[Next] [Prev] [Right] [Left] [Up] [Index] [Root]
Conjugacy Classes of Elements

Conjugacy Classes of Elements

There are three aspects of the conjugacy problem for elements: determining whether two elements are conjugate in a group G, determining a set of representatives for the conjugacy classes of elements of G, and listing all the elements in a particular class of G. The algorithms for polycyclic groups are different to those provided for permutation and matrix groups. Thus, testing conjugacy in a polycyclic group is performed by transforming each element into a standard representative of its conjugacy class by an orbit-stabilizer process that works down a sequence of increasing quotients of G. In a permutation or matrix group, conjugacy is determined by means of a backtrack search over base-images.

Class(H, x) : GrpFin, GrpFinElt -> { GrpFinElt }
Conjugates(H, x) : GrpFin, GrpFinElt -> { GrpFinElt }
Given a group H and an element x belonging to a group K such that H and K are subgroups of the same symmetric group, this function returns the set of conjugates of x under the action of H. If H = K, the function returns the conjugacy class of x in H.
ClassMap(G: parameters) : GrpFin -> Map
Given a group G, construct the conjugacy classes and the class map f for G. For any element x of G, f(x) will be the conjugacy class representative chosen by the Classes function. If the parameter Orbits is set true, the classes are computed as orbits of elements under conjugation and the class map is stored as a list of images of the elements of G (a list of length |G|). This option gives fast evaluation of the class map but is practical only in the case of very small groups. With Orbits := false, WeakLimit and StrongLimit are used to control the random classes algorithm (see function Classes).
ConjugacyClasses(G: parameters) : GrpFin -> [ <RngIntElt, RngIntElt, GrpFinElt> ]
Classes(G: parameters) : GrpFin -> [ <RngIntElt, RngIntElt, GrpFinElt> ]
    WeakLimit: RngIntElt                Default: 200
    StrongLimit: RngIntElt              Default: 500
Construct a set of representatives for the conjugacy classes of G. The classes are returned as a sequence of triples containing the element order, the class length and a representative element for the class. The parameter Al enables the user to select the algorithm that is to be used when G is a permutation or matrix group.

    Al: MonStg                          Default: 

Al := "Action": Create the classes of G by computing the orbits of the set of elements of G under the action of conjugation. This option is only feasible for small groups, i.e. for groups of order less than 100,000. (Default for groups order less than 500).

Al := "Random": Construct the conjugacy classes of elements for a permutation or matrix group G using an algorithm that searches for representatives of all conjugacy classes of G by examining a random selection of group elements and their powers. The behaviour of this algorithm is controlled by two associated optional parameters WeakLimit and StrongLimit, whose values are positive integers n_1 and n_2, say. Before describing the effect of these parameters, a definition is needed: Two elements are said to be weakly conjugate if they have the same cycle structure (permutation group) or same characteristic polynomials (matrix group). Thus, conjugacy implies weak conjugacy, but the converse is false. The random algorithm first examines n_1 random elements and their powers, using a test for weak conjugacy. It then proceeds to examine a further n_2 random elements and their powers, using a test for ordinary conjugacy. The idea behind this strategy is that the algorithm should attempt to find as many classes as possible using the very cheap test for weak conjugacy, before employing the more expensive ordinary conjugacy test to recognize the remaining classes.

ClassRepresentative(G, x) : GrpFin, GrpFinElt -> GrpFinElt
Given a group G for which the conjugacy classes are known and an element x of G, return the designated representative for the conjugacy class of G containing x.
IsConjugate(G, g, h) : GrpFin, GrpFinElt, GrpFinElt -> BoolElt, GrpFinElt
Given a group G and elements g and h belonging to G, return the value true if g and h are conjugate in G. The function returns a second value if the elements are conjugate: an element k which conjugates g into h.
IsConjugate(G, H, K) : GrpFin, GrpFin, GrpFin -> BoolElt, GrpFinElt
Given a group G and subgroups H and K belonging to G, return the value true if G and H are conjugate in G. The function returns a second value if the subgroups are conjugate: an element z which conjugates H into K.
Exponent(G) : GrpFin -> RngIntElt
The exponent of the group G.
NumberOfClasses(G) : GrpFin -> RngIntElt
Nclasses(G) : GrpFin -> RngIntElt
The number of conjugacy classes of elements for the group G.
PowerMap(G) : GrpFin -> Map
Given a group G, construct the power map for G. Suppose that the order of G is m and that G has r conjugacy classes. When the classes are determined by Magma, they are numbered from 1 to r. Let C be the set of class indices { 1, ..., r } and let P be the set of integers { 1, ..., m }. The power map f for G is the mapping f : C x P -> C where the value of f(i, j) for i in C and j in P is the number of the class which contains x_i^j, where x_i is a representative of the i-th conjugacy class.
AssertAttribute(G, "Classes", Q) : GrpFin, MonStgElt, [ GrpFinElt ] ->
Given a group G, and a sequence Q of k distinct elements of G, one from each conjugacy class, use Q to define the classes attribute of G.

