Semisimple groups acting on semisimple groups. (Q695017)

Let \(A\) and \(B\) be semisimple subgroups, i.e. direct products of simple nonabelian groups, of a finite group \(G\) such that \(B\) is normalized by \(A\) and \(A\not\leq B\). It is shown that then the centralizer \(C_{AB}(B)\) is not trivial provided \(P(A)\geq P(B)\), where \(P(X)\) denotes the smallest degree of a faithful permutation representation of a group \(X\), and so by a result of Bender \(B\) cannot be the generalized Fitting subgroup or the socle of its normalizer in \(G\). This result considerably generalizes some results of the first author [J. Algebra 302, No. 1, 167-185 (2006; Zbl 1110.20001)] and of \textit{G. Kaplan} and \textit{D. Levi} [Commun. Algebra 37, No. 6, 1873-1883 (2009; Zbl 1176.20023)], thereby also closing some gaps existing in the proofs of both papers cited above. Further consequences are derived. The classification of finite simple groups is used.