We show that, given a compact minimal system $(X,g)$ and an element h of the topological full group $\tau [g]$ of g, the infinite orbits of h admit a locally constant orientation with respect to the orbits of g. We use this to obtain a clopen partition of $(X,G)$ into minimal and periodic parts, where G is any virtually polycyclic subgroup of $\tau [g]$ . We also use the orientation of orbits to give a refinement of the index map and to describe the role in $\tau [g]$ of the submonoid generated by the induced transformations of g. Finally, we consider the problem, given a homeomorphism h of the Cantor space X, of determining whether or not there exists a minimal homeomorphism g of X such that $h \in \tau [g]$ .

We provide a general program for finding nice arrangements of points in real or complex projective space from transitive actions of finite groups. In many cases, these arrangements are optimal in the sense of maximizing the minimum distance. We introduce our program in terms of general Schurian association schemes before focusing on the special case of Gelfand pairs. Notably, our program unifies a variety of existing packings with heretofore disparate constructions. In addition, we leverage our program to construct the first known infinite family of equiangular lines with Heisenberg symmetry.

The work of L. G. (Laci) Kovács (1936–2013) gave us a deeper understanding of permutation groups, especially in the O’Nan–Scott theory of primitive groups. We review his contribution to this field.

We extend a result of Noritzsch, which describes the orbit sizes in the action of a Frobenius group $G$ on a finite vector space $V$ under certain conditions, to a more general class of finite solvable groups $G$. This result has applications in computing irreducible character degrees of finite groups. Another application, proved here, is a result concerning the structure of certain groups with few complex irreducible character degrees.

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.

We investigate left conjugacy closed loops which can be given by invariant sections in the group generated by their left translations. These loops are generalizations of the conjugacy closed loops introduced in [13] just as Bol loops generalize Moufang loops. The relations of these loops to common classes of loops are studied. For instance on a connected manifold we construct proper topological left conjugacy closed loops satisfying the left Bol condition but show that any differentiable such loop must be a group. We show that the configurational condition in the 3-net corresponding to an isotopy class of left conjugacy closed loops has the same importance in the geometry of 3-nets as the Reidemeister or the Bol condition.