Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ib / Paper 1 / 10E (Groups, Rings and Modules)

The Sylow theorems state that if a finite group has order $|G|=p^{a}m$ with $p$ prime and $p\nmid m$, it has a subgroup of order $p^a$, called a Sylow subgroup. Every p-group subgroup is contained in a Sylow subgroup, and all Sylow subgroups for the same prime are conjugate subgroups. Their number satisfiesMore precisely $n_p=[G:N_G(P)]$ for a Sylow subgroup $P$, where $N_G(P)$ is its normalizer.

A finite nonabelian simple group cannot be a p-group: a nontrivial finite p-group has nontrivial centre of a group, since its class equation makes every noncentral conjugacy class size divisible by $p$, and hence makes the centre size a positive multiple of $p$. That centre is a normal subgroup, so must be the whole group if $G$ is a simple group, making it abelian; an abelian simple group has prime order. Therefore every Sylow subgroup here is nontrivial and proper. It cannot be normal, so $n_p>1$.

To obtain a simple group embedding from Sylow conjugation, the conjugation action on Sylow subgroups gives a group homomorphism $\rho :G\to S_{n_p}$. This group action is transitive by the Sylow theorems and is nontrivial since $n_p>1$. Its kernel of a group homomorphism is a normal subgroup, so the defining property of a simple group makes the kernel of a group homomorphism trivial: $\rho$ is an embedding. Now compose with the sign of a permutation $S_{n_p}\to \{\pm 1\}$. A nontrivial composite would again be injective because $G$ is a simple group, embedding $G$ in a group of order two, impossible for a nonabelian group. Thus $\rho (G)$ lies in the alternating group $A_{n_p}$. By Lagrange's theorem,The argument only invokes the factorial formula once $n_p\ge 2$; the impossible case $n_p=2$ itself is also excluded by the embedding.

For order $48=2^4\cdot 3$, the Sylow theorems give $n_2\mid 3$ and $n_2\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}2)$, hence $n_2=1$ or $3$. If $n_2=1$, the Sylow subgroup of order $16$ is a nontrivial proper normal subgroup. If $G$ were simple in the other case, it would be nonabelian (a finite abelian simple group has prime order), and the preceding result would force $48\mid 3!/2=3$, impossible. Thus every group of order 48 is not simple.

An example with no normal Sylow subgroup for $p=2$ isIn $S_4$, $P=⟨(1234),(13)⟩$ is a dihedral group of order $8$: conjugation by $(13)$ inverts $(1234)$. Thus $P\times C_2$ has order $16$ and is a Sylow subgroup of $G$. The only transpositions in $P$ are $(13)$ and $(24)$; conjugating $(13)$ by $(23)$ gives $(12)\notin P$. Therefore $P$ and $P\times C_2$ are not normal. By conjugacy, no other Sylow subgroup for $p=2$ is normal either.