Example Grp_Classes (H11E13)

> M11 := sub<Sym(11) | (1,10)(2,8)(3,11)(5,7), (1,4,7,6)(2,11,10,9)>;
> print Classes(M11);
Conjugacy Classes of group M11
------------------------------
[1]     Order 1       Length 1      
        Rep Id(M11)

[2] Order 2 Length 165 Rep (3, 10)(4, 9)(5, 6)(8, 11)

[3] Order 3 Length 440 Rep (1, 2, 4)(3, 5, 10)(6, 8, 11)

[4] Order 4 Length 990 Rep (3, 6, 10, 5)(4, 8, 9, 11)

[5] Order 5 Length 1584 Rep (1, 3, 6, 2, 8)(4, 7, 10, 9, 11)

[6] Order 6 Length 1320 Rep (1, 11, 2, 6, 4, 8)(3, 10, 5)(7, 9)

[7] Order 8 Length 990 Rep (1, 4, 5, 6, 2, 7, 11, 10)(8, 9)

[8] Order 8 Length 990 Rep (1, 7, 5, 10, 2, 4, 11, 6)(8, 9)

[9] Order 11 Length 720 Rep (1, 11, 9, 10, 4, 3, 7, 2, 6, 5, 8)

[10] Order 11 Length 720 Rep (1, 9, 4, 7, 6, 8, 11, 10, 3, 2, 5)

> G := sub<Sym(100) |
>    (2,8,13,17,20,22,7)(3,9,14,18,21,6,12)(4,10,15,19,5,11,16)
>        (24,77,99,72,64,82,40)(25,92,49,88,28,65,90)(26,41,70,98,91,38,75)
>        (27,55,43,78,86,87,45)(29,69,59,79,76,35,67)(30,39,42,81,36,57,89)
>        (31,93,62,44,73,71,50)(32,53,85,60,51,96,83)(33,37,58,46,84,100,56)
>        (34,94,80,61,97,48,68)(47,95,66,74,52,54,63),
>    (1,35)(3,81)(4,92)(6,60)(7,59)(8,46)(9,70)(10,91)(11,18)(12,66)(13,55)
>        (14,85)(15,90)(17,53)(19,45)(20,68)(21,69)(23,84)(24,34)(25,31)(26,32)
>        (37,39)(38,42)(40,41)(43,44)(49,64)(50,63)(51,52)(54,95)(56,96)(57,100)
>        (58,97)(61,62)(65,82)(67,83)(71,98)(72,99)(74,77)(76,78)(87,89) >;

> K := Classes(G); Runtime error in 'Classes': Random class algorithm failed > K := Classes(G: WeakLimit := 50, StrongLimit := 400); > print NumberOfClasses(G); 24 > // We print the order, length and cycle structure for each conjugacy class. > print [ < k[1], k[2], CycleStructure(k[3]) > : k in K ]; [ <1, 1, [ <1, 100> ]>, <2, 5775, [ <2, 40>, <1, 20> ]>, <2, 15400, [ <2, 50> ]>, <3, 123200, [ <3, 30>, <1, 10> ]>, <4, 11550, [ <4, 20>, <2, 10> ]>, <4, 173250, [ <4, 20>, <2, 6>, <1, 8> ]>, <4, 693000, [ <4, 20>, <2, 8>, <1, 4> ]>, <5, 88704, [ <5, 20> ]>, <5, 147840, [ <5, 20> ]>, <5, 1774080, [ <5, 19>, <1, 5> ]>, <6, 1232000, [ <6, 15>, <2, 5> ]>, <6, 1848000, [ <6, 12>, <3, 6>, <2, 4>, <1, 2> ]>, <7, 6336000, [ <7, 14>, <1, 2> ]>, <8, 2772000, [ <8, 10>, <4, 4>, <2, 2> ]>, <8, 2772000, [ <8, 10>, <4, 3>, <2, 3>, <1, 2> ]>, <8, 2772000, [ <8, 10>, <4, 4>, <2, 2> ]>, <10, 2217600, [ <10, 8>, <5, 4> ]>, <10, 2217600, [ <10, 10> ]>, <11, 4032000, [ <11, 9>, <1, 1> ]>, <11, 4032000, [ <11, 9>, <1, 1> ]>, <12, 3696000, [ <12, 6>, <6, 3>, <4, 2>, <2, 1> ]>, <15, 2956800, [ <15, 6>, <5, 2> ]>, <20, 2217600, [ <20, 4>, <10, 2> ]>, <20, 2217600, [ <20, 4>, <10, 2> ]> ] > /* > ** We construct the power map and tabulate the second, third and fifth > ** powers of each class. > */ > p := PowerMap(G); > print [ < i, p(i, 2), p(i, 3), p(i, 5) > : i in [1 .. #K] ]; [ <1, 1, 1, 1>, <2, 1, 2, 2>, <3, 1, 3, 3>, <4, 4, 1, 4>, <5, 2, 5, 5>, <6, 2, 6, 6>, <7, 2, 7, 7>, <8, 8, 8, 1>, <9, 9, 9, 1>, <10, 10, 10, 1>, <11, 4, 3, 11>, <12, 4, 2, 12>, <13, 13, 13, 13>, <14, 7, 14, 14>, <15, 6, 15, 15>, <16, 7, 16, 16>, <17, 8, 17, 2>, <18, 9, 18, 3>, <19, 20, 19, 19>, <20, 19, 20, 20>, <21, 12, 5, 21>, <22, 22, 9, 4>, <23, 17, 23, 5>, <24, 17, 24, 5> ]

[Next] [Prev] [Right] [Left] [Up] [Index] [Root]