Dicyclic group

In group theory, a dicyclic group (notation Dic"n" or Q4"n", ⟨"n",2,2⟩) is a particular kind of non-abelian group of order 4"n" ("n" > 1). It is an extension of the cyclic group of order 2 by a cyclic group of order 2"n", giving the name "di-cyclic". In the notation of exact sequences of groups, this extension can be expressed as:
More generally, given any finite abelian group with an order-2 element, one can define a dicyclic group.
Definition.
For each integer "n" > 1, the dicyclic group Dic"n" can be defined as the subgroup of the unit quaternions generated by
More abstractly, one can define the dicyclic group Dic"n" as the group with the following presentation
Some things to note which follow from this definition:
Thus, every element of Dic"n" can be uniquely written as "a""k""x""j", where 0 ≤ "k" < 2"n" and "j" = 0 or 1. The multiplication rules are given by
It follows that Dic"n" has order 4"n".
When "n" = 2, the dicyclic group is isomorphic to the quaternion group "Q". More generally, when "n" is a power of 2, the dicyclic group is isomorphic to the generalized quaternion group.
Properties.
For each "n" > 1, the dicyclic group Dic"n" is a non-abelian group of order 4"n". (For the degenerate case "n" = 1, the group Dic1 is the cyclic group "C"4, which is not considered dicyclic.)
Let "A" = be the subgroup of Dic"n" generated by "a". Then "A" is a cyclic group of order 2"n", so [Dic"n":"A"] = 2. As a subgroup of index 2 it is automatically a normal subgroup. The quotient group Dic"n"/"A" is a cyclic group of order 2.
Dic"n" is solvable; note that "A" is normal, and being abelian, is itself solvable.
Binary dihedral group.
The dicyclic group is a binary polyhedral group — it is one of the classes of subgroups of the Pin group Pin−(2), which is a subgroup of the Spin group Spin(3) — and in this context is known as the binary dihedral group.
The connection with the binary cyclic group "C"2"n", the cyclic group "C""n", and the dihedral group Dih"n" of order 2"n" is illustrated in the diagram at right, and parallels the corresponding diagram for the Pin group. Coxeter writes the "binary dihedral group" as ⟨2,2,"n"⟩ and "binary cyclic group" with angle-brackets, ⟨"n"⟩.
There is a superficial resemblance between the dicyclic groups and dihedral groups; both are a sort of "mirroring" of an underlying cyclic group. But the presentation of a dihedral group would have "x"2 = 1, instead of "x"2 = "a""n"; and this yields a different structure. In particular, Dic"n" is not a semidirect product of "A" and , since "A" ∩  is not trivial.
The dicyclic group has a unique involution (i.e. an element of order 2), namely "x"2 = "a""n". Note that this element lies in the center of Dic"n". Indeed, the center consists solely of the identity element and "x"2. If we add the relation "x"2 = 1 to the presentation of Dic"n" one obtains a presentation of the dihedral group Dih2"n", so the quotient group Dic"n"/<"x"2> is isomorphic to Dih"n".
There is a natural 2-to-1 homomorphism from the group of unit quaternions to the 3-dimensional rotation group described at quaternions and spatial rotations. Since the dicyclic group can be embedded inside the unit quaternions one can ask what the image of it is under this homomorphism. The answer is just the dihedral symmetry group Dih"n". For this reason the dicyclic group is also known as the binary dihedral group. Note that the dicyclic group does not contain any subgroup isomorphic to Dih"n".
The analogous pre-image construction, using Pin+(2) instead of Pin−(2), yields another dihedral group, Dih2"n", rather than a dicyclic group.
Generalizations.
Let "A" be an abelian group, having a specific element "y" in "A" with order 2. A group "G" is called a generalized dicyclic group, written as Dic("A", "y"), if it is generated by "A" and an additional element "x", and in addition we have that ["G":"A"] = 2, "x"2 = "y", and for all "a" in "A", "x"−1"ax" = "a"−1.
Since for a cyclic group of even order, there is always a unique element of order 2, we can see that dicyclic groups are just a specific type of generalized dicyclic group.