On non-commuting sets in finite soluble CC-groups. (Q2248227)

Let \(G\) be a group. The size of the largest set of pairwise non-commuting elements in \(G\) is denoted by \(\alpha(G)\). Taking \(G\) to be a non-Abelian finite group, \(\alpha(G)\) is always a positive integer greater than or equal to \(3\): for if \(x,y\) are elements of \(G\) such that \(xy\neq yx\), then \(\{x,y,xy\}\) is a set of pairwise non-commuting elements of \(G\). In the paper under review the authors prove the following results. For a finite group \(G\), \(F(G)\) denotes the Fitting subgroup of \(G\). Theorem 1. Let \(G\) be a finite soluble Frobenius group and let \(n\) be the number of chief factors of \(G\) below \(F(G)\) in a chief series of \(G\) passing through \(F(G)\). Then \(\alpha(G)\geq |G|^{n/(n+1)}\). A group \(G\) is called \(2\)-Frobenius if \(G\) has normal series \(K<L<G\) such that \(L\) and \(G/K\) are Frobenius groups having kernels \(K\) and \(L/K\), respectively. Theorem 2. Let \(G\) be a finite \(2\)-Frobenius group and let \(n\) be the number of chief factors of \(G\) below \(F(G)\) in a chief series of \(G\) passing through \(F(G)\), the Fitting subgroup of \(G\). Then (i) if \(n\leq 3\) then \(\alpha(G)\geq |G|^{2/3}\); (ii) if \(n\geq 4 \) then \(\alpha(G)\geq |G|^{2n/(2n+3)}\). The results improve one obtained by \textit{E. A. Bertram} [Discrete Math. 44, 31-43 (1983; Zbl 0506.05060)]: For a finite group \(G\) with a CC-subgroup, \(\alpha(G)\geq |G|^{1/3}\); where by a CC-subgroup of a group \(G\), we mean a proper subgroup \(M\) of \(G\) such that the centralizer \(C_G(x)\leq M\) for all non-trivial elements \(x\) of \(M\). The authors use a result of \textit{Z. Arad} and \textit{W. Herfort} [Commun. Algebra 32, No. 6, 2087-2098 (2004; Zbl 1070.20023)] on the classification of finite soluble groups with a CC-subgroup: they are either Frobenius groups or \(2\)-Frobenius groups.