On the strong connectivity of the \(2\)-Engel graphs of almost simple groups (Q6122751)

Let \(G\) be a group, if \(g,h \in G\) one can define inductively \([g,_{1}\!h]=[g,h]\) and \([g,_{n+1}\!h]=[[g,_{n}\!h],h]\). Let \(I_{n}(G)=\{ g \in G \mid [g,_{n}\!x]=1=[x,_{n}\!g] \;\; \forall x \in G \}\). The \(n\)-th Engel graph \(\Gamma_{n}(G)=(V_{n},E_{n})\) of \(G\) is the directed graph having vertex set \(V_{n}=G \setminus I_{n}(G)\) and \((g,h) \in E_{n}\) if and only if \([g,_{n}\!h]=1\). A directed graph is strongly connected if for any pair of vertices there exists a directed path from the first vertex in the pair to the second. The main result in this paper is (Theorem 1.1): Let \(G\) be an almost simple group with socle \(L\) and let \(n \geq 2\) be the smallest natural number \(n\) for which \(\Gamma_{n}(G)\) is strongly connected. Then \(n=2\) except when \(G\) is one of the groups explicitly listed by the authors (see Table 1). In particular if \(G\) is a simple group, then \(\Gamma_{n}(G)\) is not strongly connected for every \(n\) if \(G\simeq \mathrm{PSL}_{2}(2,q)\) with \(q=2^{f}\), \(f \geq 2\), or \(q \equiv 5 \mod 8\) or if \(G\simeq \mathrm{Sz}(2^{2f+1})\) with \(f>0\). For every \(n\), \(\Gamma_{n}(G)\) is a subgraph of \(\Gamma_{n+1}(G)\) and one can verify that, if \(\Gamma_{n}(G)\) is strongly connected, then \(\Gamma_{n}(G)=\Gamma_{n+1}(G)\) (that is \(|E_{n}|=|E_{n+1}|\)). It may be interesting to note that, when \(\Gamma_{n}(G)\) is never strongly connected, then \(\Gamma_{2}(\mathrm{PSL}_{2}(2,q))=\Gamma_{3}(\mathrm{PSL}_{2}(2,q))\) and \(\Gamma_{3}(\mathrm{Sz}(2^{2f+1}))=\Gamma_{4}(\mathrm{Sz}(2^{2f+1}))\). The behavior of Engel elements in a group is quite erratic. The reviewer points out that finding the minimum \(r\) (and the minimum \(t\)) for which \([g,_{r}\!h]=[g,_{r+t}\!h]\) for every pair of elements \(g\) and \(h\) of a simple group \(G\) is a problem that has been studied by \textit{R. Brandl} and \textit{D. B. Nikolova}, in [Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 33, 245--251 (1986; Zbl 0574.20028)]. In that paper they prove that \(G=\mathrm{PSL}(2,q)\) has \(r=3\) if and only if \(q=4,8\) (and \(t=60, 126\) respectively). One can verify (e.g.) that, if \(G=\mathrm{PSL}(2,11)\), then \(r=6\) and \(t=1980\).