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Set of elements that commute with every element of a group
Cayley table for D4 showing elements of the center, {e, a2}, commute with all other elements (this can be seen by noticing that all occurrences of a given center element are arranged symmetrically about the center diagonal or by noticing that the row and column starting with a given center element are transposes of each other). ∘ {\displaystyle \circ } e b a a2 a3 ab a2b a3b e e b a a2 a3 ab a2b a3b b b e a3b a2b ab a3 a2 a a a ab a2 a3 e a2b a3b b a2 a2 a2b a3 e a a3b b ab a3 a3 a3b e a a2 b ab a2b ab ab a b a3b a2b e a3 a2 a2b a2b a2 ab b a3b a e a3 a3b a3b a3 a2b ab b a2 a eIn abstract algebra, the center of a group G is the set of elements that commute with every element of G. It is denoted Z(G), from German Zentrum, meaning center. In set-builder notation,
The center is a normal subgroup, Z ( G ) ◃ G {\displaystyle Z(G)\triangleleft G} , and also a characteristic subgroup, but is not necessarily fully characteristic. The quotient group, G / Z(G), is isomorphic to the inner automorphism group, Inn(G).
A group G is abelian if and only if Z(G) = G. At the other extreme, a group is said to be centerless if Z(G) is trivial; i.e., consists only of the identity element.
The elements of the center are central elements.
The center of G is always a subgroup of G. In particular:
Furthermore, the center of G is always an abelian and normal subgroup of G. Since all elements of Z(G) commute, it is closed under conjugation.
A group homomorphism f : G → H might not restrict to a homomorphism between their centers. The image elements f (g) commute with the image f ( G ), but they need not commute with all of H unless f is surjective. Thus the center mapping G → Z ( G ) {\displaystyle G\to Z(G)} is not a functor between categories Grp and Ab, since it does not induce a map of arrows.
Conjugacy classes and centralizers[edit]By definition, an element is central whenever its conjugacy class contains only the element itself; i.e. Cl(g) = {g}.
The center is the intersection of all the centralizers of elements of G:
Z ( G ) = ⋂ g ∈ G Z G ( g ) . {\displaystyle Z(G)=\bigcap _{g\in G}Z_{G}(g).}
As centralizers are subgroups, this again shows that the center is a subgroup.
Consider the map f : G → Aut(G), from G to the automorphism group of G defined by f(g) = ϕg, where ϕg is the automorphism of G defined by
The function, f is a group homomorphism, and its kernel is precisely the center of G, and its image is called the inner automorphism group of G, denoted Inn(G). By the first isomorphism theorem we get,
The cokernel of this map is the group Out(G) of outer automorphisms, and these form the exact sequence
Quotienting out by the center of a group yields a sequence of groups called the upper central series:
The kernel of the map G → Gi is the ith center[1] of G (second center, third center, etc.), denoted Zi(G).[2] Concretely, the (i+1)-st center comprises the elements that commute with all elements up to an element of the ith center. Following this definition, one can define the 0th center of a group to be the identity subgroup. This can be continued to transfinite ordinals by transfinite induction; the union of all the higher centers is called the hypercenter.[note 1]
The ascending chain of subgroups
stabilizes at i (equivalently, Zi(G) = Zi+1(G)) if and only if Gi is centerless.
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