Centralizers of commutators in finite groups (Q2082632)

In this article the authors establish some structural properties of finite groups on the assumption that the conjugacy classes of certain commutators have bounded size. Let \(G\) be a finite group. For \(x \in G\), denote by \(x^G\) the conjugacy class containing \(x\). A classical result due to \textit{B. H. Neumann} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 29, 236--248 (1954; Zbl 0055.01604)] ensures that if \(n\) is a positive integer and \(|x^G| \leq n\) for all \(x \in G\), then the commutator subgroup \(G'\) is finite and has \(n\)-bounded order. Here, a number is said to be \(n\)-bounded if it is bounded in terms of \(n\) only. Working with commutators, \textit{G. Dierings} and \textit{P. Shumyatsky} [Q. J. Math. 69, No. 3, 1047--1051 (2018; Zbl 1401.20034)] proved that if \(\vert x^G\vert \leq n\) for any commutator \(x \in G\), then the second derived group \(G''\) is finite with \(n\)-bounded order. A coprime commutator in \(G\) is defined to be a commutator \(x = [a, b] \; (= a^{-1} b^{- 1} a b)\) for suitable \(a, b \in G\) such that \(a\) and \(b\) have coprime orders. In this situation they prove (Theorem 1.1.) ``If \(|x^G| \leq n\) whenever \(x\) is a coprime commutator, then \(G\) has a nilpotent subgroup whose index is \(n\)-bounded.'' In an opposite situation, a commutator \([a, b]\) is said to be anti-coprime if the orders of \(a\) and \(b\) have the same set of prime divisors. Then they establish (Theorem 1.2.) ``If \(|x^G| \leq n\) for every anti-coprime commutator \(x \in G\), then \(G\) has a subgroup \(H\) of nilpotency class at most \(4\) such that \([G : H]\) and \(|\gamma_4 (H)|\) are both \(n\)-bounded.'' We observe that the above result had been obtained by \textit{S. Eberhard} and \textit{P. Shumyatsky} [``Probabilistically nilpotent groups of class two'', Math. Ann. (to appear)] using probabilistic techniques, under the assumption that \(|x^G| \leq n\) for every commutator \(x \in G\). The authors also consider finite groups in which the centralizers of coprime, or anti-coprime, commutators are of bounded order. In these situations the main results are (Theorem 1.3.) ``Let \(G\) be a finite group in which the centralizers of nontrivial coprime commutators have order at most \(n\). Then either \(G\) is nilpotent or it has \(n\)-bounded order'', and (Theorem 1.4.) ``Let \(G\) be a finite group in which the centralizers of nontrivial anti-coprime commutators have order at most \(n\). Then either \(G\) is abelian or it has \(n\)-bounded order''.