Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ia/paper-3/1d/solution

A Möbius transformation is generated by translations , nonzero scalings , and inversion . Translations and scalings plainly take circles and lines to circles and lines. More uniformly, every circle or line has an equation
where ; the case is a line. Under inversion, put and multiply by to obtain
which is again such an equation. The generators, and hence every Möbius transformation, therefore preserve Generalized circle under a Möbius transformation.
Now let
If , its finite pole lies on some Euclidean circle, and that circle maps to a line because its image contains infinity. Thus takes every circle to a circle exactly when , so the subgroup in question is the Affine subgroup of the Möbius group, consisting of with .
It is not normal. If and with , then is affine but
has a finite pole and is not affine. Hence conjugation by does not preserve the subgroup.

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