Groups of finite exponent acting regulary on an abelian group. (Q258044)

Let \(V\) be a group and let \(G\) be a group of automorphisms of \(V\), then \(G\) acts \textit{regularly} on \(V\) if \(v^g\neq v\) for all \(v\in V\setminus\{1\}\) and \(g\in G\setminus\{1\}\). In other words, every nontrivial element of \(G\) induces a fixed-point-free automorphism on \(G\) and the semidirect product \(V\rtimes G\) is a Frobenius group with kernel \(V\) and complement \(G\). If \(v\) is an element of \(V\), the \(G\)-orbit of \(v\) is the subset \(v^G=\{v^g\mid g\in G\}\) of \(V\). The group \(V\) is a union of a finite number of \(G\)-orbits if there are a finite set \(v_1,v_2,\ldots,v_n\in V\) such that \(G=\bigcup_{i=1}^n v_i^G\). If \(G\) is finite, then the structure of \(G\) is well-known, in particular if \(p,q\in\pi(G)\), then every subgroup of order \(pq\) of \(G\) is cyclic. The case where \(G\) is a periodic group is much more complicated, and even if \(G\) has finite exponent \(e\), very little is known about the structure of \(G\). In [\textit{E. Jabara}, J. Aust. Math. Soc. 77, No. 3, 297-304 (2004; Zbl 1106.20031)] it was proved that if \(e=5\), then \(G\) has order \(5\) and in [\textit{E. Jabara} and \textit{P. Mayr}, Forum Math. 21, No. 2, 217-220 (2009; Zbl 1177.20041)] it was proved that if \(e=2^n\cdot 3^m\), with \(n,m\in\mathbb N\) and \(m\leq 2\), then \(G\) is finite (and \(|G|\) is \(2^n\cdot 3^m\) or \( 2^{n+1}\cdot 3^m\)). In the paper under review it is proved that if \(V\) is an elementary abelian \(p\)-group which is the union of a finite number of \(G\)-orbits and the exponent of \(G\) is \(e\), then \(G\) is finite in the following cases: (i) \(G\) contains an element of order \(e\), and in this case \(|G|\in\{e,2\cdot e\}\); (ii) \(e\) is square-free, and in this case \(|G|=e\). The main theorem implies that if a nearfield \(F\) of characteristic \(p>0\) has the multiplicative group \(F^\times\) of exponent \(p-1\), then \(F\) is actually the finite field of order \(p\).