For positive integers k and n, the shuffle group $G_{k,kn}$ is generated by the $k!$ permutations of a deck of $kn$ cards performed by cutting the deck into k piles with n cards in each pile, and then perfectly interleaving these cards following a certain permutation of the k piles. For $k=2$, the shuffle group $G_{2,2n}$ was determined by Diaconis, Graham and Kantor in 1983. The Shuffle Group Conjecture states that, for general k, the shuffle group $G_{k,kn}$ contains $\mathrm {A}_{kn}$ whenever $k\notin \{2,4\}$ and n is not a power of k. In particular, the conjecture in the case $k=3$ was posed by Medvedoff and Morrison in 1987. The only values of k for which the Shuffle Group Conjecture has been confirmed so far are powers of $2$, due to recent work of Amarra, Morgan and Praeger based on Classification of Finite Simple Groups. In this paper, we confirm the Shuffle Group Conjecture for all cases using results on $2$-transitive groups and elements of large fixed point ratio in primitive groups.

We find an upper bound for the number of groups of order n up to isomorphism in the variety ${\mathfrak {S}}={\mathfrak {A}_p}{\mathfrak {A}_q}{\mathfrak {A}_r}$, where p, q and r are distinct primes. We also find a bound on the orders and on the number of conjugacy classes of subgroups that are maximal amongst the subgroups of the general linear group that are also in the variety $\mathfrak {A}_q\mathfrak {A}_r$.

A first-order structure $\mathfrak {A}$ is called monadically stable iff every expansion of $\mathfrak {A}$ by unary predicates is stable. In this paper we give a classification of the class $\mathcal {M}$ of $\omega $-categorical monadically stable structure in terms of their automorphism groups. We prove in turn that $\mathcal {M}$ is the smallest class of structures which contains the one-element pure set, is closed under isomorphisms, and is closed under taking finite disjoint unions, infinite copies, and finite index first-order reducts. Using our classification we show that every structure in $\mathcal {M}$ is first-order interdefinable with a finitely bounded homogeneous structure. We also prove that every structure in $\mathcal {M}$ has finitely many reducts up to interdefinability, thereby confirming Thomas’ conjecture for the class $\mathcal {M}$.

Skew left braces arise naturally from the study of non-degenerate set-theoretic solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation. To understand the algebraic structure of skew left braces, a study of the decomposition into minimal substructures is relevant. We introduce chief series and prove a strengthened form of the Jordan–Hölder theorem for finite skew left braces. A characterization of right nilpotency and an application to multipermutation solutions are also given.

Let $G$ be a finite permutation group of degree $n$ and let ${\rm ifix}(G)$ be the involution fixity of $G$, which is the maximum number of fixed points of an involution. In this paper, we study the involution fixity of almost simple primitive groups whose socle $T$ is an alternating or sporadic group; our main result classifies the groups of this form with ${\rm ifix}(T) \leqslant n^{4/9}$. This builds on earlier work of Burness and Thomas, who studied the case where $T$ is an exceptional group of Lie type, and it strengthens the bound ${\rm ifix}(T) > n^{1/6}$ (with prescribed exceptions), which was proved by Liebeck and Shalev in 2015. A similar result for classical groups will be established in a sequel.

Given a finite group $G$, define the minimal degree $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(G)$ of $G$ to be the least $n$ such that $G$ embeds into $S_{n}$. We call $G$ exceptional if there is some $N\unlhd G$ with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(G/N)>\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(G)$, in which case we call $N$ distinguished. We prove here that a subgroup with no abelian composition factors is not distinguished.

Let $K$ be a field that admits a cyclic Galois extension of degree $n\geq 2$. The symmetric group $S_{n}$ acts on $K^{n}$ by permutation of coordinates. Given a subgroup $G$ of $S_{n}$ and $u\in K^{n}$, let $V_{G}(u)$ be the $K$-vector space spanned by the orbit of $u$ under the action of $G$. In this paper we show that, for a special family of groups $G$ of affine type, the dimension of $V_{G}(u)$ can be computed via the greatest common divisor of certain polynomials in $K[x]$. We present some applications of our results to the cases $K=\mathbb{Q}$ and $K$ finite.

We study the complexity of the topological isomorphism relation for various classes of closed subgroups of the group of permutations of the natural numbers. We use the setting of Borel reducibility between equivalence relations on Borel spaces. For profinite, locally compact, and Roelcke precompact groups, we show that the complexity is the same as the one of countable graph isomorphism. For oligomorphic groups, we merely establish this as an upper bound.

Given two structures ${\cal M}$ and ${\cal N}$ on the same domain, we say that ${\cal N}$ is a reduct of ${\cal M}$ if all $\emptyset$-definable relations of ${\cal N}$ are $\emptyset$-definable in ${\cal M}$. In this article the reducts of the Henson digraphs are classified. Henson digraphs are homogeneous countable digraphs that omit some set of finite tournaments. As the Henson digraphs are ${\aleph _0}$-categorical, determining their reducts is equivalent to determining the closed supergroups G ≤ Sym(ℕ) of their automorphism groups.

A consequence of the classification is that there are ${2^{{\aleph _0}}}$ pairwise noninterdefinable Henson digraphs which have no proper nontrivial reducts. Taking their automorphisms groups gives a positive answer to a question of Macpherson that asked if there are ${2^{{\aleph _0}}}$ pairwise nonconjugate maximal-closed subgroups of Sym(ℕ). By the reconstruction results of Rubin, these groups are also nonisomorphic as abstract groups.

Given a class ${\cal C}$ of subgroups of a topological group G, we say that a subgroup $H \in {\cal C}$ is a universal${\cal C}$subgroup of G if every subgroup $K \in {\cal C}$ is a continuous homomorphic preimage of H. Such subgroups may be regarded as complete members of ${\cal C}$ with respect to a natural preorder on the set of subgroups of G. We show that for any locally compact Polish group G, the countable power Gω has a universal Kσ subgroup and a universal compactly generated subgroup. We prove a weaker version of this in the nonlocally compact case and provide an example showing that this result cannot readily be improved. Additionally, we show that many standard Banach spaces (viewed as additive topological groups) have universal Kσ and compactly generated subgroups. As an aside, we explore the relationship between the classes of Kσ and compactly generated subgroups and give conditions under which the two coincide.

We consider the wreath product of two permutation groups G≤Sym Γ and H≤Sym Δ as a permutation group acting on the set Π of functions from Δ to Γ. Such groups play an important role in the O’Nan–Scott theory of permutation groups and they also arise as automorphism groups of graph products and codes. Let X be a subgroup of Sym Γ≀Sym Δ. Our main result is that, in a suitable conjugate of X, the subgroup of SymΓ induced by a stabiliser of a coordinate δ∈Δ only depends on the orbit of δ under the induced action of X on Δ. Hence, if X is transitive on Δ, then X can be embedded into the wreath product of the permutation group induced by the stabiliser Xδ on Γ and the permutation group induced by X on Δ. We use this result to describe the case where X is intransitive on Δ and offer an application to error-correcting codes in Hamming graphs.

A transitive simple subgroup of a finite symmetric group is very rarely contained in a full wreath product in product action. All such simple permutation groups are determined in this paper. This remarkable conclusion is reached after a definition and detailed examination of ‘Cartesian decompositions’ of the permuted set, relating them to certain ‘Cartesian systems of subgroups’. These concepts, and the bijective connections between them, are explored in greater generality, with specific future applications in mind.