Supersolvability and nilpotency in terms of the commuting probability and the average character degree (Q6196047)

Let \(G\) be a finite group. The commuting probability \(\mathrm{Pr}(G)\) of \(G\) is the probability that two random elements of \(G\) commute: \(\mathrm{Pr}(G)=\big | \{ (x,y) \in G \times G \mid [x,y]=1\} \big | \cdot |G|^{-2}\). Using the definition it is not difficult to show that \(\mathrm{Pr}(G)=|G|^{-1} \cdot k(G)\), where \(k(G)\) is the number of conjugacy classes of \(G\). In a widely cited paper, \textit{W. H. Gustafson} [Am. Math. Mon. 80, 1031--1034 (1973; Zbl 0276.60013)] proved that if \(\mathrm{Pr}(G)>\frac{5}{8}\), then \(G\) is abelian (this result is optimal: the quaternion group \(Q_{8}\) is nonabelian and \(\mathrm{Pr}(Q_{8})=\frac{5}{8}\)). Moreover \textit{F. Barry} et al., in [Math. Proc. R. Ir. Acad. 106A, No. 2, 163--177 (2006; Zbl 1148.20010)], proved that if \(\mathrm{Pr}(G) > \frac{1}{3}\), then \(G\) is supersolvable. All the above-mentioned results are valid if the least prime divisor \(p\) of \(|G|\) is equal to \(2\) and can be refined if \(p >2\). In this paper the author determines the best possible functions \(g_{n}(p)\) and \(g_{s}(p)\) such that if \(\mathrm{Pr}(G) > g_{n}(p)\), where \(p\) is the smallest prime dividing \(|G|\), then \(G\) is nilpotent and if \(\mathrm{Pr}(G) > g_{s}(p)\), then \(G\) is supersolvable. The average character degree of \(G\) is defined as \(\mathrm{acd}(G)=| \mathrm{Irr}(G)|^{-1} \cdot \sum_{\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(G)}\chi(1)\). From Cauchy-Schwarz inequality one can deduce that \(\mathrm{acd}(G)^{2} \leq \mathrm{Pr}(G)^{-1}\). Another result that can be found in the paper under review is the determination of the best functions \(h_{n}(p)\) and \(h_{s}(p)\) such that if \(\mathrm{acd}(G) < h_{n}(p)\), then \(G\) is nilpotent and if \(\mathrm{acd}(G) < h_{s}(p)\), then \(G\) is supersolvable.