Noncoprime action of a cyclic group (Q6146409)

Let \(H\) be a finite solvable group, \(C\) a Carter subgroup of \(H\), \(h(H)\) the Fitting length of \(G\) and \(\ell(C)\) the number of (not necessarily distinct) prime divisors of \(|C|\). In the seminal paper by \textit{E. C. Dade} [Ill. J. Math. 13, 449--514 (1969; Zbl 0195.04003)], it is proved that \(h(H) \leq 10(2^{\ell(C)}-1)-4\ell(C)\) and it is conjectured that there is a linear function \(g\) such that \(h(H) \leq g(\ell(C))\). If \(A\) is a finite nilpotent group acting fixed point freely on the finite solvable group \(G\) by automorphisms, then one can regard \(A\) as a Carter subgroup of the semidirect product \(G \rtimes A\). A special case of Dade's conjecture is that \(h(G)\) can be bounded above by a linear function of \(\ell(A)\). This conjecture is mostly studied under the assumption that \((|G|,|A|)=1\) and, under such hypothesis, \textit{A. Turull} [J. Algebra 86, 555--566 (1984; Zbl 0526.20017)] proved the strongest result that \(h(G) \leq 2\ell(G)+h(C_{G}(A))\). The case in which the order of \(A\) is not coprime with the order of \(G\) presents greater difficulties. A partial result was obtained by the authors [J. Algebra 320, No. 1, 426--436 (2008; Zbl 1155.20021)], where they showed that \(h(A) \leq \ell(A)\) under the assumption that \(A\) is finite abelian group of square-free exponent coprime to \(6\) acting fixed point freely on a group \(G\) of odd order. More recently, the reviewer [J. Algebra 487, 161--172 (2017; Zbl 1401.20024)] handled the case where \(A\) is cyclic and obtained the polynomial bound \(7\ell(A)^{2}\) for \(h(G)\). Let \(A\) act on the group \(G\) and let \(\mathbf{c}(G; A)\) denote the number of trivial \(A\)-modules appearing as factors in any \(A\)-composition series of \(G\). In this remarkable paper, the authors prove the following deep result: Let \(A\) be a finite cyclic group acting on the finite group \(G\) of odd order. Suppose that \(A\) normalizes a Sylow system of \(G\). Then \(h(G) \leq 2\ell(A) + \mathbf{c}(G;A)\). (The reviewer highlights the similarities with Turull's result [loc. cit.].) If \(C_{G}(A)=1\), then it is well known that \(A\) normalizes a Sylow system of \(G\). So, as a consequence of the main theorem, the authors obtain this nice result: Let \(A\) be a finite cyclic group acting fixed-point freely on the finite group \(G\) of odd order. Then \(h(G) \leq 2\ell(A)\). The reviewer conjectures that the hypothesis that \(G\) has an odd order may not be essential. He hopes that the authors will be able to remove the obstruction that prevents the proof of their results in full generality.