Transitive Group Actions: (IM)PRIMITIVITY and Semiregular Subgroups

Abstract

The following problem is considered: if $H$ is a semiregular abelian subgroup of a transitive permutation group $G$ acting on a finite set $X$, find conditions for (non) existence of $G$-invariant partitions of $X$. Conditions presented in this paper are derived by studying spectral properties of associated $G$-invariant digraphs. As an essential tool, irreducible complex characters of $H$ are used. Questions of this kind arise naturally when classifying combinatorial objects which enjoy a certain degree of symmetry. As an illustration, a new and short proof of an old result of Frucht, Graver and Watkins ({\it Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.}, {\bf 70} (1971), 211-218) classifying edge-transitive generalized Petersen graphs, is given.