On the odd order composition factors of finite linear groups (Q2208326)

The order of a finite group is one of the most fundamental quantity in group theory. Therefore, the concept of bounding the order of a finite group is a very natural subject of vigorous research. For instance, assume that \(\alpha=(3\log48+\log24)/3\log9\) and \(\lambda=24^{1/3}\). It has been proved that if \(G\) is a finite solvable group and \(V\neq 0\) is a finite, faithful, completely reducible \(G\)-module with \(\mathrm{char}(V)=p > 0\), then \(|G|\leq\frac{|V|^{\alpha}}{\lambda}\). Also, if \(2\nmid |G|\) or \(3\nmid |G|\), then \(|G|\leq\frac{|V|^{2}}{\lambda}\), and if \(2\nmid |G|\) and \(p\neq 2\), then \(|G|\leq\frac{|V|^{3/2}}{\lambda}\). In light of this result, it is natural to ask whether one can extend second and third parts of the above result to a similar result for the order of a subgroup \(H\) of a completely reducible linear group \(G\) (note that \(H\) need not be completely reducible on \(V\)). There are several recent advances which improve the previous theorem. For example, \textit{R. M. Guralnick} et al. [Adv. Math. 310, 1017--1063 (2017; Zbl 1414.20002)] found a bound for the product of abelian composition factors of a primitive permutation group, and \textit{Z. Halasi} and \textit{A. Maróti} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 144, No. 8, 3231--3242 (2016; Zbl 1383.20010)] generalized part (a) of the above theorem to \(p\)-solvable groups. In the paper under review, the authors consider the product of the orders of certain abelian composition factors. They obtain an upper bound for the product of the orders of the odd order (abelian) composition factors of an arbitrary linear group, which generalizes part of theorem above to an arbitrary finite linear group. They define \(a(G)\) to be the product of orders of composition factors of odd order in a composition series of a finite group \(G\). By the Jordan-Hölder theorem, we observe that this quantity is independent of the choice of composition series. As a main theorem of the paper under review, the authors prove that if \(G\) is a finite group acting on \(V\) faithfully and completely reducibly, where \(V\) is of characteristic \(p\), then \(a(G)\leq\frac{|V|^{2}}{\lambda}\) and if \(p\neq 2\), then \(a(G)\leq\frac{|V|^{3/2}}{\lambda}\). The paper is well-written.