Order evaluation of products of subsets in finite groups and its applications. I (Q1922481)

The authors, among other things, prove the following theorem: Let \(G\) be a non-abelian finite simple group and let \(A\) be a normal subset of \(G\), i.e., invariant under conjugation, such that \(|A|>1\), then (i) \(|AB|\geq|A|+|B|-1\) holds for each subset \(B\) of \(G\) provided that \(AB\neq G\), (ii) \(|AB|=|A|+|B|-1\) if and only if \(|B|=1\) or \(B=\overline{A}^{-1}g,\) \(g\in G\), where \(^-\) denotes complements of subsets in \(G\). Using the above result the authors prove a number of theorems about the covering number \(cn(C)\) of a conjugacy class \(C\) of a finite group \(G\). By definition the covering number \(cn(C)\) of a conjugacy class \(C\) of a finite group \(G\) is the minimal natural number \(m\) such that \(C^m=G\). It was conjectured by \textit{Z. Arad, M. Herzog} and \textit{J. Stavi} [Lect. Notes Math. 1112, 6-51 (1985; Zbl 0561.20004)] that \(cn(C)\leq k\) for a nontrivial conjugacy class \(C\) of a non-abelian finite simple group \(G\) where \(k\) denotes the number of conjugacy classes of \(G\). Using the above mentioned theorem the authors prove that this conjecture is true provided that \(|C|\geq|G|/k\). The paper contains verification of the above conjecture for simple groups having at least one class of cardinality less than 1000. The paper also contains several results concerning the size of products of subsets and conjugacy classes of \(G\).