Characters of \(p^\prime\)-degree and Thompson's character degree theorem (Q520712)

Let \(\text{acd}_{p'}(G)\) denote the average of the \(p'\)-degrees of the irreducible characters of a finite group \(G\). According to Thompson's theorem, if \(\text{acd}_{p'}(G)=1\) then \(G\) is \(p\)-nilpotent (as the reviewer has deduced from CFSG, in that case \(G\) is also solvable). In this note, this result is extended as follows (Theorem 1.1):{\parindent=0.7cm\begin{itemize}\item[(i)] If \(\text{acd}_{2'}(G)<\frac32\), then \(G\) is \(p\)-nilpotent. \item[(ii)] If \(p>2\) and \(\text{acd}_{p'}<\frac43\), then \(G\) is \(p\)-nilpotent. \end{itemize}} The following results are also proven (Theorem 1.2): \(G\) is solvable if {\parindent=0.7cm\begin{itemize}\item[(1)] \(p<5\) and \(\text{acd}_{p'}(G)<3\), \item[(2)] \(\text{acd}_{5'}<\frac{11}4\), \item[(3)] \(p>5\) and \(\text{acd}_{p'}<\frac{16}5\). \end{itemize}}