On the base size and minimal degree of transitive groups

Abstract Let 𝐺 be a permutation group, with minimal degree <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <m:mrow> <m:mi>μ</m:mi> <m:mo>⁢</m:mo> <m:mrow> <m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo> <m:mi>G</m:mi> <m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> </m:math> \mu(G) and base size <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <m:mrow> <m:mi>b</m:mi> <m:mo>⁢</m:mo> <m:mrow> <m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo> <m:mi>G</m:mi> <m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> </m:math> b(G) . We show that there exists a universal constant <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <m:mrow> <m:mi>c</m:mi> <m:mo>&gt;</m:mo> <m:mn>0</m:mn> </m:mrow> </m:math> c&gt;0 such that, for infinitely many 𝑛, there is a transitive permutation group 𝐺 of degree 𝑛 with <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mi>μ</m:mi> <m:mo>⁢</m:mo> <m:mrow> <m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo> <m:mi>G</m:mi> <m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo> </m:mrow> <m:mo>⁢</m:mo> <m:mi>b</m:mi> <m:mo>⁢</m:mo> <m:mrow> <m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo> <m:mi>G</m:mi> <m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mo>≥</m:mo> <m:mrow> <m:mi>c</m:mi> <m:mo lspace="0.222em" rspace="0.222em">⋅</m:mo> <m:msup> <m:mi>n</m:mi> <m:mn>2</m:mn> </m:msup> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> </m:math> \mu(G)b(G)\geq c\cdot n^{2} . We also identify some classes of transitive and intransitive groups whose base size and minimal degree have a smaller upper bound, shared with primitive groups.