String C-groups of order 4 <i>p</i> ^<i>m</i> (Q6969120)

A \textit{string \(C\)-group} is a pair \((G, S)\), where \(G\) is a finite group and \(S := (\rho_0, \ldots, \rho_{n-1})\) is a generating set consisting of \(n\) involutions, satisfying the following:\N\begin{itemize}\N\item For each \(i,j \in \{0,\ldots,n-1\}\) with \(|i-j| > 1\), we have \(\rho_i \rho_j = \rho_j \rho_i\);\N\item For each \(I, J \subseteq \{0, \ldots, n-1\}\), the intersection of the generated subgroups satisfies \(\langle \rho_i \mid i \in I \rangle \cap \langle \rho_j \mid j \in J \rangle = \langle \rho_k \mid k \in I \cap J \rangle\).\N\end{itemize}\NThe cardinality of \(S\) is called the \textit{rank of \((G,S)\)}. These objects are of combinatorial interest because they provide a group-theoretic framework for constructing abstract regular polytopes.\N\NIn this paper, the authors investigate rank~\(3\) string \(C\)-groups of order \(4p^m\), where \(p\) is an odd prime and \(m \geq 2\), with particular focus on the Schläfli type \(\{k_1, k_2\}\), where \(k_i = o(\rho_{i-1} \rho_i)\) and on the structure of the Sylow \(p\)-subgroup \(P\) of \(G\). The proofs rely on standard techniques for solvable groups containing a large Sylow \(p\)-subgroup.\N\NTheorem 1.1 describes the group-theoretic structure of such groups, proving that:\N\begin{itemize}\N\item \(G\) is isomorphic to the semidirect product \(P \rtimes \langle \rho_0, \rho_2 \rangle\); \item\(p\) divides both \(k_1\) and \(k_2\) and one of them is even;\N\item the minimal number of generators of \(P\) is \(2\).\N\end{itemize}\NTheorem~1.2 establishes that \(P\) is abelian if and only if the group is \textit{tight} (that is, \(|G| = 2k_1k_2\)) -- actually, such a tight string\N\(C\)-group is unique. Theorem 1.3 presents an infinite family of examples with non-abelian \(P\) of Schläfli type \(\{p, 2p\}\). The construction uses the structure of a \(p\)-group whose Hughes subgroup coincides with a maximal abelian subgroup and highlights how its structure relates to certain binomial coefficient identities.