Let $R$ be a commutative Noetherian ring with unit. We classify the characters of the group $mathrm{EL}_d (R)$ provided that $d$ is greater than the stable range of the ring $R$. It follows that every character of $mathrm{EL}_d (R)$ is induced from a finite dimensional representation. Towards our main result we classify $mathrm{EL}_d (R)$-invariant probability measures on the Pontryagin dual group of $R^d$.
We provide two ways to show that the R. Thompson group $F$ has maximal subgroups of infinite index which do not fix any number in the unit interval under the natural action of $F$ on $(0,1)$, thus solving a problem by D. Savchuk. The first way employs Jones subgroup of the R. Thompson group $F$ and leads to an explicit finitely generated example. The second way employs directed 2-complexes and 2-dimensional analogs of Stallings core graphs, and gives many implicit examples. We also show that $F$ has a decreasing sequence of finitely generated subgroups $F>H_1>H_2>...$ such that $cap H_i={1}$ and for every $i$ there exist only finitely many subgroups of $F$ containing $H_i$.
We prove that Thompsons group $F$ has a subgroup $H$ such that the conjugacy problem in $H$ is undecidable and the membership problem in $H$ is easily decidable. The subgroup $H$ of $F$ is a closed subgroup of $F$. That is, every function in $F$ which is a piecewise-$H$ function belongs to $H$. Other interesting examples of closed subgroups of $F$ include Jones subgroups $overrightarrow{F}_n$ and Jones $3$-colorable subgroup $mathcal F$. By a recent result of the first author, all maximal subgroups of $F$ of infinite index are closed. In this paper we prove that if $Kleq F$ is finitely generated then the closure of $K$, i.e., the smallest closed subgroup of $F$ which contains $K$, is finitely generated. We also prove that all finitely generated closed subgroups of $F$ are undistorted in $F$. In particular, all finitely generated maximal subgroups of $F$ are undistorted in $F$.
Recently Vaughan Jones showed that the R. Thompson group $F$ encodes in a natural way all knots, and a certain subgroup $vec F$ of $F$ encodes all oriented knots. We answer several questions of Jones about $vec F$. In particular we prove that the subgroup $vec F$ is generated by $x_0x_1, x_1x_2, x_2x_3$ (where $x_i, i=0,1,2,...$ are the standard generators of $F$) and is isomorphic to $F_3$, the analog of $F$ where all slopes are powers of $3$ and break points are $3$-adic rationals. We also show that $vec F$ coincides with its commensurator. Hence the linearization of the permutational representation of $F$ on $F/vec F$ is irreducible.
The branching theorem expresses irreducible character values for the symmetric group $S_n$ in terms of those for $S_{n-1}$, but it gives the values only at elements of $S_n$ having a fixed point. We extend the theorem by providing a recursion formula that handles the remaining cases. It expresses these character values in terms of values for $S_{n-1}$ together with values for $S_n$ that are already known in the recursive process. This provides an alternative to the Murnaghan-Nakayama formula.