Ramification in the inverse Galois problem (Q2212651)

This paper considers a variant of the classical inverse Galois problem: Given a positive square-free integer \(n\), which finite groups occur as Galois groups of extensions \(K/\mathbb{Q}\) which are ramified only at primes dividing \(n\)? The set of such groups is denoted by \(\pi_A(U_n)\). The author proves several results showing that if \(n=p\) is a small prime then the Galois group of an extension \(K/\mathbb{Q}\) which is ramified only at \(p\) cannot be too complicated. For instance, if \(p<37\) and \(G\in\pi_A(U_p)\) satisfies \(|G|<660\) then \(G\) must be solvable. The proofs make good use of the discriminant bounds of \textit{A.M. Odlyzko} [``Discriminant bounds'', Preprint] and \textit{F. Diaz y Diaz} [Publ. Math. Orsay 80.06, 59 p. (1980; Zbl 0482.12003)]. The subset of \(\pi_A(U_n)\) consisting of finite groups which are Galois groups of finite extensions \(K/\mathbb{Q}\) which are unramified at primes \(p\nmid n\) and at most tamely ramified at primes \(p\mid n\) is denoted \(\pi_A^t(U_n)\). For a finite group \(G\) let \(d(G)\) denote the size of the smallest generating set for \(G\). \textit{D. Harbater} [Contemp. Math. 174, 35--60 (1994; Zbl 0815.11053)] conjectured that there exists a fixed \(C\) such that for every square-free \(n\ge1\) and every \(G\in\pi_A^t(U_n)\) we have \(d(G)\le\log(n)+C\). It is shown here that there exists \(C\) such that \(d(G)\le\log(n)+C\) holds for all square-free \(n\ge1\) and all groups \(G\in\pi_A^t(U_n)\) which contain a nilpotent subgroup of index at most 3.