Diameters of degree graphs of nonsolvable groups. II. (Q2370236)

Let \(G\) be a finite group. The degree graph \(\Delta(G)\) is the graph whose vertices are the primes dividing some irreducible (complex) character degree of \(G\), and two such primes \(p,q\) are connected if \(pq\) divides the degree of some irreducible character. The main result of the paper is that the diameter of \(\Delta(G)\) is at most 3, and this bound is sharp, as solvable and nonsolvable examples with diameter 3 do exist. The result had been known for solvable groups since 1989 [\textit{O. Manz, W. Willems} and \textit{T. R. Wolf}, J. Reine Angew. Math. 402, 181-198 (1989; Zbl 0678.20002)], where \(\Delta(G)\) was studied for the first time, and a general bound of 4 had been obtained by the authors in part I [J. Algebra 283, No. 1, 80-92 (2005; Zbl 1100.20014)]. The proof uses CFSG and follows the same strategy as in the latter paper, but uses some recent results on degree graphs of simple groups obtained by Barry and Ward, and the second author.