Purely noncommuting groups (Q2010401)

A finite group \(G\) is called purely noncommuting (PNC) if for every \(x,y\in G\) that do not commute there exists a complex representation \(\rho\) of \(G\) such that \(\rho(x)\) and \(\rho(y)\) have no common eigenvectors. The main results in this paper show that certain groups are or are not PNC. For instance, supersolvable groups are PNC while nonabelian simple groups are not PNC. The presence of certain dihedral subgroups in simple groups is an essential idea in the proof of this later result, which relies of the classification. The authors ask if a classification-free proof can be obtained. The techniques used in the proofs are character-theoretic. It is mentioned that the concepts studied in this paper are useful in resolution of singularities.