47 Group Products

These functions construct the direct product of the groups given as arguments. DirectProduct takes an arbitrary positive number of arguments and calls the operation DirectProductOp, which takes exactly two arguments, namely a nonempty list of groups and one of these groups. (This somewhat strange syntax allows the method selection to choose a reasonable method for special cases, e.g., if all groups are permutation groups or pc groups.)

GAP will try to choose an efficient representation for the direct product. For example the direct product of permutation groups will be a permutation group again and the direct product of pc groups will be a pc group.

For a product P the operation Embedding(P,nr) returns the homomorphism embedding the nr-th factor into P. The operation Projection(P,nr) gives the projection of P onto the nr-th factor (see Embeddings and Projections for Group Products).

gap> g:=Group((1,2,3),(1,2));;
gap> d:=DirectProduct(g,g,g);
Group([ (1,2,3), (1,2), (4,5,6), (4,5), (7,8,9), (7,8) ])
gap> Size(d);
216
gap> e:=Embedding(d,2);
2nd embedding into Group([ (1,2,3), (1,2), (4,5,6), (4,5), (7,8,9), (7,8) ])
gap> Image(e,(1,2));
(4,5)
gap> Image(Projection(d,2),(1,2,3)(4,5)(8,9));
(1,2)

47.2 Semidirect Products

The semidirect product of a group N with a group G acting on N via a homomorphism a from G into the automorphism group of N is the cartesian product G ×N with the multiplication (g,n)·(h,m)=(gh,n^(ha)m).

constructs the semidirect product of N with G acting via alpha. alpha must be a homomorphism from G into a group of automorphisms of N.

If N is a group, alpha must be a homomorphism from G into a group of automorphisms of N.

If N is a full row space over a field F, alpha must be a homomorphism from G into a matrix group of the right dimension over a subfield of F, or into a permutation group (in this case permutation matrices are taken).

In the second variant, autgp must be a group of automorphism of N, it is a shorthand for SemidirectProduct(autgp,IdentityMapping(autgp),N). Note that (unless autgrp has been obtained by the operation AutomorphismGroup) you have to test IsGroupOfAutomorphisms(autgrp) to ensure that GAP knows that autgrp consists of group automorphisms.

gap> n:=AbelianGroup(IsPcGroup,[5,5]);
<pc group of size 25 with 2 generators>
gap> au:=DerivedSubgroup(AutomorphismGroup(n));;
gap> Size(au);
120
gap> p:=SemidirectProduct(au,n);
<permutation group with 4 generators>
gap> Size(p);
3000

gap> n:=Group((1,2),(3,4));;
gap> au:=AutomorphismGroup(n);;
gap> au:=First(Elements(au),i->Order(i)=3);;
gap> au:=Group(au);
<group with 1 generators>

gap> SemidirectProduct(au,n);
Error, no method found! For debugging hints type ?Recovery from NoMethodFound

gap> IsGroupOfAutomorphisms(au);
true
gap> SemidirectProduct(au,n);
<pc group with 3 generators>

gap> n:=AbelianGroup(IsPcGroup,[2,2]);
<pc group of size 4 with 2 generators>
gap> au:=AutomorphismGroup(n);
<group with 4 generators>
gap> apc:=IsomorphismPcGroup(au);
CompositionMapping( Pcgs([ (2,3), (1,3,2) ]) -> 
[ f1, f2 ], <action isomorphism> )
gap> g:=Image(apc);
Group([ f1, f2 ])
gap> apci:=InverseGeneralMapping(apc);
[ f1*f2^2, f1*f2^2, f1*f2, <identity> of ... ] -> 
[ [ f1, f2 ] -> [ f2, f1 ], [ f1, f2 ] -> [ f2, f1 ], 
  [ f1, f2 ] -> [ f1*f2, f2 ], [ f1, f2 ] -> [ f1, f2 ] ]
gap> IsGroupHomomorphism(apci);
true
gap> p:=SemidirectProduct(g,apci,n);
<pc group of size 24 with 4 generators>
gap> IsomorphismGroups(p,Group((1,2,3,4),(1,2)));
[ f1, f2, f3, f4 ] -> [ (1,2), (1,2,4), (1,2)(3,4), (1,4)(2,3) ]

gap> SemidirectProduct(SU(3,3),GF(9)^3);
<matrix group of size 4408992 with 3 generators>
gap> SemidirectProduct(Group((1,2,3),(2,3,4)),GF(5)^4);
<matrix group of size 7500 with 3 generators>

gap> g:=Group((3,4,5),(1,2,3));;
gap> mats:=[[[Z(2^2),0*Z(2)],[0*Z(2),Z(2^2)^2]],
>          [[Z(2)^0,Z(2)^0], [Z(2)^0,0*Z(2)]]];;
gap> hom:=GroupHomomorphismByImages(g,Group(mats),[g.1,g.2],mats);;
gap> SemidirectProduct(g,hom,GF(4)^2);
<matrix group of size 960 with 3 generators>
gap> SemidirectProduct(g,hom,GF(16)^2);
<matrix group of size 15360 with 4 generators>

For the semidirect product P of G with N, Embedding(P,1) embeds G, Embedding(P,2) embeds N. The operation Projection(P) returns the projection of P onto G (see Embeddings and Projections for Group Products).

gap> Size(Image(Embedding(p,1)));
6
gap> Embedding(p,2);
[ f1, f2 ] -> [ f3, f4 ]
gap> Projection(p);
[ f1, f2, f3, f4 ] -> [ f1, f2, <identity> of ..., <identity> of ... ]

47.3 Subdirect Products

The subdirect product of the groups G and H with respect to the epimorphisms j:G® A and y:H® A (for a common group A) is the subgroup of the direct product G×H consisting of the elements (g,h) for which gj = hy. It is the pull-back of the diagram:

                   G
                   | phi
             psi   V
          H  --->  A

constructs the subdirect product of G and H with respect to the epimorphisms Ghom from G onto a group A and Hhom from H onto the same group A.

