Formations of finite groups in polynomial time: the \(\mathfrak{F}\)-radical and the \(\mathfrak{F}\)-length (Q6940110)

The paper develops polynomial-time algorithms to compute the \(\mathfrak{F}\)-radical and the \((\mathfrak{F},\mathfrak{H})\)-length of a finite group \(G\) given by permutations of degree \(n\), where \(\mathfrak{F}\) is a Baer-local Fitting formation and \(\mathfrak{H}\) is another Fitting class. Assuming that the radicals associated with the local values of the Baer function \(f\) defining \(\mathfrak{F}\) are computable in polynomial time, it is shown that \(G_{\mathfrak{F}}\) and \(\ell_{\mathfrak{F},\mathfrak{H}}(G)\) can also be computed in polynomial time in \(n\).\N\NThe method is based on centralizers of chief factors and includes explicit pseudocode for algorithms FRADICAL, EFRADICAL and FLENGTH. The strategy involves computing a chief series of \(G\), checking whether each chief factor belongs to \(\mathfrak{F}\) via the Baer-local definition and intersecting the corresponding generalized centralizers.\N\NIn addition to the \(\mathfrak{F}\)-radical, the paper discusses various formation-theoretic lengths, including the nilpotent length, \(p\)-length, generalized Fitting height and non-\(p\)-soluble length, each of which is shown to be computable in polynomial time for permutation groups.