Non-solvable groups whose character degree graph has a cut-vertex. II (Q6098125)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and \(\mathrm{cd}(G)\) the set of degrees of the irreducible complex characters of \(G\). The character degree graph \(\Delta(G)\) is the (simple undirected) graph whose vertices consist of those primes dividing some element of \(\mathrm{cd}(G)\), and two distinct vertices \(p\) and \(q\) are connected by an edge whenever \(pq\) divides some number in \(\mathrm{cd}(G)\). This graph is a tool that has been devised in order to investigate the arithmetical structure of \(\mathrm{cd}(G)\). The structure of the finite groups \(G\) such that \(\Delta(G)\) is disconnected is known since 2003. Indeed, \(\Delta(G)\) may have at most \(2\) connected components when \(G\) is solvable, and at most three if \(G\) is non-solvable. A further step in the study of the connectivity properties of \(\Delta(G)\) is to consider the existence of cut-vertices. A cut-vertex is a vertex whose removal yields a resulting graph with more connected components than the original one, and a connected graph that has a cut-vertex is said to have connectivity degree 1. The finite solvable groups \(G\) such that \(\Delta(G)\) has connectivity degree 1 have already been investigated in [\textit{M. L. Lewis} and \textit{Q. Meng}, Monatsh. Math. 190, No. 3, 541--548 (2019; Zbl 1475.20015)], where, among other things, it is shown that in that case \(\Delta(G)\) has exactly one cut-vertex. On the other hand, the first author et al. [``Non-solvable groups whose character degree graph has a cut-vertex. I'', Vietnam J. Math. (to appear; \url{doi:10.1007/s10013-023-00627-1})] have started a research work with the aim of characterizing those finite non-solvable groups \(G\) such that \(\Delta(G)\) has a cut-vertex. Concretely, in that paper they deal with the (non-solvable) groups having no composition factor isomorphic to PSL\((2,t^a)\) for a prime power \(t^a\geq 4\). The paper under review continues this investigation by addressing the complementary situation in the case when \(t\) is odd and \(t^a>5\). The proof of this classification is completed in a third and last paper [the first author et al., ``Non-solvable groups whose character degree graph has a cut vertex. III'', Ann. Mat. Pura Appl. (4) (to appear; \url{doi:10.1007/s10231-023-01328-9})].