The average degree of some rational irreducible characters (Q6921175)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and let \(\mathrm{Irr}_{\mathbb{Q}}(G)\) denote the set of rational-valued irreducible characters of \(G\). The authors study several variants of average character degree obtained by restricting to rational characters or to rational characters of even degree or to linear and even-degree rational characters.\N\NThe main result, Theorem~1.1, shows that if the average degree \(\mathrm{acd}_{\mathbb Q}(G)\) of rational irreducible characters of \(G\) is strictly smaller than \(10/3\), then \(G\) is solvable. The bound is sharp, as witnessed by the alternating group \(A_{5}\).\N\NA second main theorem establishes that if the average degree \(\mathrm{acd}_{\mathbb Q,2}(G)\) of linear and even-degree rational irreducible characters is smaller than \(5/2\), then either \(G\) is solvable or \(G\) involves a simple group of type \(\mathrm{PSL}_2(3^{2f+1})\) with \(f \ge 1\).