UWA

Our work (which is joint with Simon Smith) began as a study of the structure of infinite permutation groups $G$ in which point stabilisers are finite and all infinite normal subgroups are transitive. That led to two variations. One is the generalisation in which point stabilisers are merely assumed to satisfy min-{\sc N}, the minimal condition on normal subgroups. The groups $G$ are then of two kinds. Either they have a maximal finite normal subgroup, modulo which they have either one or two minimal non-trivial normal subgroups, or they have a regular normal subgroup $M$ which is a divisible abelian $p$-group of finite rank. In the latter case the point stabilisers are finite and act irreducibly on the socle of~$M$. This leads to our second variation, which is a study of the finite linear groups that can arise.

After an MISG there is time to reflect. I will report briefly on the follow up to two problems that we have worked on.

Crack Repair:

It has been found that thin elastically weak spray on liners stabilise walls and reduce rock blast in mining tunnels. Why? The explanation seems to be that the stress field singularity at a crack tip is strongly altered by a weak elastic filler, so cracks in the walls are less likely to extend.

Boundary Tracing:

Using known exact solutions to partial differential equations new domains can be constructed along which prescribed boundary conditions are satisfied. Most notably this technique has been used to extract a large class of new exact solutions to the non-linear Laplace Young equation (of importance in capillarity) including domains with corners and rough boundaries. The technique has also been used on Poisson's, Helmholtz, and constant curvature equation examples. The technique is one that may be useful for handling modelling problems with awkward/interesting geometry.