Covers and normal covers of finite groups. (Q471878)

For a noncyclic finite group \(G\), let \(\gamma(G)\) be the smallest positive integer \(k\) such that \(G\) can be written as set-theoretical union of the conjugates of \(k\) suitably chosen proper subgroups. As \(G\) is never the union of all conjugates of one proper subgroup, one has \(\gamma(G)>1\). It is shown (Theorem 4) that for a permutation group \(G\) of degree \(n\), one has \(\gamma(G)\leq (n+2)/2\). Moreover (Theorem 5), groups \(G\) with \(\gamma(G)=2\) are discussed: Assume that, in addition, \(\gamma(G/N)>2\) for every nontrivial normal subgroup \(N\). Then \(G\) has a unique minimal normal subgroup \(S\). If \(G\) is covered by the conjugates of two maximal subgroups, then either one of them must contain \(S\), or \(G\) is almost simple. In the final section, a number of examples for groups \(G\) with \(\gamma(G)=2\) are given, showing that a complete classification of these groups may well be difficult. The paper contains a number of other results relating \(\gamma(G)\) to the covering number \(\sigma(G)\).