On the Herzog-Schönheim conjecture for uniform covers of groups. (Q1427383)

Let \((G,\cdot)\) be a group and \(a_1G_1,\dots,a_kG_k\), \(k>1\), its left cosets. If the number \(\#\{1\leq i\leq k:x\in a_iG_i\}\) does not depend on \(x\), then the system of left cosets \({\mathcal A}=\{a_iG_i\}_{i=1}^k\) is called a uniform cover of \(G\). The Herzog-Schönheim conjecture [\textit{M. Herzog, J. Schönheim}, Research problem No. 9, Can. Math. Bull. 17, 150 (1974)] mentioned in the title claims that if \(\mathcal A\) with \(k>1\) forms a partition of a group \(G\) then at least two of the (finite) indices \([G:G_1],\dots,[G:G_k]\) are equal. From the results proved in the paper towards this conjecture let us mention the following one: Let \(\mathcal A\) be a non-trivial uniform cover of \(G\) by left cosets. Let \(N=\text{l.c.m.}[[G:G_1],\dots,[G:G_k]]\) and \(p>r\) any prime divisor of \(|G/(\bigcap_{i=1}^k G_i)_G|\), where \(H_G\) denotes the core of a subgroup \(H\) of \(G\) in \(G\) and \(r\) the number of distinct prime divisors of \(N\). Suppose that all those \(G_i\) with \([G:G_i]\geq p\) are subnormal in \(G\) and \(p\mid N\), or \(G/(\bigcap_{i=1}^k G_i)_G\) is a solvable group having a normal Sylow \(p\)-subgroup. Then there is a pair \(\{i,j\}\) with \(1\leq i<j\leq k\) such that \([G:G_i]=[G:G_j]\equiv 0\pmod p\).