Set-stabilizers in solvable permutation groups (Q6908150)

For a finite solvable permutation group \((G,\Omega)\), the author studies the structure of setwise stabilizers of subsets of \(\Omega\). The main theorem (Theorem A) states that there exists a subset \(\Delta\subseteq\Omega\) whose stabilizer \(S=\operatorname{Stab}_G(\Delta)\) satisfies that \(O^{2}(S)\) is a (possibly trivial) elementary abelian \(3\)-group. Hence, \(S\) is a monomial group and all its irreducible character degrees are powers of \(2\).\N\NThis considerably strengthens earlier results asserting only that some set-stabilizer must be a \(\{2,3\}\)-group and it provides an affirmative answer in the solvable case to Question 7.d by \textit{L. Babai} [J. Algebra 607, Part A, 64--106 (2022; Zbl 1511.20009)] concerning regular orbits on power sets.\N\NThe proof relies on the classification of primitive solvable permutation groups without regular orbits on the power set, together with a careful induction on the degree treating both primitive and imprimitive cases.\N\NAn interesting consequence of Theorem A is that every finite solvable permutation group admits a set-stabilizer of Fitting height at most two. Since \(S/O^2(S)\) is a \(2\)-group, the Fitting series of \(S\) has length at most two: Either \(O^2(S)\) is trivial and \(S\) is nilpotent or \(O^2(S)\) is non-trivial and the Fitting height is exactly two. Example 3.3 shows that this bound is sharp: For \(G=S_4\wr S_4\) acting imprimitively on a set \(\Omega\) of size \(16\) partitioned into four blocks, every subset stabilizer has Fitting height exactly two, demonstrating that nilpotent set-stabilizers need not exist.