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Higman–Sims group

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In the area of modern algebra known as group theory, the Higman–Sims group HS is a sporadic simple group of order

   29⋅32⋅53⋅7⋅11 = 44352000
≈ 4×107.

The Schur multiplier has order 2, the outer automorphism group has order 2, and the group 2.HS.2 appears as an involution centralizer in the Harada–Norton group.

History

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HS is one of the 26 sporadic groups and was found by Donald G. Higman and Charles C. Sims (1968). They were attending a presentation by Marshall Hall on the Hall–Janko group J2. It happens that J2 acts as a permutation group on the Hall–Janko graph of 100 points, the stabilizer of one point being a subgroup with two other orbits of lengths 36 and 63. Inspired by this they decided to check for other rank 3 permutation groups on 100 points. They soon focused on a possible one containing the Mathieu group M22, which has permutation representations on 22 and 77 points. (The latter representation arises because the M22 Steiner system has 77 blocks.) By putting together these two representations, they found HS, with a one-point stabilizer isomorphic to M22.

HS is the simple subgroup of index two in the group of automorphisms of the Higman–Sims graph. The Higman–Sims graph has 100 nodes, so the Higman–Sims group HS is a transitive group of permutations of a 100 element set. The smallest faithful complex representation of HS has dimension 22.[1]

Graham Higman (1969) independently discovered the group as a doubly transitive permutation group acting on a certain "geometry" on 176 points.

Construction

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GAP code to build the Higman-Sims group is presented as an example in the GAP documentation itself.[2]

The Higman-Sims group can be constructed with the following two generators:[2]

(1,50,65) (2,89,62,52,88,25) (3,46,57,18,74,55) (4,45,10,70,56,39) (5,97,77) (6,84,8,48,99,67) (7,26,92,28,20,100) (9,30,79,66,49,95) (11,72) (12,94,98,27,83,93) (13,31,61,59,40,47) (14,51,68,44,16,34) (15,38) (17,82,87) (19,76,73,71,63,32) (21,37,58,69,75,35) (22,53,81) (23,33,54) (24,43,80,78,29,86) (42,64) (60,90,96) (85,91)

and

(1,65,44,13,34,57) (2,10,39,54,42,84) (3,15,69,63,37,11) (5,21,79) (6,89,49,64,46,80) (7,70,93,29,8,38) (9,81,17,23,77,59) (12,68,66,75,96,82) (14,18,95,43,76,32) (16,33,99,26,92,48) (19,50) (20,97,83) (22,88,85,53,24,56) (25,62,67) (27,98) (28,55) (30,58,71,86,94,90) (31,87,52,78,100,60) (35,61,51) (36,73,72) (40,74) (41,45,47)

Relationship to Conway groups

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Conway (1968) identified the Higman–Sims group as a subgroup of the Conway group Co0. In Co0 HS arises as a pointwise stabilizer of a 2-3-3 triangle, one whose edges (differences of vertices) are type 2 and 3 vectors. HS thus is a subgroup of each of the Conway groups Co0, Co2 and Co3.

Wilson (2009) (p. 208) shows that the group HS is well-defined. In the Leech lattice, suppose a type 3 point v is fixed by an instance of Co3. Count the type 2 points w such that the inner product v·w = 2 (and thus v-w is type 3). He shows that their number is 11,178 = 2⋅35⋅23 and that this Co3 is transitive on these w.

|HS| = |Co3| / 11,178 = 44,352,000.

In fact, |HS| = 100 |M22|, and there are instances of HS including a permutation matrix representation of the Mathieu group M22.

If an instance of HS in Co0 fixes a particular point of type 3, this point is found in 276 triangles of type 2-2-3 that this copy of HS permutes in orbits of 176 and 100. This fact leads to Graham Higman's construction as well as to the Higman–Sims graph. HS is doubly transitive on the 176 and rank 3 on the 100.

A 2-3-3 triangle defines a 2-dimensional subspace fixed pointwise by HS. The standard representation of HS can thus be reduced to a 22-dimensional one.

A Higman-Sims graph

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Wilson (2009) (p. 210) gives an example of a Higman-Sims graph within the Leech lattice, permuted by the representation of M22 on the last 22 coordinates:

  • 22 points of shape (1, 1, −3, 121)
  • 77 points of shape (2, 2, 26, 016)
  • A 100th point (4, 4, 022)

Differences of adjacent points are of type 3; those of non-adjacent ones are of type 2.

Here, HS fixes a 2-3-3 triangle with vertices x = (5, 123), y = (1, 5, 122), and z the origin. x and y are of type 3 while x-y = (4, −4, 022) is of type 2. Any vertex of the graph differs from x, y, and z by vectors of type 2.

Two classes of involutions

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An involution in the subgroup M22 transposes 8 pairs of co-ordinates. As a permutation matrix in Co0 it has trace 8. It can shown that it moves 80 of the 100 vertices of the Higman-Sims graph. No transposed pair of vertices is an edge in the graph.

