Group theory MOC

Centre of a group

The centre Z(𝐺) of a group 𝐺 is a Normal subgroup of all elements of 𝐺 that commute with every other element, i.e. Z(𝐺) ={𝑎 𝐺 𝑎𝑥 =𝑥𝑎 𝑥 𝐺}. Note that at the very least 𝑒 Z(𝐺).1 #m/def/group #m/thm/group

Proof of normal subgroup

As shown above, 𝑒 𝑍(𝐺). Additionally, for any 𝑎,𝑏 𝑍(𝐺) it is clear that 𝑎𝑏 𝑍(𝐺) since 𝑎𝑏𝑥 =𝑏𝑥𝑎 =𝑥𝑎𝑏, so 𝑍(𝐺) is closed under the binary operation. Since 𝑎𝑥 =𝑥𝑎 for any 𝑥 𝐺 we can both pre- and postmultiply both sides to obtain 𝑥𝑎1 =𝑎1𝑥 for any 𝑥, therefore 𝑎1 𝑍(𝐺), so 𝑍(𝐺) is closed under the inverse. Hence 𝑍(𝐺) is a subgroup of 𝐺 by Two step subgroup test. Now let 𝑔 𝐺 and 𝑍(𝐺). Clearly 𝑔𝑔1 =𝑔𝑔1 = 𝑍(𝐺). Hence 𝑍(𝐺) is a Normal subgroup.

A related notion is the Centralizer in a group. The centre is the intersection of all centralisers.

Properties


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Footnotes

  1. 2017, Contemporary Abstract Algebra, pp. 67