The codegree isomorphism problem for finite simple groups (Q6630672)

Let \(G\) be a finite group, \(\mathrm{Irr}(G)\) the set of irreducible complex characters of \(G\) and, for \(\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(G)\) let \(\operatorname{cod}(\chi)=|G : \ker \chi | \cdot \chi(1)^{-1}\) be the codegree of \(\chi\). Let \(\operatorname{cod}(G)=\{ \mathrm{cod}(\chi) \mid \chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(G) \}=\{ c_{1} < c_{2} < \dots < c_{k} \}\) and let \(m_{G}(c_{i})\) be the number of irreducible characters of \(G\) with codegree \(c_{i}\). The multiset \[C(G) = \{(c_{i}, m_{G}(c_{i})) \mid 1 \leq i \leq k \}\] is called the group pseudo-algebra of \(G\).\N\NThe main result in the paper under review is Theorem A: Let \(S\) be a finite simple group and \(G\) a finite group. Then \(C(G)=C(S)\) if and only if \(G \simeq S\).\N\NTheorem A provides a partial answer to the codegree isomorphism conjecture proposed by G. Quian, who asserts that if \(S\) is a finite non-abelian simple group and \(G\) a finite group, then \(\operatorname{cod}(G)=\operatorname{cod}(S)\) if and only if \(G \simeq S\) [\textit{V. D. Mazurov} (ed.), \textit{E. I. Khukhro} (ed.), The Kourovka notebook. Unsolved problems in group theory. 20th edition. Novosibirsk: Institute of Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Div. (2014), Problem 20.79].\N\NAnother interesting result in this direction is Theorem B: Let \(S\) and \(H\) be finite simple groups such that \(\operatorname{cod}(S) \subseteq \operatorname{cod}(H)\). Then, \(S \simeq H\).\N\NThe authors point out that the proof of Theorem A relies only on the classification via the so-called simple order theorem (also known as the Artin-Tits theorem; see [\textit{E. Artin}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 8, 455--472 (1955; Zbl 0065.25703); \textit{W. Kimmerle} et al., Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 60, No. 1, 89--122 (1990; Zbl 0668.20009)]), which states that two non-isomorphic finite simple groups have the same order if and only if they are either \(\mathrm{PSL}_{4}(2)\) and \(\mathrm{PSL}_{3}(4)\) or \(\Omega_{2n+1}(q)\) and \(\mathrm{PSp}_{2n}(q)\) for some \(n \geq 3\) and odd \(q\).