On the \(p\)-length and the Wielandt length of a finite \(p\)-soluble group. (Q2872011)

The celebrated Hall-Higman \(p\)-length theorem claims that the \(p\)-length of a \(p\)-solvable group is bounded above by the nilpotent class of its Sylow \(p\)-subgroups. In this paper, this bound is improved by introducing a new invariant parameter for nilpotent groups. The authors define the concept of permutable series and permutable length of a nilpotent group: A normal series \(1=H_0\leq H_1\leq\cdots\leq H_n=G\) of a nilpotent group \(G\) is said to be a permutable series of \(G\) if, for any \(1\leq i\leq n\) and for any \(x\in H_i\), the group \(\langle x\rangle H_{i-1}/H_{i-1}\) is permutable in \(G/H_{i-1}\). In this case, \(n\) is called the length of this series. Then the permutable length of \(G\) is defined as the minimun of the lengths of such series.NEWLINENEWLINE The authors show that if \(G\) is a \(p\)-solvable group, then the \(p\)-length of \(G\) is no larger than the permutable length of its Sylow \(p\)-subgroups. As they also prove that the permutable length of a \(p\)-group is always less than or equal to its Wielandt length, among other corollaries, they obtain that the \(p\)-length of a \(p\)-solvable group is bounded above by the Wielandt length of its Sylow \(p\)-subgroups.