On 2-groups with submultiplicative spectrum (Q5957774)

The author considers subgroups \(\mathcal{G}\) of \(GL(n,\mathbb{C)}\) with the property that for all \(G,H\in\mathcal{G}\) we have \(\sigma(GH)\subseteq \sigma(G)\sigma(H)\); in other words, every eigenvalue of \(GH\) is a product of an eigenvalue of \(G\) and an eigenvalue of \(H\). Such groups are said to have ``submultiplicative spectrum''. It is known that for every odd integer \(n>0\) there exists an irreducible group \(\mathcal{G}\) of degree \(n\) and exponent \(n\) with submultiplicative spectrum [see \textit{H. Radijavi} and \textit{P. Rosenthal}, ``Simultaneous triangularization'', Springer, New York (1999; Zbl 0981.15007)]. The main result of the present paper is that, if an irreducible \(2\)-group \(\mathcal{G}\) with submultiplicative spectrum has exponent \(2^{s+1}\), then the determinant of each element of \(\mathcal{G}\) is a \(2^{s-1}\)-th root of \(1\). An example is given of an irreducible \(2\)-group of degree \(8\) with a submultiplicative spectrum. This is the smallest possible degree for such a group.