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In mathematics, an alternating group is the group of even permutations of a finite set. The alternating group on a set of Template:Mvar elements is called the alternating group of degree Template:Mvar, or the alternating group on Template:Mvar letters and denoted by Template:Math or Template:Math
Basic propertiesEdit
For Template:Nowrap, the group An is the commutator subgroup of the symmetric group Sn with index 2 and has therefore n!/2 elements. It is the kernel of the signature group homomorphism Template:Nowrap explained under symmetric group.
The group An is abelian if and only if Template:Nowrap and simple if and only if Template:Nowrap or Template:Nowrap. A5 is the smallest non-abelian simple group, having order 60, and thus the smallest non-solvable group.
The group A4 has the Klein four-group V as a proper normal subgroup, namely the identity and the double transpositions Template:Nowrap, that is the kernel of the surjection of A4 onto Template:Nowrap. We have the exact sequence Template:Nowrap. In Galois theory, this map, or rather the corresponding map Template:Nowrap, corresponds to associating the Lagrange resolvent cubic to a quartic, which allows the quartic polynomial to be solved by radicals, as established by Lodovico Ferrari.
Conjugacy classesEdit
As in the symmetric group, any two elements of An that are conjugate by an element of An must have the same cycle shape. The converse is not necessarily true, however. If the cycle shape consists only of cycles of odd length with no two cycles the same length, where cycles of length one are included in the cycle type, then there are exactly two conjugacy classes for this cycle shape Template:Harv.
Examples:
- The two permutations (123) and (132) are not conjugates in A3, although they have the same cycle shape, and are therefore conjugate in S3.
- The permutation (123)(45678) is not conjugate to its inverse (132)(48765) in A8, although the two permutations have the same cycle shape, so they are conjugate in S8.
Relation with symmetric groupEdit
- See Symmetric group.
As finite symmetric groups are the groups of all permutations of a set with finite elements, and the alternating groups are groups of even permutations, alternating groups are subgroups of finite symmetric groups.
Generators and relationsEdit
For n ≥ 3, An is generated by 3-cycles, since 3-cycles can be obtained by combining pairs of transpositions. This generating set is often used to prove that An is simple for Template:Nowrap.
Automorphism groupEdit
| n | Aut(An) | Out(An) |
|---|---|---|
| n ≥ 4, n ≠ 6 | Sn | Z2 |
| n = 1, 2 | Z1 | Z1 |
| n = 3 | Z2 | Z2 |
| n = 6 | S6 ⋊ Z2 | V = Z2 × Z2 |
For Template:Nowrap, except for Template:Nowrap, the automorphism group of An is the symmetric group Sn, with inner automorphism group An and outer automorphism group Z2; the outer automorphism comes from conjugation by an odd permutation.
For Template:Nowrap and 2, the automorphism group is trivial. For Template:Nowrap the automorphism group is Z2, with trivial inner automorphism group and outer automorphism group Z2.
The outer automorphism group of A6 is the Klein four-group Template:Nowrap, and is related to the outer automorphism of S6. The extra outer automorphism in A6 swaps the 3-cycles (like (123)) with elements of shape 32 (like Template:Nowrap).
Exceptional isomorphismsEdit
There are some exceptional isomorphisms between some of the small alternating groups and small groups of Lie type, particularly projective special linear groups. These are:
- A4 is isomorphic to PSL2(3)<ref name="Robinson-p78">Robinson (1996), [[[:Template:Google books]] p. 78]</ref> and the symmetry group of chiral tetrahedral symmetry.
- A5 is isomorphic to PSL2(4), PSL2(5), and the symmetry group of chiral icosahedral symmetry. (See<ref name="Robinson-p78"/> for an indirect isomorphism of Template:Nowrap using a classification of simple groups of order 60, and here for a direct proof).
- A6 is isomorphic to PSL2(9) and PSp4(2)'.
- A8 is isomorphic to PSL4(2).
More obviously, A3 is isomorphic to the cyclic group Z3, and A0, A1, and A2 are isomorphic to the trivial group (which is also Template:Nowrap for any q).
Examples S4 and A4Edit
File:Symmetric group 4; Cayley table; numbers.svg Cayley table of the symmetric group S4 The odd permutations are colored: Transpositions in green and 4-cycles in orange |
File:Alternating group 4; Cayley table; numbers.svg Cayley table of the alternating group A4 Elements: The even permutations (the identity, eight 3-cycles and three double-transpositions (double transpositions in boldface)) Subgroups: Klein four-group Cyclic group Z3 Cyclic group Z3 Cyclic group Z3 Cyclic group Z3 |
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| File:GroupDiagramMiniC3.svg A3 = Z3 (order 3) |
File:GroupDiagramMiniA4.svg A4 (order 12) |
File:GroupDiagramMiniA4xC2.png A4 × Z2 (order 24) |
| File:GroupDiagramMiniD6.svg S3 = Dih3 (order 6) |
File:Symmetric group 4; cycle graph.svg S4 (order 24) |
File:Alternating group 4; cycle graph; subgroup of S4.svg A4 in S4 on the left |
Example A5 as a subgroup of 3-space rotationsEdit
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A5 is the group of isometries of a dodecahedron in 3-space, so there is a representation Template:Nowrap.
