On finite groups isospectral to simple classical groups. (Q479747)

The spectrum \(\omega(G)\) of a finite group \(G\) is the set of element orders of \(G\). Finite groups \(G\) and \(H\) are isospectral if their spectra coincide. Suppose that \(L\) is a simple classical group of sufficiently large dimension (the lower bound varies for different types of groups but is at most 62) defined over a finite field of characteristic \(p\). It is proved that a finite group \(G\) isospectral to \(L\) cannot have a nonabelian composition factor which is a group of Lie type defined over a field of characteristic distinct from \(p\). Together with a series of previous results this implies that every finite group \(G\) isospectral to \(L\) is `close' to \(L\). Namely, if \(L\) is a linear or unitary group, then \(L\leq G\leq\Aut(L)\), in particular, there are only finitely many such groups \(G\) for given \(L\). If \(L\) is a symplectic or orthogonal group, then \(G\) has a unique nonabelian composition factor \(S\) and, for given \(L\), there are at most 3 variants for \(S\) (including \(S\cong L\)).