The operations in this section can be applied to elements of either a group algebra or of a group algebra subalgebra of type AlgGrpSub. Only those operations are listed, which are additional to those available for general algebras.
The sum of the group algebra element a ∈R[G] and the scalar r ∈R.
The sum of the group algebra element a ∈R[G] and the group element g ∈G.
The difference of the group algebra element a ∈R[G] and the scalar r ∈R.
The difference of the group algebra element a ∈R[G] and the group element g ∈G.
The product of the group algebra element a ∈R[G] and the scalar r ∈R.
The product of the group algebra element a ∈R[G] and the group element g ∈G.
The support of a; that is, the sequence of group elements whose coefficients in a are non-zero.
The trace of a; that is, the coefficient of 1G in a.
The augmentation of the group algebra element a; that is, ∑g ∈G rg where a = ∑g ∈G rg * g.
If a = ∑g ∈G rg * g, returns ∑g ∈G rg * g - 1.
The coefficient of g ∈G in a ∈R[G].
If a is an element from a group algebra A given in vector representation, this returns the sequence of coefficients with respect to the fixed basis of A. If A is given in terms representation, this returns a sequence of tuples, where the second entry is a group element and the first is the coefficient of that group element in a.
For an element a from a group algebra A given in vector representation, this returns the sequence of coefficients with respect to the fixed basis of A.
The centralizer in the group algebra A of the element a of A.
The centralizer of the element a (of a group algebra A) in the subalgebra S of A.
We use the group algebra to determine the diameter of the Cayley graph of a group.
> G := Alt(6); > QG := GroupAlgebra( Rationals(), G ); > e := QG!1 + &+[ QG!g : g in Generators(G) ]; > e; Id(G) + (1, 2)(3, 4, 5, 6) + (1, 2, 3)
The group elements that can be expressed as words of length at most n in the generators of G have non-zero coefficient in en. The following function returns for a group algebra element e a sequence with the cardinalities of the supports of en and breaks when the group order is reached.
> wordcount := function(e) > f := e; > count := [ #Support(f) ]; > while count[#count] lt #Group(Parent(e)) do > f *:= e; > Append(~count, #Support(f)); > end while; > return count; > end function;
Now apply this function to the above defined element:
> wordcount( e ); [ 3, 7, 14, 26, 47, 83, 140, 219, 293, 345, 360 ]
Thus, every element in A6 can be expressed as a word of length at most 11 in the generators (1, 2)(3, 4, 5, 6) and (1, 2, 3). A better 2-generator set is for example (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and (1, 5, 3, 6, 4), where all elements can be expressed as words of length at most 10 and this is in fact optimal. A worst 2-generator set is given by (1, 2)(3, 4) and (1, 5, 3, 2)(4, 6).
> wordcount( QG!1 + G!(1,2,3,4,5) + G!(1,5,3,6,4) ); [ 3, 7, 15, 31, 60, 109, 183, 274, 350, 360 ] > wordcount( QG!1 + G!(1,2)(3,4) + G!(1,5,3,2)(4,6) ); [ 3, 6, 11, 18, 28, 43, 63, 88, 119, 158, 206, 255, 297, 329, 352, 360 ]
The group algebra can also be used to investigate the random distribution of words of a certain length in the generators of the group.
> M11 := sub< Sym(11) | (1,11,9,10,4,3,7,2,6,5,8), (1,5,6,3,4,2,7,11,9,10,8) >;
> A := GroupAlgebra(RealField(16), M11 : Rep := "Vector");
> A;
Group algebra with vector representation
Coefficient ring: Real Field of precision 16
Group: Permutation group M11 acting on a set of cardinality 11
Order = 7920 = 2^4 * 3^2 * 5 * 11
(1, 11, 9, 10, 4, 3, 7, 2, 6, 5, 8)
(1, 5, 6, 3, 4, 2, 7, 11, 9, 10, 8)
> e := (A!M11.1 + A!M11.2) / 2.0;
> eta := Eta(A) / #M11;
For growing n, the words of length n in the generators of M11 converge towards a random distribution iff en converges towards eta. We look at the quadratic differences of the coefficients of en-eta for n = 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.
> e10 := e^10; > f := A!1; > for i in [1..5] do > f *:= e10; > print &+[ c^2 : c in Eltseq(f - eta) ]; > end for; 0.0012050667195213 1.289719354694155e-5 5.9390965208879e-7 3.394099291966e-8 2.19432454574986e-9