A graduate-level introduction to finite classical groups featuring a comprehensive account of the conjugacy and geometry of elements of prime order.

Graduate-level introduction to finite classical groups featuring a comprehensive account of the conjugacy and geometry of elements of prime order.

This monograph studies generating sets of almost simple classical groups, by bounding the spread of these groups. Guralnick and Kantor resolved a 1962 question of Steinberg by proving that in a finite simple group, every nontrivial element belongs to a generating pair. Groups with this property are said to be 3/2-generated. Breuer, Guralnick and Kantor conjectured that a finite group is 3/2-generated if and only if every proper quotient is cyclic. We prove a strong version of this conjecture for almost simple classical groups, by bounding the spread of these groups. This involves analysing the automorphisms, fixed point ratios and subgroup structure of almost simple classical groups, so the first half of this monograph is dedicated to these general topics. In particular, we give a general exposition of Shintani descent. This monograph will interest researchers in group generation, but the opening chapters also serve as a general introduction to the almost simple classical groups.

This book gives a proof of Cherlin’s conjecture for finite binary primitive permutation groups. Motivated by the part of model theory concerned with Lachlan’s theory of finite homogeneous relational structures, this conjecture proposes a classification of those finite primitive permutation groups that have relational complexity equal to 2. The first part gives a full introduction to Cherlin’s conjecture, including all the key ideas that have been used in the literature to prove some of its special cases. The second part completes the proof by dealing with primitive permutation groups that are almost simple with socle a group of Lie type. A great deal of material concerning properties of primitive permutation groups and almost simple groups is included, and new ideas are introduced. Addressing a hot topic which cuts across the disciplines of group theory, model theory and logic, this book will be of interest to a wide range of readers. It will be particularly useful for graduate students and researchers who need to work with simple groups of Lie type.

Enumerative combinatorics, in its algebraic and analytic forms, is vital to many areas of mathematics, from model theory to statistical mechanics. This book, which stems from many years' experience of teaching, invites students into the subject and prepares them for more advanced texts. It is suitable as a class text or for individual study. The author provides proofs for many of the theorems to show the range of techniques available, and uses examples to link enumerative combinatorics to other areas of study. The main section of the book introduces the key tools of the subject (generating functions and recurrence relations), which are then used to study the most important combinatorial objects, namely subsets, partitions, and permutations of a set. Later chapters deal with more specialised topics, including permanents, SDRs, group actions and the Redfield–Pólya theory of cycle indices, Möbius inversion, the Tutte polynomial, and species.

There are a number of intriguing connections between Painlev equations and orthogonal polynomials, and this book is one of the first to provide an introduction to these. Researchers in integrable systems and non-linear equations will find the many explicit examples where Painlev equations appear in mathematical analysis very useful. Those interested in the asymptotic behavior of orthogonal polynomials will also find the description of Painlev transcendants and their use for local analysis near certain critical points helpful to their work. Rational solutions and special function solutions of Painlev equations are worked out in detail, with a survey of recent results and an outline of their close relationship with orthogonal polynomials. Exercises throughout the book help the reader to get to grips with the material. The author is a leading authority on orthogonal polynomials, giving this work a unique perspective on Painlev equations.

The Mahler measure is a fascinating notion and an exciting topic in contemporary mathematics, interconnecting with subjects as diverse as number theory, analysis, arithmetic geometry, special functions and random walks. This friendly and concise introduction to the Mahler measure is a valuable resource for both graduate courses and self-study. It provides the reader with the necessary background material, before presenting the recent achievements and the remaining challenges in the field. The first part introduces the univariate Mahler measure and addresses Lehmer's question, and then discusses techniques of reducing multivariate measures to hypergeometric functions. The second part touches on the novelties of the subject, especially the relation with elliptic curves, modular forms and special values of L-functions. Finally, the Appendix presents the modern definition of motivic cohomology and regulator maps, as well as Deligne–Beilinson cohomology. The text includes many exercises to test comprehension and challenge readers of all abilities.