This master's thesis presents synchronizing automata and the related Černy's conjecture. We approach this problem by translating it from the theory of automata to the theory of permutation groups, which allows for the placement of synchronizing groups within a hierarchy of other permutation groups. The central theme of the thesis is the use of representation theory to analyze a special case of Černy's conjecture from a group-theoretic perspective. The main theorem establishes an upper bound on the length of the reset word in a synchronizing monoid that contains a permutation group. The utility of this theorem is then demonstrated by its application to several families of groups, including cyclic, dihedral, symmetric, affine, and special linear groups.
|