Thompson-like characterization of solubility for products of finite groups (Q2662183)

The authors study finite groups of the form \(G=AB\), where \(A\) and \(B\) are subgroups which are \(S\)-connected in the sense that \(<a,b>\) is a soluble subgroup for every \(a\) in \(A\) and \(b\) in \(B\). They show that the group \(G=AB\) is \(S\)-connected if and only if \([A,B]\) is soluble. This implies that a finite product of two \(S\)-connected soluble subgroups is soluble. The proof of the main results depends on a detailed analysis of the case of an almost simple group. In the course of the proof a result about independent primes regarding the soluble graph of an almost simple group is derived.