Finite groups with large Chebotarev invariant (Q2303684)

A subset \(\{g_1, \ldots , g_{d}\}\) of a finite group \(G\) is said to invariably generate \(G\) if the set \(\{g_1^{x_1} , \ldots, g_{d}^{x_{d}} \}\) generates \(G\) for every choice of \(x_1, \ldots, x_d \in G\). The \textit{Chebotarev invariant} \(C(G)\) of \(G\) is the expected value of the random variable \(n\) which is minimal subject to the requirement that \(n\) randomly chosen elements of \(G\) invariably generate \(G\). The invariant \(C(G)\) can be quite large in comparison to \(|G|\), in particular it has been proven that if \(G_{q} \simeq \mathbb{F}_{q}^{+} \rtimes \mathbb{F}_{q}^{\times}\), then \(C(G_{q})\sim \sqrt{|G|}\) as \(q \rightarrow \infty\). In general the authors have proven in [Isr. J. Math. 219, No. 1, 449--467 (2017; Zbl 1380.20027)] that for each \(\varepsilon >0\) there is a constant \(c(\varepsilon)\) such that for any finite group \(G\) \[ C(G) \leq (1+\varepsilon) \cdot \sqrt{|G|} + c(\varepsilon) \] and this bound is asymptotically best possible. In the paper, under review the authors prove a partial converse: namely, for each \(\alpha > 0\) there exists an absolute constant \(\delta_{\alpha}\) such that if \(G\) is a finite group and \(C (G) > \alpha \cdot |G|\), then \(G\) has a section \(X/Y\) such that \(| X/Y | \geq \delta_{\alpha} \cdot \sqrt{|G|}\) and \(X/Y \simeq \mathbb{F}_{q}^{+} \rtimes H\) for some prime power \(q\), with \(H \leq \mathbb{F}_{q}^{\times}\).