Generalized Frobenius groups. II. (Q1108375)

The authors consider the structure of a class of finite groups first introduced by the reviewer in 1978 [ibid. 31, 153-160 (1978; reviewed above)]. The condition satisfied by the groups was called F2 and a group \(G\) is said to satisfy F2 if it has a non-trivial proper normal subgroup \(K\) such that for all \(g\in G-K\) and for each \(k\in K\), \(gk\) is conjugate to \(g\). The reviewer showed that one of three possibilities occurred i) \(G\) is a Frobenius group with kernel \(K\), ii) \(K\) is a \(p\)-group or iii) \(G/K\) is a \(p\)-group. If a pair \((G,K)\) satisfies F2 the authors say that \((G,K)\) is an F2-pair. They list five types of such pairs and show that in many situations these are the only examples. Type 1: Here \(G\) is a Frobenius group with kernel \(K\). Type 2: F2-pairs where \(G\) is a \(p\)-group. These have been studied earlier by \textit{I. D. Macdonald} [ibid. 40, 350-364 (1981; Zbl 0486.20016), ibid. 56, 335-344 (1986; Zbl 0618.20015)] and \textit{A. Mann} [ibid. (to appear)]. Type 3: F2-pairs \((G,K)\) where \(K<P<G\) and \(P\) is a normal \(p\)-Sylow subgroup of \(G\). Further \(G=RP\) where \(R\) is a \(p\)-complement, \(RK\) is a Frobenius group with kernel \(K\), see \textit{D. Chillag} and \textit{I. D. Macdonald} [Part I, ibid. 47, 111-122 (1984; Zbl 0533.20012)]. Type 4: \(G\) is a Frobenius group with a Frobenius complement isomorphic to the quaternion group of order 8 and \(K\) is a subgroup of index 4. Type 5: Two special examples of order \(2^a3^b\), one with \(K\) a 2-group and one with \(K\) a 3-group. These are the only known examples of such groups. The paper under review makes significant further progress in classifying these groups. When \((G,K)\) is an F2-pair and is not of type i) they say that \((G,K)\) is an F2\((p)\) pair where \(p\) is the prime such that either \(G/K\) or \(K\) is a \(p\)-group. In the paper by Chillag and Macdonald it was shown that if \((G,K)\) was an F2\((p)\) pair with \(G/K\) a \(p\)-group and a Sylow \(p\)-subgroup had class \(\leq 2\) then \((G,K)\) was of type 4. In this paper the result is extended by Theorem 3: Let \((G,K)\) be an F2\((p)\)-pair with \(G/K\) a \(p\)-group. Let \(P\) be a Sylow \(p\)-subgroup of \(G\). Assume that any of the following conditions hold: (1) \(P\) is regular, (2) \(p\) is odd and \(P\) is Abelian by cyclic, (3) \(P\) is of maximal class, (4) the nilpotency class of \(P\leq\max(p+1,4)\), (5) \(K\cap P=Z(P)\) and (6) \(P\) contains an Abelian subgroup of index at most \(p^2\). Then \((G,K)\) is of type 2 or of type 4. They also show that in the situation when \(G/K\) is a \(p\)-group that \(G\) has a normal \(p\)-complement (this has been shown independently by I. M. Isaacs) and that \(G\) is soluble. In the situation when \(K\) is a \(p\)-group they prove that \((G,K)\) is of type 3 whenever any of the following conditions are satisfied: i) \(P/K\) is Abelian, ii) \(P\) has nilpotency class at most 3 or iii) \(|P|\leq p^5\).