Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / ib / Paper 3 / 1E / Solution

Fordefine its action on the projective line $F\cup \{\infty \}$ by the Möbius transformationwith the usual conventions when the denominator vanishes or $x=\infty$. Matrix multiplication agrees with composition, so this is a group action. If $A$ fixes every projective point, then it fixes $0$ and $\infty$, forcing $b=c=0$, and fixing $1$ then gives $a=d$. Thus the kernel consists exactly of the nonzero scalar matrices $Z$. The induced group homomorphismis therefore injective. This is the projective general linear group action on the projective line.

For $F={\mathbb{F}}_4$,The scalar subgroup has order $|Z|=3$, soThe four classes represented byform a subgroup $P$ of order four, hence a Sylow subgroup for the prime two. Its action is translation $x\mapsto x+b$ on ${\mathbb{F}}_4$ and fixes $\infty$. For $b\ne 0$, characteristic two makes this permutation a product of two disjoint transpositions on the four finite points. It is therefore even, andThis realizes the Sylow 2-subgroup of PGL2 over F4.

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.