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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.

Take $D=⟨(12)(34)⟩$ andEvery involution in $A_5$ is a double transposition. They form one conjugacy class: an odd $S_5$ conjugator can be made even by multiplying by a transposition centralizing the source double transposition. Thus all order-two subgroups of $A_5$ are conjugate. Since $|A_5|=60$, $P$ is a Sylow subgroup. A permutation normalizing $P$ fixes its unique common fixed letter, $5$, and every even permutation of the other four letters permutes its three double transpositions. Hence $N_{A_5}(P)=A_4$. Any permutation centralizing $(12)(34)$ fixes $5$; within $S_4$ it may exchange the two pairs and interchange letters in either pair, giving eight possibilities, of which exactly the four elements of $P$ are even. Thus $C_{A_5}(D)=P$. Since $P$ is abelian and contains $D$, also $C_{A_5}(P)=P$.

The given single block of $k{A}_4$ has identity $1$ and defect $P$, since ${\mathrm{Br}}_P^{A_4}(1)=1$ and $P$ is Sylow. By Brauer first main theorem, $k{A}_5$ has exactly one block with defect $P$.

Suppose a block idempotent $b$ had defect $D$. Then ${\mathrm{Br}}_D^{A_5}(b)$ is a nonzero idempotent in $kP$. A group algebra of a p-group in characteristic p is local, so this image is $1$. But both the Brauer projections at $D$ and at $P$ retain exactly the basis elements of the same centralizer $P$. ConsequentlyThus $b$ has the full Sylow defect $P$, contradicting maximality of $D$. These are the 2-modular defect groups of A5, and $\boxed{C_2\text{ cannot be a defect group}}$.

The Sylow theorems state that if $|G|=p^{a}m$ with $p\nmid m$, then:

Take $g\in G$. Since $K$ is a normal subgroup, $gP{g}^{-1}\le K$; it has the same order as $P$, so it is also a Sylow subgroup of $K$. The conjugacy assertion in the Sylow theorems supplies $k\in K$ such thatConsequently $kg\in N_G(P)$, and thereforeThus $G\subseteq N_G(P)K$, while the reverse inclusion is immediate because both factors are subgroups of $G$. Hence

For subgroups $H,P\le G$, define $x\sim y$ when $y\in HxP$. The identity elements show reflexivity, inverses show symmetry, and multiplication shows transitivity. Thus the double cosets $HxP$ partition $G$.

Let $H$ act by left multiplication on the set of left cosets $G/P$. The orbit of $xP$ consists of the cosets contained in $HxP$, so its size is $|HxP|/|P|$. Its stabilizer isThe orbit-stabilizer theorem therefore gives

Suppose $P$ is a Sylow subgroup of $G$, with $|P|=p^a$, and write the largest power of $p$ dividing $|H|$ as $p^b$. If every $H\cap xP{x}^{-1}$ had order at most $p^{b-1}$, the displayed formula would make every double-coset size divisible by $p^{a+1}$. Their sum $|G|$ would then also be divisible by $p^{a+1}$, contradicting the choice of $P$. Hence some $H\cap xP{x}^{-1}$ has order $p^b$ and is a Sylow $p$-subgroup of $H$. This is the Sylow subgroup of a subgroup from double cosets argument.

To count the general linear group over a finite field $G{L}_n({\mathbb{F}}_p)$, choose its columns successively. There are $p^n-1$ choices for the first, $p^n-p$ for the second, and $p^n-p^k$ for column $k+1$. ConsequentlyNone of the factors $p^j-1$ is divisible by $p$, so the upper unitriangular group is a Sylow $p$-subgroup: it has one arbitrary field entry in each of the $n(n-1)/2$ positions above the diagonal and hence order $p^{n(n-1)/2}$. The permutation matrices form a subgroup isomorphic to the symmetric group $S_n$.

By Cayley theorem, every finite group $G$ embeds in $S_{|G|}$, and permutation matrices embed this symmetric group in $G{L}_{|G|}({\mathbb{F}}_p)$. The latter has the explicit Sylow $p$-subgroup just described, so the result proved in the first part, applied to the embedded copy of $G$, proves that every finite group has a Sylow $p$-subgroup.

The counting part of the Sylow theorems says that if $p^a$ is the largest power of $p$ dividing $|G|$, then the number $n_p$ of Sylow $p$-subgroups satisfies

Finally, let $|G|=pq$ with prime numbers $p>q$. The Sylow counts giveso $n_p=1$ and the Sylow $p$-subgroup is a normal subgroup. Also $n_q\mid p$ and $n_q\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}q)$. If $n_q=1$, both Sylow subgroups are normal; their elements commute, so $G$ is their direct product and is abelian. In the nonabelian case one must therefore have $n_q=p$, whenceor equivalently $q\mid p-1$, as recorded by nonabelian group of order pq.

A Sylow subgroup of a finite group $G$ is a subgroup whose order is the largest power of a prime $p$ dividing $|G|$. The Sylow theorems say that such subgroups exist, that every $p$-subgroup lies in one, that all Sylow $p$-subgroups are conjugate, and that their number $n_p$ divides $|G|/p^a$ and obeys $n_p\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}p)$.

