The average element order and the number of conjugacy classes of finite groups (Q2216533)

Let \(G\) be a finite group, \(g \in G\) and let \(|g|\) be the order of \(G\). The average order of the elements of \(G\) is the number \(o(G)=|G|^{-1} \sum_{g \in G}|g|\). \textit{A. Jaikin-Zapirain} in [Adv. Math. 227, No. 3, 1129--1143 (2011; Zbl 1227.20014)] posed the question: Let \(G\) be a finite (\(p\)-) group and \(N\) a normal (abelian) subgroup of \(G\). Is it true that \(o(G) \geq o(N)^{\frac{1}{2}}\,\)? The main result proved in the paper under review is Theorem 1.2: Let \(c>0\) be a real number and let \(p \geq 3/c\) be a prime. Then there exists a finite \(p\)-group \(G\) with a normal abelian subgroup \(N\) such that \(o(G) < o(N)^{c}\). By the condition \(p \geq 3/c\) in the previous theorem, putting \(c =1/2\) the authors obtain a negative answer to the question of Jaikin-Zapirain for all primes \(p \geq 7\) (and, with further work, they get a negative answer for all primes \(p \geq 5\)). In the second part of this article, related topics are discussed, in particular the relationship between \(o(G)\) and the number of conjugacy classes of \(G\).