Algorithms related to subgroups of the modular group
Constantin Caranica · 2009
Classifying subgroups of the modular group PSL_2{Z} is a fundamental problem with applications to modular forms, in addition to its group-theoretic interest. While a lot of research has been done on the congruence subgroups of PSL_2{Z}, very little is known about noncongruence subgroups. The purpose of this thesis is to find and characterize small-index noncongruence subgroups of the modular group PSL_2{Z}. We use the concept of Farey symbol to describe the subgroups of PSL_2{Z}. The first part contains results concerning the geometry of subgroups of PSL_2{Z}. The second part describes a graph-theoretical approach to finding all subgroups of a given index. In the third part we describe two algorithms for testing the membership of a matrix to a subgroup given by a Farey symbol. As an application we find the noncongruence subgroups of PSL_2{Z} of index less than 10.