Motivation behind defining Blocks in Group Actions

abstract-algebragroup-actionsgroup-theory

I read this comment on Transitive Group acting on A which are primitive but did not really understand what it wanted to say.

Just as in the set-theoretic situation, there is an equivalence between congruence relations on X, G-stable partitions of X, and onto G-set homomorphisms out of X. Then the primitivity condition on X, usually stated in terms of partitions (where the cells are called blocks), can be translated to the statement that X has no nontrivial homomorphic images. Thus, they are the analog of simple groups in the category of G-sets.

Things I want to know about.

  1. What do G-stable partitions of X means?
  2. Onto G-set homomorphism out of X?
  3. X has no nontrivial homomorphic images?
  4. How are they related to simple groups?

Also a few questions of my own.

  1. What is the motivation behind defining blocks?
  2. What are the applications of this?

Best Answer

(0). Exercise. Explain how equivalence relations, partitions, and homomorphic images of a set are all equivalent concepts. If you can understand why they're pretty much the same for sets, you'll be in a better position to understand the generalization to $G$-sets.


(1) If $G$ acts on a set $\Omega$, then it acts on subsets too. For instance, for any $k$, it acts on the collection of $k$-subsets of $\Omega$, (by defining $gA:=\{ga\mid a\in A\}$ for subsets $A\subseteq\Omega$). It also acts on the collection of set-theoretic partitions of $\Omega$. For instance, let $S_3$ act on $\Omega=\{1,2,3,4\}$ in the obvious way. Then, picking a permutation $g=(123)$ and partition $\pi=\{\{1,2\},\{3,4\}\}$ of $\Omega$, we have

$$ g\pi=\{\{2,3\}.\{1,4\}\}. $$

A $G$-stable partition of $\Omega$ is a fixed point of this action. For instance if $H=V_4$, comprised of the identity and permutatons of cycle type $(ab)(cd)$, then $\pi$ is $H$-stable, but e.g. $\{\{1,2\},\{3\},\{4\}\}$ isn't.


(2) Suppose $\Omega$ and $\Psi$ are $G$-sets. A function $\phi:\Omega\to\Psi$ is called $G$-equivariant if it intertwines two actions, i.e. $\phi(g\omega)=g\phi(\omega)$ for all $g\in G$ and $\omega\in\Omega$. It is also called a $G$-morphism.

In this way, there is a category of $G$-sets just like there are categories of sets (functions), groups, rings (homomorphisms), vector spaces (linear transformations), topological spaces (continuous functions), etc.

"Onto" means surjective, i.e. for all $\psi\in\Psi$ there exists at least one $\omega\in\Omega$ for which $\phi(\omega)=\psi$.


(3) For two $G$-sets $\Omega$ and $\Psi$, if there exists an onto $G$-morphism $\phi:\Omega\to\Psi$, we call $\Psi$ a homomorphic image of $\Omega$. That is, $\Psi$ is the image (aka range) of a $G$-morphism.

"Nontrivial" means not the trivial $G$-set, i.e. $|\Psi|>1$. (The one-element trivial $G$-set is trivially a homomorphic image of any other $G$-set.) I suppose we should also exclude $\Omega$; every $G$-set is trivial image of itself (with $\phi$ the identity map).

There is the same concept for plain old groups - for two groups $G$ and $H$, if there is an onto group homomorphism $G\to H$ we call $H$ a homomorphic image of $G$.


(4). Exercise. A group is simple if and only if it has no nontrivial homomorphic images.


(5). Fibers of any $G$-morphism are blocks.


(6). Primitivity is useful in verifying many of the classified simple groups are indeed simple.

Blocks can also be useful "transversals" for orbits that help us visualize how a group acts. The first three pictures of Starting with the group $SL_2(\mathbb{R})$ come to mind.