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Classical.Structures.Group.NormalCore

The normal core of a subgroup

This is the Classical.Structures.Group.NormalCore module of the Agda Universal Algebra Library.

For a subgroup H of a group 𝑮, the normal core Core_G(H) is the largest normal subgroup of 𝑮 contained in H.

Classically the normal core is the intersection ⋂ { g H g⁻¹ ∣ g ∈ G } of all conjugates of H. We define it constructively as that intersection, using the infinitary meet of the subuniverse lattice of Setoid.Subalgebras.CompleteLattice over the family of conjugates from Classical.Structures.Group.Conjugation — so the definition is an instance of the complete-lattice machinery rather than an ad-hoc predicate.

The lattice is instantiated at base level ℓ₀ = α ⊔ ρ ⊔ ℓ, the absorbing level for group-theoretic constructions over a Group α ρ and a subgroup predicate at level : conjugates mention the setoid equality (level ρ) and the predicate (level ), and the meet is indexed by the carrier (level α), lifted by Lift (ρ ⊔ ℓ) to reach the index level of .

The module proves the characteristic properties as small named lemmas, in particular that the core is contained in H (core-⊆), is an equality-respecting subgroup (core-isSubgroup), is normal (core-normal), and contains every normal subgroup contained in H (core-greatest) — together: the core is the greatest normal subgroup below H.1

{-# OPTIONS --cubical-compatible --exact-split --safe #-}

module Classical.Structures.Group.NormalCore where

open import Agda.Primitive using () renaming ( Set to Type )

-- Imports from the Agda Standard Library ---------------------------------------
open import Data.Product     using ( _,_ ; proj₁ ; proj₂ )
open import Level            using ( Level ; _⊔_ ; Lift ; lift ; lower )
open import Relation.Binary  using ( Setoid )
open import Relation.Unary   using ( Pred ; _∈_ ; _⊆_ )

import Relation.Binary.Reasoning.Setoid as SetoidReasoning

-- Imports from the Agda Universal Algebra Library ------------------------------
open import Classical.Structures.Group.Basic        using ( Group ; module Group-Op )
open import Classical.Structures.Group.Subgroups    using ( IsSubgroup )
open import Classical.Structures.Group.Conjugation  using ( module Conjugate )
open import Setoid.Algebras.Basic                   using ( 𝕌[_] ; 𝔻[_] )
open import Setoid.Subalgebras.CompleteLattice      using ( module Sublattice )

The construction

Core 𝑮 H H-isSubgroup packages the normal core of the subgroup cut out by H. The family conjugates sends (the lift of) a group element g to the conjugate subgroup g H g⁻¹ as an element of the subuniverse lattice, and core is the lattice meet of that family — its underlying predicate is definitionally the intersection ⋂ g (conjugate g H).

module Core {α ρ : Level} (𝑮 : Group α ρ) { : Level}
  (H : Pred 𝕌[ proj₁ 𝑮 ] ) (H-isSubgroup : IsSubgroup 𝑮 H)
  where

  private
    𝑨 = proj₁ 𝑮
    A = 𝕌[ 𝑨 ]

  open Setoid 𝔻[ 𝑨 ]  using ( _≈_ ) renaming ( sym to ≈sym )
  open SetoidReasoning 𝔻[ 𝑨 ]
  open Group-Op 𝑮 using ( _∙_ ; ε ; _⁻¹ )
  open Conjugate 𝑮
  open Sublattice 𝑨 (α  ρ  ) using ( Subᴸ ;  )
  open IsSubgroup H-isSubgroup using () renaming  (respects to H-respects
                                                  ; isSubuniverse to H-isSubuniverse)

  -- The index of the meet: the carrier, lifted to the lattice's index level.
  Index : Type (α  ρ  )
  Index = Lift (ρ  ) A

  -- The family of all conjugates of H, as elements of the subuniverse lattice.
  conjugates : Index  Subᴸ
  conjugates i =  [ H ]^ (lower i) , conjugate-isSubuniverse (lower i) H H-isSubuniverse

  -- The normal core: the complete-lattice meet (intersection) of all conjugates of H.
  core : Subᴸ
  core =  conjugates

Membership characterization

Unwinding the definition, x lies in the core precisely when every conjugate conj g x lies in H; the two lemmas below convert between the definitional form (a witness in each conjugate subgroup) and this pointwise form, which is the convenient one in proofs.

  -- If x is in the core then all its conjugates are in H.
  core-mem-conj : {x : A}  x  proj₁ core   g  conj g x  H
  core-mem-conj {x} x∈core g = H-respects (≈sym conj-g-x≈h) h∈H
    where
    h : A
    h = proj₁ (x∈core (lift (g ⁻¹)))

    h∈H : h  H
    h∈H = proj₁ (proj₂ (x∈core (lift (g ⁻¹))))

    x≈conj : x  conj (g ⁻¹) h
    x≈conj = proj₂ (proj₂ (x∈core (lift (g ⁻¹))))

    conj-g-x≈h : conj g x  h
    conj-g-x≈h = begin
      conj g x                ≈⟨ conj-cong g x≈conj 
      conj g (conj (g ⁻¹) h)  ≈⟨ conj-conj⁻¹ g h 
      h                       

  -- Conversely, if all conjugates of x are in H then x is in the core.
  conj-mem-core : {x : A}  (∀ g  conj g x  H)  x  proj₁ core
  conj-mem-core {x} cm i =
    conj (lower i ⁻¹) x , cm (lower i ⁻¹) , ≈sym (conj-conj⁻¹ (lower i) x)

The core is a normal subgroup contained in H

  -- The core is contained in H (instantiate the conjugate at g = ε).
  core-⊆ : proj₁ core  H
  core-⊆ {x} x∈core = H-respects (conj-action-ε x) (core-mem-conj x∈core ε)

  -- The core is an equality-respecting subgroup: respect holds componentwise
  -- (each conjugate respects ≈ by construction), and the meet of subuniverses
  -- is a subuniverse by the lattice machinery.
  core-isSubgroup : IsSubgroup 𝑮 (proj₁ core)
  core-isSubgroup = record
    { respects       = λ x≈y x∈core i  conjugate-respects (lower i) H x≈y (x∈core i)
    ; isSubuniverse  = proj₂ core
    }

  -- The core is normal: conjugating a member by g keeps every conjugate in H,
  -- since conj k (conj g x) is the (k ∙ g)-conjugate of x.
  core-normal : IsNormal (proj₁ core)
  core-normal g {x} x∈core =
    conj-mem-core  k  H-respects (conj-action-∙ k g x) (core-mem-conj x∈core (k  g)))

  -- The core is the greatest normal subgroup contained in H: any normal subset
  -- of H sits inside every conjugate of H, hence inside the meet.
  core-greatest : {ℓⁿ : Level} {N : Pred A ℓⁿ}
      IsNormal N  N  H  N  proj₁ core
  core-greatest N-normal N⊆H x∈N = conj-mem-core  g  N⊆H (N-normal g x∈N))


  1. This is the normalization step behind the core-free reduction [H, G] ≅ [H/N, G/N] of the FLRP program (see docs/notes/flrp-research-roadmap.md § 4).