Fitting heights of solvable groups with few character degrees (Q5925801)

Let \(h(G)\) be the Fitting height of a solvable group \(G\) and \(\text{cd}(G)\) the set of degrees of irreducible characters of \(G\). In what follows \(G\) is a finite solvable group. S. Garrison proved that \(h(G)\leq|\text{cd}(G)|\). T. Keller obtained an upper bound for \(h(G)\) that is logarithmic, and his bound is better than Garrison's in the case when \(|\text{cd}(G)|\) is large. The present author seeks best-possible upper bounds for \(h(G)\) for particular small values of \(|\text{cd}(G)|\). In particular, he proves the following useful Theorem A + Corollary B. If \(G\) is a solvable group and \(|\text{cd}(G)|=4\), then \(h(G)\leq 3\). In particular, if \(|\text{cd}(G)|\geq 4\), then \(h(G)\leq|\text{cd}(G)|-1\). (The last estimate is best possible for \(|\text{cd}(G)|=5\), as examples show.) The question of existence of \(G\) with \(|\text{cd}(G)|=6\) and \(h(G)=5\) is open. Some intermediate results of this paper are of independent interest. Theorem 2.1 + Corollary 2.2. Let \(E\) be a finite field of characteristic \(p\) and \(V\) a faithful irreducible \(E[G]\)-module (recall that \(G\) is solvable) of dimension \(k\). Then there exists a faithful \(\chi\in\text{Irr}(G)\) such that (i) \(\chi(1)\) divides \(k\). (ii) If \(S\) is a \(p'\)-subgroup of \(G\) such that \(1_S\in\text{Irr}(\chi_S)\), then \(C_V(S)>\{1\}\). (iii) If \(V\) is not necessarily irreducible and \(G'\) is not a \(p\)-group, then there exists \(d\in\text{cd}(G)-\{1\}\) dividing the dimension of some \(G\)-composition factor of \(V\).