Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 1 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the transfer homomorphism, choose representatives of the right cosets . For and , write , where and . The permutation represents right multiplication on the cosets. DefineThe product has no order ambiguity in the abelianization . Replace each representative by , with . The new factor is . In the Abelian quotient, the extra products cancel because permutes . Thus the transfer is independent of the transversal. Moreover,Multiplying and using the same permutation of representatives gives . This proves that group transfer is a well-defined group homomorphism.
For the Burnside transfer theorem, let be a Sylow -subgroup. In particular is Abelian. We first prove the fusion fact that two elements of which are conjugate in must be equal. Suppose and . Both and centralize , and they are Sylow subgroups of : they have the maximal -order possible even in . By Sylow theorems inside this centralizer, choose with . Thus andBut centralizes by hypothesis, so .
Evaluate transfer to on . Partition the right cosets of into cycles under multiplication by . For a cycle of length beginning at , the product of its transfer factors telescopes to . It is conjugate to , so the fusion fact makes it equal to . The cycle lengths sum to . Since is Abelian, all factors commute andThe integer is prime to , and this power map is an automorphism of the finite Abelian -group : choose an inverse exponent modulo the exponent of . Therefore is surjective. Its kernel is normal and the first isomorphism theorem givesThus is the required normal p-complement; it also has trivial intersection with .
Now suppose is cyclic of order , where is the smallest prime divisor of . Conjugation embeds into , whose order is . Since and is Sylow in , the quotient has order prime to . Any remaining prime factor would divide and hence be smaller than , but would also divide , an impossibility. Thus and . The Burnside transfer theorem proves that a cyclic Sylow subgroup at the least prime divisor gives a normal complement.
Apply this to a finite nonabelian simple group. If , its Sylow -subgroup has order or . A cyclic Sylow subgroup would give a normal complement; simplicity would then force either a trivial complement and a -group, or an improper complement, neither possible for a nonabelian simple group. Groups of order are Abelian: their nontrivial group center, supplied by the class equation, is either the whole group or has cyclic quotient, which also forces the group Abelian. Thus the only remaining Sylow possibility is .
The conjugation quotient now embeds in and is still prime to . Its possible prime divisors come fromIf is odd, every prime divisor of is smaller than , and every prime divisor of the even number is at most . Since was the least prime divisor of , the quotient must be trivial. Then the Burnside transfer theorem again contradicts simplicity. If , the only nontrivial odd divisor of is three. Trivial conjugation would again give a normal complement, so three must divide ; the Sylow subgroup has order four. We have proved the least-prime divisibility constraint for a finite simple group:
For infinitely many instances of the latter alternative only, takeThese are simple, as permitted in the question (and also covered by the next solution). For , the group order is . Since , is divisible by four but not eight and by two but not four. Hence the order is divisible by four but not eight. Also , so . Their smallest prime divisor is two andTheir orders strictly increase with , so they give infinitely many distinct examples.