Even character degrees and normal Sylow 2-subgroups (Q2218675)

For a finite group \(G\), let \(\mathrm{Irr}(G)\) be the set of all complex irreducible characters of \(G\) and define \(\mathrm{Irr}_{2}(G)=\{\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(G) \mid \chi(1)=1 \;\; \mathrm{or}\;\; \chi(1) \equiv 2 \mod 0 \}\). Define also \[ S_{2}(G)= \frac{\sum_{\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}_{2}(G)} \chi(1)^{2}}{ \sum_{\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}_{2}(G)} \chi(1)}. \] The main results proven in the paper under review are the following theorems. Theorem A: If \(S_{2}(G) < 3/2\), then \(G\) has a normal Sylow 2-subgroup. Theorem D: If \(S_{2}(G) < 17/5\), then \(G\) is solvable. The bounds in Theorem A and Theorem D are best possible, as shown by the symmetric group \(S_{3}\) and the alternating group \(A_{5}\).