There is another class of involutions, of trace 0, that move all 100 vertices.[3] As permutations in the alternating group A100, being products of an odd number (25) of double transpositions, these involutions lift to elements of order 4 in the double cover 2.A100. HS thus has a double cover 2.HS, which is not related to the double cover of the subgroup M22.

Maximal subgroups

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Magliveras (1971) found the 12 conjugacy classes of maximal subgroups of HS as follows:

Subgroup Order Index Orbits on Higman-Sims graph
M22 443520 100 1, 22, 77 one-point stabilizer on Higman-Sims graph
U3(5):2 252000 176 imprimitive on pair of Hoffman-Singleton graphs of 50 vertices each one-point stabilizer in doubly transitive representation of degree 176
U3(5):2 252000 176 like type above fused in HS:2 to class above
PSL(3,4).2 40320 1100 2, 42, 56 stabilizer of edge
S8 40320 1100 30, 70
24.S6 11520 3850 2, 6, 32, 60 stabilizer of non-edge
43:PSL(3,2) 10752 4125 8, 28, 64
M11 7920 5600 12, 22, 66 classes fused in HS:2
M11 7920 5600 12, 22, 66
4.24.S5 7680 5775 20, 80 centralizer of involution class 2A moving 80 vertices of Higman–Sims graph
2 × A6.22 2880 15400 40, 60 centralizer of involution class 2B moving all 100 vertices
5:4 × A5 1200 36960 imprimitive on 5 blocks of 20 normalizer of 5-subgroup generated by class 5B element

Conjugacy classes

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Traces of matrices in a standard 24-dimensional representation of HS are shown. [4] Listed are 2 permutation representations: on the 100 vertices of the Higman–Sims graph, and on the 176 points of Graham Higman's geometry.[5]

Class Order of centralizer No. elements Trace On 100 On 176
1A 44,352,000 1 = 1 24
2A 7,680 5775 = 3 · 52 · 7 · 11 8 120,240 116,280
2B 2,880 15400 = 23 · 52 · 5 · 7 · 11 0 250 112, 282
3A 360 123200 = 26 · 52 · 7 · 11 6 110,330 15,357
4A 3,840 11550 = 2 · 3 · 52 · 7 · 11 -4 210420 116,440
4B 256 173250 = 2 · 32 · 53 · 7 · 11 4 18,26,420 28,440
4C 64 693000 = 23 · 32 · 53 · 7 · 11 4 14,28,420 14,26,440
5A 500 88704 = 27 · 32 · 7 · 11 -1 520 1,535
5B 300 147840 = 27 · 3 · 5 · 7 · 11 4 520 16,534
5C 25 1774080 = 29 · 32 · 5 · 7 4 15,519 1,535
6A 36 1232000 = 27 · 53 · 7 · 11 0 25,615 13,2,33,627
6B 24 1848000 = 26 · 3 · 53 · 7 · 11 2 12,24,36,612 1, 22,35,626
7A 7 6336000 = 29 · 32 · 53 · 11 3 12,714 1,725
8A 16 2772000 = 25 · 32 · 53 · 7 · 11 2 12,23,43,810 44, 820
8B 16 2772000 = 25 · 32 · 53 · 7 · 11 2 22,44,810 12,2,43,820
8C 16 2772000 = 25 · 32 · 53 · 7 · 11 2 22,44,810 12 2, 43, 820
10A 20 2217600 = 27 · 32 · 52 · 7 · 11 3 54,108 1,53,1016
10B 20 2217600 = 27 · 32 · 52 · 7 · 11 0 1010 12,22,52,1016
11A 11 4032000 = 29 · 32 · 53 · 7 2 11119 1116 Power equivalent
11B 11 4032000 = 29 · 32 · 53 · 7 2 11119 1116
12A 12 3696000 = 27 · 3 · 53 · 7 · 11 2 21,42,63,126 1,35,4,1213
15A 15 2956800 = 29 · 3 · 52 · 7 · 11 1 52,156 32,5,1511
20A 20 2217600 = 27 · 32 · 52 · 7 · 11 1 102,204 1,53,208 Power equivalent
20B 20 2217600 = 27 · 32 · 52 · 7 · 11 1 102,204 1,53,208

Generalized Monstrous Moonshine

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Conway and Norton suggested in their 1979 paper that monstrous moonshine is not limited to the monster group, but that similar phenomena may be found for other groups. Larissa Queen and others subsequently found that one can construct the expansions of many Hauptmoduln from simple combinations of dimensions of sporadic groups. For HS, the McKay-Thompson series is where one can set a(0) = 4 (OEISA058097),

References

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  1. ^ Jansen (2009), p. 123
  2. ^ a b "Constructing HS and Co3 in GAP 4".
  3. ^ Wilson (2009), p. 213
  4. ^ Conway et al. (1985)
  5. ^ "ATLAS: Higman–Sims group HS".
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