Irreducible character degree sets of solvable groups (Q1270406)

Let \(\text{cd}(G)\) be the irreducible character degree set for a finite group \(G\). Knowledge of \(\text{cd}(G)\) (and sometimes of \(|\text{cd}(G)|)\) allows to obtain considerable information on the structure of \(G\) (S. Amitsur, I. M. Isaacs, D. S. Passman, B. Huppert and others). In this paper the following fairly deep result is proved: Main Theorem. Let \(p\) be a prime, and let \(m,n\in\mathbb{N}\), \(m>1\), \(n>1\), \((m,n)=1\) and \(p\) does not divide \(mn\). Assume that \(G\) is a solvable group with \(\text{cd}(G)\subseteq\{1\}\cup P\cup\{m,mp,n,np\}\), where \(P\) is a set of powers of \(p\). If \(\text{cd}(G)\cap\{m,mp\}\neq\emptyset\neq\text{cd}(G)\cap\{n,np\}\), then \(P\subseteq\{p\}\). This paper does not determine when a subset of \(\{1,p,m,n,pm,pn\}\) actually is the character degree set of a solvable group. The author has obtained a complete solution when \(m\) and \(n\) are primes [see \textit{M. L. Lewis}, J. Algebra 206, No. 1, 235-260 (1998)]. It follows from the above theorem that if \(\text{cd}(G)=\{1,4,5,6\}\), then \(G\) is non-solvable (indeed, there exists such a group, the symmetric group of degree 5). The following results are of independent interest. Theorem 3.4. Let \(G\), \(p\), \(m\) and \(n\) be as in the main theorem. Assume that \(K\) is a normal subgroup in \(G\) where \(G/K\) is a \(p\)-group and \(\text{cd}(K)=\{1,m,n\}\). If \(p^a\in\text{cd}(G)\) for some \(a\geq 2\), then \(G\) has an irreducible character degree that is divisible by \(p^m\) or \(p^2n\). Theorem 5.1. Let \(G\), \(p\), \(m\), \(n\) be as in the main theorem and \(\{1,p,mp,n\}\subseteq\text{cd}(G)\subseteq\{1,p,m,mp,n\}\). Then either: (a) \(\text{cd}(O^p(G))=\{1,m,mp\}\), or (b) there is a characteristic subgroup \(K\) in \(G\) such that \(G/K\) is a Frobenius group with kernel \(G'K/K\), where \(| G:G'K|=n\) and \(| G'K:K|=p\) (in particular, \(n\) divides \(p-1\)). Note that every nonabelian solvable group \(G\) has a normal subgroup \(K\) such that either \(G/K\) is a \(p\)-group or a Frobenius group (in both cases all proper epimorphic images of \(G/K\) are abelian). In Theorem 5.2, the second case is considered, under the additional assumption that \(|(G/K):(G/K)'|\in\{m,n\}\).