The number of double coset of p-group $G$

abstract-algebragroup-theoryp-groups

Following this question: Question about orbits of the left translation of group action

Let $H$ be proper subgroups of the group $G$. For each $x \in G$ define the $H$ double coset of $x$ in $G$ to be the set
$$HxH = \{hxk \, | \, h \in H, k \in H\}.$$

Question: Suppose that $H$ is a proper subgroup. I am working to show that the number of double cosets of $H$ in $G$, which are left cosets of $H$ in $G$ is at least $p$.

My proof:

Following the comments, I wrote a proof as follows. Note that the number of "double cosets=left cosets" is just same as the number of $HxH=xH$, which is the number of $N:=\{g\in G: gHg^{-1}=H\}$.

Consider the group action: $G\times H\to H$ by conjugation. Then the number of stabilizers of this action is the same as the number of normalizer, which is divisible by the order of $G$ with some power of $p$.

Moreover, by class equation, we know that the center $C(H)$ of $H$ is not trivial (see Centralizer not trivial.). Then $C(H)\subset N$, $N$ is also non-trivial. Thus, the order of $N$ is at least $p$.

Best Answer

We have to count the number of left cosets $xH$ in $G/H$ such that $xH=HxH$. Let $$H'=\{x\in G:xH=HxH\}.$$ It is easy to check that $H'$ is a group containing the group $H$. It suffices to show that $H'\ne H$ because then $|H':H|\ge p$, so there are at least $p$ distinct cosets $xH$ with $x\in H'$.

We prove the required claim by induction on $|G|$ as follows. Suppose that $|G|=p$. Since $H$ is a proper subgroup of $G$, $H=\{e\}$, so there are exactly $p$ one-element left cosets $xH$ and each of them is double.

Suppose that the claim is proved for all $p$-groups with smaller orders than $|G|$. Let $Z$ be the center of $H$. Clearly, $Z\subset H'$. So if $Z\not\subset H$ then we are done. Thus we suppose that $Z\subset H$. Then $H/Z$ is a proper subgroup of $G/Z$. It is well-known (see, for instance [Lan, I.6.$\S 3$]) that $Z\ne\{e\}$, so $|G/Z|<|G|$. By the inductive hypothesis, there exists a class $\bar x\in G/Z\setminus H/Z$ such that $\bar x (H/Z)=(H/Z)\bar x (H/Z)$. Let $x$ be any element of $\bar x Z$. Then $x\not\in H$, but $HxH\subset H\bar xH \subset \bar xH=xH,$ so $x\in H'$.

References

[Lan] Serge Lang, Algebra, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1965 (Russian translation, Moskow, 1968).

Related Question