Generators for certain normal subgroups of (2,3,7)

Abstract

The infinite groupis the group of direct symmetry operations of the tessellation {3,7} of the hyperbolic plane ((3), chapter 5). This has the smallest fundamental region of any such tessellation, and related to this property is the fact that the group (2, 3, 7) has a remarkable wealth of interesting finite factor groups, corresponding to the finite maps obtained by identifying the results of suitable translations in the hyperbolic plane. The simplest example of this is the group LF(2,7), which is Klein's simple group of order 168. I have studied this group in an earlier paper ((4)), showing inter alia that the group is obtained as a factor group of (2,3,7) by adjoining any one of the relationseach of which implies the others. The method used was to find a set of generators for the normal subgroup with quotient group LF(2,7) and, working entirely within this subgroup, to exhibit that any one of these relations implies its collapse. The technique of working with this subgroup had been developed earlier and applied in (6) to prove that the factor groupis finite and of order 10,752.