Derived length and products of conjugacy classes. (Q1001418)

Let \(A\) be a conjugacy class of a finite group \(G\). Then \(A^{-1}\) is also a conjugacy class of \(G\) and the set \(AA^{-1}=\{ab:a\in A,\;b\in A^{-1}\}\) is a union of \(\eta(AA^{-1})\) distinct conjugacy classes of \(G\). Let \(C_G(A)\) denote the centraliser of \(A\) in \(G\) (that is all elements of \(G\) which commute with all elements of \(A\)). The author proves that for \(G\) a supersolvable group the derived length of the quotient group \(G/C_G(A)\) is bounded by \(2\eta(AA^{-1})-1\). In a previous paper [J. Algebra 266, No. 1, 305-319 (2003; Zbl 1034.20008)] the author proved a similar result for the `dual' case where conjugacy classes are replaced by irreducible complex characters. Let \(\chi\) be an irreducible complex character of \(G\). Define \(\overline\chi(g)\) to be the complex conjugate of \(\chi(g)\) for \(g\in G\). Then \(\overline\chi\) is also an irreducible complex character of \(G\) and the product \(\chi\overline\chi\) is an integral linear combination of irreducible characters of \(G\). Let \(\eta(\chi\overline\chi)\) denote the number of distinct irreducible constituents of the product \(\chi\overline\chi\). The author proves that there exist constants \(c\) and \(d\) such that for any finite solvable group \(G\) and any irreducible character \(\chi\) of \(G\) the derived length of \(G/\text{Ker}(\chi)\) is bounded by \(c\eta(\chi\overline\chi)+d\). Thus the author is led to the following conjecture: there exist universal constants \(q\) and \(r\) such that for any finite solvable group and any conjugacy class \(A\) of \(G\) the derived length of \(G/C_G(A)\) is bounded by \(q\eta(AA^{-1})+r\).