Groups with no proper contranormal subgroups (Q2302176)

Let \(G\) be a group. A subgroup \(H\) of \(G\) is said \textit{contranormal} if the smallest normal subgroup containing \(H\) is \(G\), that is, if \(H^G=G\). A very well-known nilpotency criteria states that a finite group is nilpotent if and only if each maximal subgroup is normal. Thus a finite group is nilpotent if and only if every maximal subgroup is not contranormal, and this latter sentence can be rephrased in the following way: the only contranormal subgroup is the whole group. Arbitrary groups (not only finite ones) having only one contranormal subgroup are called \textit{Rose-nilpotent} by the author (in honor of John Rose, who introduced the concept of contranormal subgroup). \textit{L. A. Kurdachenko} et al. [Commun. Algebra 30, No. 8, 3755--3776 (2002; Zbl 1062.20041)] proved that if a Rose-nilpotent group \(G\) has a normal soluble-by-finite subgroup \(N\) satisfying the minimal condition on \(G\)-invariant subgroups and such that \(G/N\) is nilpotent, then \(G\) is nilpotent. The main aim of the paper is to investigate a complimentary result by interchanging the roles of \(N\) and \(G/N\). The Heineken and Mohamed examples show immediately that something more has to be required. Thus Theorem~1 of the paper under review states that if \(G\) is Rose-nilpotent and has a normal nilpotent subgroup such that \(G/N\) is soluble-by-finite and satisfies the minimal condition on normal subgroups, then \(G\) is nilpotent if we further require for instance that \(G/N\) is finite or that \(N\) and \(G/N\) are both periodic and coprime. These two cases are used in order to show that the theorem also holds under the condition for \(G\) to be a \(FAR\)-group (see [\textit{J. C. Lennox} and \textit{D. J. S. Robinson}, The theory of infinite soluble groups. Oxford: Clarendon Press (2004; Zbl 1059.20001)] for the definition). In the context of such results, it is probably worth noticing that it is easy to see (and indeed the author gives a proof of this fact at the end of the paper) that a Černikov group is Rose-nilpotent if and only if it is nilpotent. Some results on linear groups are presented and a shortened proof of a crucial theorem in [Kurdachenko et al., loc. cit.] (essentially the case in which the normal subgroup is abelian) is exhibited.