Co-degrees of irreducible characters in finite groups. (Q2370256)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and let \(\text{Irr}(G)\) denote the set of complex irreducible characters of \(G\). Given \(\chi\) in \(\text{Irr}(G)\), let \(\ker\chi\) denote the kernel of \(\chi\). The authors define the co-degree of \(\chi\) to be the number \(a(\chi)=|G:\ker\chi)|/\chi(1)\). Let \(N\) be a normal subgroup of \(G\). The authors set \[ \text{Irr}(G|N)=\text{Irr}(G)-\text{Irr}(G/N)\quad\text{ and }\quad\text{cdq}(G|N)=\{a(\chi):\chi\in\text{Irr}(G|N)\}. \] The authors define the co-degree graph \(\Gamma(G|N)\) associated to \(\text{cdq}(G|N)\) as follows. The vertices of \(\Gamma(G|N)\) are the primes dividing the set of integers in \(\text{cdq}(G|N)\). An edge connects two vertices corresponding to primes \(p\) and \(q\) if \(pq\) divides some integer in \(\text{cdq}(G|N)\). The possibility that \(N=G\) is allowed. The purpose of the paper is to study properties of the co-degree graph, especially as they describe its disconnectedness, and relate these to the structure of \(G\). As the paper contains several different conclusions, obtained under various hypotheses, we will give just one sample result. Suppose that \(N\neq 1\) and \(\Gamma(G|N)\) is disconnected. Then \(\Gamma(G|N)\) has exactly two connected components and the set of prime divisors of \(|G|\) is identical with the set of primes arising as the vertices of the graph.