On the radical of a group algebra (Q5902779)

Let G be a finite group and F a splitting field for G with characteristic \(p>0\). Let JFG be the Jacobson radical of the group algebra FG, and let \(P_ I\) be the projective cover of the trivial FG-module \(I=F.\) A well-known result of R. Brauer and C. Nesbitt asserts that \(\dim_ FJFG\leq | G| (1-n^{-1})\), where \(n=\dim_ FP_ I\). If G has a normal Sylow p-subgroup, then equality holds. Since 1961 D. A. R. Wallace has conjectured that the converse is also true. In this remarkable paper the author shows that a minimal counterexample G to Wallace's conjecture is a simple group with only one p-block. (Corollary 3.14). In an unpublished paper T. Okuyama has proved that \(p\neq 2\). Using the classification of the finite simple groups the author and the reviewer have shown that a finite simple group G has at least two p-blocks for odd primes p. (Theorem 1.2). These two results then complete the proof of Wallace's conjecture (Theorem 1.1).