For a subdirect product P, the operation Projection(P,nr returns the projections on the nr-th factor. (In general the factors do not embed in a subdirect product.)

gap> g:=Group((1,2,3),(1,2));
Group([ (1,2,3), (1,2) ])
gap> hom:=GroupHomomorphismByImagesNC(g,g,[(1,2,3),(1,2)],[(),(1,2)]);
[ (1,2,3), (1,2) ] -> [ (), (1,2) ]
gap> s:=SubdirectProduct(g,g,hom,hom);
Group([ (1,2,3), (1,2)(4,5), (4,5,6) ])
gap> Size(s);
18
gap> p:=Projection(s,2);
2nd projection of Group([ (1,2,3), (1,2)(4,5), (4,5,6) ])
gap> Image(p,(1,3,2)(4,5,6));
(1,2,3)

47.4 Wreath Products

The wreath product of a group G with a permutation group P acting on n points is the semidirect product of the normal subgroup G ⁿ with the group P which acts on G ⁿ by permuting the components.

constructs the wreath product of the group G with the permutation group P (acting on its MovedPoints).

The second usage constructs the wreath product of the group G with the image of the group H under hom where hom must be a homomorphism from H into a permutation group. (If hom is not given, and P is not a permutation group the result of IsomorphismPermGroup(P) -- whose degree may be dependent on the method and thus is not well-defined! -- is taken for hom).

For a wreath product W of G with a permutation group P of degree n and 1 £ nr £ n the operation Embedding(W,nr) provides the embedding of G in the nr-th component of the direct product of the base group G ⁿ of W. Embedding(W,n+1) is the embedding of P into W. The operation Projection(W) provides the projection onto the acting group P (see Embeddings and Projections for Group Products).

gap> g:=Group((1,2,3),(1,2));
Group([ (1,2,3), (1,2) ])
gap> p:=Group((1,2,3));
Group([ (1,2,3) ])
gap> w:=WreathProduct(g,p);
Group([ (1,2,3), (1,2), (4,5,6), (4,5), (7,8,9), (7,8), (1,4,7)(2,5,8)(3,6,9) 
 ])
gap> Size(w);
648
gap> Embedding(w,1);
1st embedding into Group( [ (1,2,3), (1,2), (4,5,6), (4,5), (7,8,9), (7,8), 
  (1,4,7)(2,5,8)(3,6,9) ] )
gap> Image(Embedding(w,3));
Group([ (7,8,9), (7,8) ])
gap> Image(Embedding(w,4));
Group([ (1,4,7)(2,5,8)(3,6,9) ])
gap> Image(Projection(w),(1,4,8,2,6,7,3,5,9));
(1,2,3)

for two permutation groups G and H this function constructs the wreath product of G and H in the imprimitive action. If G acts on l points and H on m points this action will be on l·m points, it will be imprimitive with m blocks of size l each.

The operations Embedding and Projection operate on this product as described for general wreath products.

gap> w:=WreathProductImprimitiveAction(g,p);;
gap> LargestMovedPoint(w);
9

for two permutation groups G and H this function constructs the wreath product in product action. If G acts on l points and H on m points this action will be on l^m points.

The operations Embedding and Projection operate on this product as described for general wreath products.

gap> w:=WreathProductProductAction(g,p);
<permutation group of size 648 with 7 generators>
gap> LargestMovedPoint(w);
27

If beta is a homomorphism from G in a transitive permutation group, U the full preimage of the point stabilizer and and alpha a homomorphism defined on (a superset) of U, this function returns images of the generators of G when mapping to the wreath product (U alpha) wr (G beta). (This is the Krasner-Kaloujnine embedding theorem.)

gap> g:=Group((1,2,3,4),(1,2));;
gap> hom:=GroupHomomorphismByImages(g,Group((1,2)),
> GeneratorsOfGroup(g),[(1,2),(1,2)]);;
gap> u:=PreImage(hom,Stabilizer(Image(hom),1));
Group([ (2,3,4), (1,2,4) ])
gap> hom2:=GroupHomomorphismByImages(u,Group((1,2,3)),
> GeneratorsOfGroup(u),[ (1,2,3), (1,2,3) ]);;
gap> KuKGenerators(g,hom,hom2);
[ (1,4)(2,5)(3,6), (1,6)(2,4)(3,5) ]

47.5 Embeddings and Projections for Group Products

The relation between a group product and its factors is provided via homomorphisms, the embeddings in the product and the projections from the product. Depending on the kind of product only some of these are defined.

returns the nr-th embedding in the group product P. The actual meaning of this embedding is described in the section for the appropriate product.

returns the (nr-th) projection of the group product P. The actual meaning of the projection returned is described in the section for the appropriate product.

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GAP 4 manual
May 2002