Groups whose proper quotients are FC-groups (Q2365302)

A group is called just-non-FC if it is not an FC-group, but every proper quotient is an FC-group. Here the authors study just-non-FC-groups and obtain a wealth of information about these groups, especially in the locally soluble case. Just-non-FC-groups with non-trivial centre are quickly dealt with; they are nilpotent of class 2. In the case of groups with trivial centre there is a natural division into monolithic groups and non-monolithic groups. Investigation of these groups leads to the study of faithful simple modules and just-non-FC-modules, especially for locally soluble groups. As a result a very detailed picture of the structure of locally soluble, just non-FC-groups emerges.