Commuting classes of matrices with entries from a finite field

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• John Britnell, University of Bristol
• Thursday 17 November 2011, 16:00-17:00
• Watson Building, Lecture Room A.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact David Craven.

This talk addresses the problem of deciding whether two classes of similar matrices contain elements which commute. I shall indicate how, over a finite field, this problem reduces (up to a field extension) to the case of nilpotent classes. The nilpotent case has been studied extensively, but chiefly over algebraically closed fields, particularly in characteristic 0. I shall describe what is known about it over various fields, and mention some open questions which have recently attracted attention.

This talk is part of the Algebra seminar series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Algebra seminar
• School of Mathematics events
• Watson Building, Lecture Room A

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.