices . The induced group homomorphism
is therefore injective. This is the projective general linear group action on the projective line.
For ,
The scalar subgroup has order , so
The four classes represented by
form a subgroup of order four, hence a Sylow subgroup for the prime two. Its action is translation on and fixes . For , characteristic two makes this permutation a product of two disjoint transpositions on the four finite points. It is therefore even, and
This realizes the Sylow 2-subgroup of PGL2 over F4.

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