A reduction theorem for nonsolvable finite groups (Q2317679)

Every finite group \(G\) has a normal series each of whose factors is either soluble or a direct product of nonabelian simple groups. The minimum number of nonsolvable factors attained on all possible such series is called the nonsolvable length of \(G\) and is denoted by \(\lambda(G)\). For every natural number \(n\), let \(\Lambda_n\) be the class of groups of nonsolvable length \(n\). The authors define a particular kind of \(\Lambda_n\)-groups, called \(n\)-rarefied, whose structure of normal subgroups is quite restricted, and they prove that every finite group in \(\Lambda_n\) contains an \(n\)-rarefied subgroup. This result plays a central role in the investigation of questions related to the nonsolvable length that can be reduced to subgroups. The authors use this approach to improve a bound on \(\lambda(G)\), obtained by \textit{E. I. Khukhro} and \textit{P. Shumyatsky} [Isr. J. Math. 207, Part 2, 507--525 (2015; Zbl 1333.20023)]: if \(G\) is a finite group, then \(\lambda(G)\) is at most the maximum of the 2-lengths of all possible solvable subgroups of \(G\). They also determine the maximum possible nonsolvable length for permutation groups of fixed degree and linear groups of fixed dimension.