In this picture the vertices of the polyhedra represent the elements of the group, with the center of the sphere representing the identity element. Each vertex represents a rotation about the axis pointing from the center to that vertex, by an angle equal to the distance from the origin, in radians. Vertices in the same polyhedron are in the same conjugacy class. Since the conjugacy class equation for A5 is Template:Nowrap, we obtain four distinct (nontrivial) polyhedra.
The vertices of each polyhedron are in bijective correspondence with the elements of its conjugacy class, with the exception of the conjugacy class of (2,2)-cycles, which is represented by an icosidodecahedron on the outer surface, with its antipodal vertices identified with each other. The reason for this redundancy is that the corresponding rotations are by Template:Pi radians, and so can be represented by a vector of length Template:Pi in either of two directions. Thus the class of (2,2)-cycles contains 15 elements, while the icosidodecahedron has 30 vertices.
The two conjugacy classes of twelve 5-cycles in A5 are represented by two icosahedra, of radii 2Template:Pi/5 and 4Template:Pi/5, respectively. The nontrivial outer automorphism in Template:Nowrap interchanges these two classes and the corresponding icosahedra.
Example: the 15 puzzleEdit
It can be proved that the 15 puzzle, a famous example of the sliding puzzle, can be represented by the alternating group A15,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> because the combinations of the 15 puzzle can be generated by 3-cycles. In fact, any Template:Nowrap sliding puzzle with square tiles of equal size can be represented by A2k−1.
SubgroupsEdit
A4 is the smallest group demonstrating that the converse of Lagrange's theorem is not true in general: given a finite group G and a divisor d of Template:Abs, there does not necessarily exist a subgroup of G with order d: the group Template:Nowrap, of order 12, has no subgroup of order 6. A subgroup of three elements (generated by a cyclic rotation of three objects) with any distinct nontrivial element generates the whole group.
For all Template:Nowrap, An has no nontrivial (that is, proper) normal subgroups. Thus, An is a simple group for all Template:Nowrap. A5 is the smallest non-solvable group.
Group homologyEdit
Template:See also The group homology of the alternating groups exhibits stabilization, as in stable homotopy theory: for sufficiently large n, it is constant. However, there are some low-dimensional exceptional homology. Note that the homology of the symmetric group exhibits similar stabilization, but without the low-dimensional exceptions (additional homology elements).
H1: AbelianizationEdit
The first homology group coincides with abelianization, and (since An is perfect, except for the cited exceptions) is thus:
- H1(An, Z) = Z1 for n = 0, 1, 2;
- H1(A3, Z) = ATemplate:Su = A3 = Z3;
- H1(A4, Z) = ATemplate:Su = Z3;
- H1(An, Z) = Z1 for n ≥ 5.
This is easily seen directly, as follows. An is generated by 3-cycles – so the only non-trivial abelianization maps are Template:Nowrap since order-3 elements must map to order-3 elements – and for Template:Nowrap all 3-cycles are conjugate, so they must map to the same element in the abelianization, since conjugation is trivial in abelian groups. Thus a 3-cycle like (123) must map to the same element as its inverse (321), but thus must map to the identity, as it must then have order dividing 2 and 3, so the abelianization is trivial.
For Template:Nowrap, An is trivial, and thus has trivial abelianization. For A3 and A4 one can compute the abelianization directly, noting that the 3-cycles form two conjugacy classes (rather than all being conjugate) and there are non-trivial maps Template:Nowrap (in fact an isomorphism) and Template:Nowrap.
H2: Schur multipliersEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The Schur multipliers of the alternating groups An (in the case where n is at least 5) are the cyclic groups of order 2, except in the case where n is either 6 or 7, in which case there is also a triple cover. In these cases, then, the Schur multiplier is (the cyclic group) of order 6.<ref name="raw">Template:Citation</ref> These were first computed in Template:Harv.
- H2(An, Z) = Z1 for n = 1, 2, 3;
- H2(An, Z) = Z2 for n = 4, 5;
- H2(An, Z) = Z6 for n = 6, 7;
- H2(An, Z) = Z2 for n ≥ 8.