For the last congruence, let one Sylow $p$-subgroup $P$ act by conjugation on the set of all Sylow $p$-subgroups. Every orbit other than a fixed point has size divisible by $p$. If $Q$ is fixed, then $P,Q\le N_G(Q)$. They are Sylow subgroups of this normalizer, so they are conjugate within $N_G(Q)$; because every element of $N_G(Q)$ fixes $Q$ under conjugation, this forces $P=Q$. Thus there is exactly one fixed point and $n_p\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}p)$.

Now let $H<A_n$ have index $m$ with $1<m<n$. The coset action gives a homomorphismIts kernel is a normal subgroup of the simple group $A_n$. It cannot be all of $A_n$, since the action is transitive and nontrivial, so it is trivial. This would embed $A_n$ into $S_m$, contrary to $|A_n|=n!/2>m!=|S_m|$. Hence no such subgroup exists.

Suppose finally that a group $G$ of order $90$ were simple. The Sylow count satisfiesand simplicity excludes $n_5=1$, so $n_5=6$. Conjugation on these six subgroups gives a nontrivial homomorphism $G\to S_6$, which simplicity makes injective. Its image lies in $A_6$, because the composite with the sign homomorphism $S_6\to \{\pm 1\}$ must be trivial. It would therefore be a subgroup of $A_6$ of index $360/90=4$, contradicting the result just proved. Thus

Fordefine its action on the projective line $F\cup \{\infty \}$ by the Möbius transformationwith the usual conventions when the denominator vanishes or $x=\infty$. Matrix multiplication agrees with composition, so this is a group action. If $A$ fixes every projective point, then it fixes $0$ and $\infty$, forcing $b=c=0$, and fixing $1$ then gives $a=d$. Thus the kernel consists exactly of the nonzero scalar matrices $Z$. The induced group homomorphismis therefore injective. This is the projective general linear group action on the projective line.

For $F={\mathbb{F}}_4$,The scalar subgroup has order $|Z|=3$, soThe four classes represented byform a subgroup $P$ of order four, hence a Sylow subgroup for the prime two. Its action is translation $x\mapsto x+b$ on ${\mathbb{F}}_4$ and fixes $\infty$. For $b\ne 0$, characteristic two makes this permutation a product of two disjoint transpositions on the four finite points. It is therefore even, andThis realizes the Sylow 2-subgroup of PGL2 over F4.

A finite nonabelian simple group embeds in $A_{n_p}$, where $n_p$ is its number of Sylow subgroups for a prime dividing its order. It is not a p-group by the nontrivial-centre property. Thus its Sylow subgroups are proper and cannot be normal, so $n_p>1$. The conjugation action is nontrivial, and its normal kernel of a group homomorphism must therefore be trivial. The sign of this faithful permutation action must be trivial, since a nontrivial sign homomorphism would inject the group into a group of order two. Lagrange's theorem consequently gives $|G|\mid n_p!/2$.

If $P$ is a Sylow subgroup of a finite group $G$ and $H\le G$, some intersection $H\cap xP{x}^{-1}$ is a Sylow subgroup of $H$. Otherwise every double-coset sizewould be divisible by a larger power of $p$ than $|G|$, as would their sum $|G|$.

For a $p$-subgroup $D$ of a finite group $G$, set $I_D={\mathrm{Tr}}_D^G((kG{)}^D)$, a transfer ideal of conjugation-fixed elements in $Z(kG)$. A block of a group algebra idempotent $b$ lies in $I_D$ if and only if a defect group of a block of $b$ is conjugate to a subgroup of $D$. In particular, defect groups can equivalently be defined as minimal subgroups $D$ with $b\in I_D$.

Here is a proof using the Brauer morphism. A subgroup of smallest order with $b\in I_D$ exists, since a Sylow subgroup $P$ gives $b={\mathrm{Tr}}_P^G(b/[G:P])$. Write $b={\mathrm{Tr}}_D^G(a)$ and replace $a$ by $ba$. If ${\mathrm{Br}}_D(b)=0$, then $ba$ belongs to the kernel of the Brauer morphism, which is the sum of proper-subgroup relative traces. Hence $b\in {\sum }_{Q<D}{I}_Q$. The algebra $bZ(kG)$ is a commutative Artinian ring and a local ring, so multiplying this equality by $b$ forces some ideal $b{I}_Q$ to contain its identity $b$. This contradicts minimality. On the other hand, ${\mathrm{Br}}_E(I_D)=0$ unless $E$ is conjugate into $D$: the $E$-action on $G/D$ has no fixed coset otherwise, and nonfixed orbit sizes vanish in characteristic $p$. Thus these minimal subgroups are precisely the maximal subgroups with nonzero Brauer image. They are all conjugate. Trace transitivity proves the stated criterion for larger $D$.

The upper unitriangular group consists of upper triangular matrices with every diagonal entry equal to one. Over ${\mathbb{F}}_p$ it has order $p^{n(n-1)/2}$ and is a Sylow subgroup of $G{L}_n({\mathbb{F}}_p)$.