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Lect3 Normal Subgroups

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13 views

Lect3 Normal Subgroups

Uploaded by

Vishvesh Patel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lecture 3

1 Normal Subgroups
We had seen that for the subgroup K = {I, R120 , R240 } of D6 the left and the right cosets were
same.

If N is a subgroup of G then aN a−1 is also a subgroup of G, ∀ a ∈ G (verify).

It may so happen that aN a−1 = N .


⇒ aN = N a ∀ a ∈ G.

This is the case with the subgroup K of D6 .


Such subgroups are called Normal subgroups.

• Def.Normal Subgroup
A subgroup N of a group G is called a normal subgroup if aN a−1 ⊆ N, ∀ a ∈ G.

• For any group G the trivial subgroups {e} and G are normal subgroups of G.

• All subgroups of an abellain group are normal since aN a−1 = N always.

• Lemma 7:
N is a normal subgroup of G if and only if aN a−1 = N, ∀ a ∈ G.

Proof:
if part:

Consider a ∈ G.
aN a−1 = N ⇒ aN a−1 ⊆ N . So N is normal.

only if part:

N is normal.
Consider a ∈ G.

aN a−1 ⊆ N ⇒ N ⊆ a−1 N a.

Also a−1 N a ⊆ N since a−1 ∈ G.

So we conclude aN a−1 = N .
• Lemma 8:
A subgroup N of a group G is normal if and only if every left coset of N is also a right coset.

Proof:
only if part:

Let N be normal .
∴ aN a−1 = N, ∀a ∈ G ⇒ aN = N a ∀a ∈ G.

So every left coset of N is also a right coset.

if part:

Every left coset is equal to a right coset.

So let aN = N b, for a, b ∈ G.

a ∈ aN, ⇒ a ∈ N b

Also a ∈ N a ⇒ N b = N a

∴ aN = N a ⇒ aN a−1 = N .

So N is a normal subgroup of G.

• If H and K are two subgroups of G, what about the subset HK of G?

• We can show that if HK = KH then HK is also a subgroup of G.

• If one of these subgroups, say, K is normal then in view of lemma 8 HK = KH, ⇒ HK


is also a subgroup.

• Is HK normal?

If both H and K are normal then HK is normal.

Structure in the set of cosets

2 Normal Subgroups contd...


Let N be a subgroup of G. Consider the collection of right cosets of N in G i.e {N a|a ∈ G}
When we multiply(set multiplication) two such right cosets do we get a right coset?
This happens only if N is a normal subgroup.

2
• Lemma: 9
N is a normal subgroup of G if and only if the product of two right(left) cosets of N is also
a right(left) coset of N in G.

proof:
only if part

Let N be a normal subgroup of G.

Consider two right cosets N a and N b of N in G.


Consider the product N aN b. We have

N aN b = N (aN )b = N (N a)b = (N N )(ab) = N (ab)

which is a right coset of N in G.

if part:

Let N aN b = N c, a right coset.

a ∈ N a, b ∈ N b ⇒ ab ∈ N aN b

⇒ ab ∈ N c, ⇒ N c = N ab

∴ N aN b = N ab
If b = a−1 then N aN a−1 = N e = N

Let x ∈ aN a−1 .

Then N x ⊆ N .

Since x ∈ N x ⇒ x ∈ N .
∴ aN a−1 ⊆ N ⇒ N is a normal subgroup of G.
♦

• For a normal subgroup N since N a = aN we simply say cosets of N and not right or left
cosets of N .

• Lemma 9 says that the collection of all cosets of a normal subgroup N of G is closed under
the set multiplication.
We denote this collection as G/N .

• Proposition 6:
If N is a normal subgroup of G then G/N forms a group under the multiplication of cosets.
This group is called the quotient group or the factor group of G by N .

3
• o(G/N ) = [G : N ] = o(G)/o(N ) if G is finite.

Eg.

G = hR, +i, N = hZ, +i

G/N = R/Z = {Zx|0 ≤ x < 1}


One of the elements(a coset) of G/N is

Z(0.36) = {.... − 2.64, −1.64, −0.64, 0.36, 1.36, 2.36, ......}

Z(0.36) · Z(0.75) = Z(0.11)

Identity element in G/N is Z.


(Zx)−1 = Z(1 − x)

• Def:
An element b ∈ G is said to be a conjugate of a ∈ G if ∃ x ∈ G such that xax−1 = b.

• If a is conjugate to b then we write a ∼ b.

• Conjugacy is an equivalence relation on G (exercise).

• The group G gets partitioned into conjugacy classes. Let C(a) denote the conjugacy class of
a.
Then C(a) = {x ∈ G|x ∼ a}.

• Unlike the cosets the conjugacy classes are not all of the same size.
for eg. C(e) = {e}. But the conjugacy class of other elements may contain more than one
element.
If G is an abellian group then C(a) = {a}, ∀ a ∈ G.

• We denote |C(a)| = ca .

Does C(a) form a subgroup of G? (answer yourself)

• Def: Normalizer
Let a ∈ G. The normalizer of a in G, denoted as N (a) is a subset of G consisting of elements
that commute with a.

N (a) = {x ∈ G|xa = ax}

• N (a) is a subgroup of G.
Proof is an exercise.

• N (e) = G.

4
• Proposition 7:
If G is a finite group then

|C(a)| = [G : N (a)] = iG (N (a))

Proof:
Let gN (a) be a left coset of N (a) in G.
Consider x ∈ gN (a). Then x = gh, where h ∈ N (a).

⇒ xax−1 = g(hah−1 )g −1 = gag −1


⇒ all elements in gN (a) yield the same element gag −1 in C(a).

Consider g1 , g2 ∈ G such that


g1 ag1−1 = g2 ag2−1 ⇒ g2−1 g1 ag1−1 g2 = a
⇒ g2−1 g1 ∈ N (a) ⇒ g1 ∈ g2 N (a)
⇒ g1 , g2 belongs to the same coset of N (a) in G.

........contd.
.........contd.
So elements from two distinct cosets cannot yield the same element in C(a).

Hence there are as many elements in C(a) as there are cosets of N (a).
This proves the result.
♦

• Every normal subgroup is a union of certain conjugacy classes of G including C(e) = {e}.

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