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dc.contributor.advisorQuick, M. R. (Martyn R.)
dc.contributor.advisorRoney-Dougal, Colva Mary
dc.contributor.authorMenezes, Nina E.
dc.coverage.spatialiv, 204en_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-05-30T15:34:00Z
dc.date.available2013-05-30T15:34:00Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/3578
dc.description.abstractPart I of this thesis studies P[subscript(G)](d), the probability of generating a nonabelian simple group G with d randomly chosen elements, and extends this idea to consider the conditional probability P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](d), the probability of generating an almost simple group G by d randomly chosen elements, given that they project onto a generating set of G/Soc(G). In particular we show that for a 2-generated almost simple group, P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](2) 53≥90, with equality if and only if G = A₆ or S₆. Furthermore P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](2) 9≥10 except for 30 almost simple groups G, and we specify this list and provide exact values for P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](2) in these cases. We conclude Part I by showing that for all almost simple groups P[subscript(G,Soc(G))](3)≥139/150. In Part II we consider a related notion. Given a probability ε, we wish to determine d[superscript(ε)] (G), the number of random elements needed to generate a finite group G with failure probabilty at most ε. A generalisation of a result of Lubotzky bounds d[superscript(ε)](G) in terms of l(G), the chief length of G, and d(G), the minimal number of generators needed to generate G. We obtain bounds on the chief length of permutation groups in terms of the degree n, and bounds on the chief length of completely reducible matrix groups in terms of the dimension and field size. Combining these with existing bounds on d(G), we obtain bounds on d[superscript(ε)] (G) for permutation groups and completely reducible matrix groups.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of St Andrews
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
dc.subjectFinite group theoryen_US
dc.subjectRandom generationen_US
dc.subjectChief lengthen_US
dc.subjectProbabilistic group theoryen_US
dc.subjectAlmost simple groupsen_US
dc.subjectPermutation groupsen_US
dc.subjectMatrix groupsen_US
dc.subjectComputational group theoryen_US
dc.subjectGroup theoryen_US
dc.subject.lccQA177.M4
dc.subject.lcshFinite groupsen_US
dc.subject.lcshCombinatorial probabilitiesen_US
dc.subject.lcshGroup theory--Generatorsen_US
dc.titleRandom generation and chief length of finite groupsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.qualificationlevelDoctoralen_US
dc.type.qualificationnamePhD Doctor of Philosophyen_US
dc.publisher.institutionThe University of St Andrewsen_US


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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported
Except where otherwise noted within the work, this item's licence for re-use is described as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported