A new characterization of <i>E</i> ₈ ( <i>p</i> ) via its vanishing elements (Q7008593)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and let \(g \in G\). The element \(g\) is said to be a vanishing element of \(G\) if there exists an irreducible character \(\chi \in \mathrm{Irr}(G)\) such that \(\chi(g) = 0\). Denote by \(\operatorname{Vo}(G)\) the set of orders of vanishing elements of \(G\). A group \(G\) is called \(\mathcal{V}\)-recognizable if any finite group \(N\) with \(\operatorname{Vo}(N) = \operatorname{Vo}(G)\) is isomorphic to \(G\).\N\NThis paper studies the \(\mathcal{V}\)-recognizability of finite simple groups of Lie type, focusing on the exceptional family \(E_8(p)\) for primes \(p\) satisfying \(p \equiv 0, 1, 4 \pmod{5}\). Building on previous work on recognizability by vanishing elements and vanishing prime graphs, the author establishes a new criterion to determine when a group of the form \(E_8(p)\) is uniquely characterized by its vanishing set.\N\NThe main result (Theorem 1.3) proves that if \(r\) is a prime congruent to \(0,1,4 \pmod{5}\), if for any \(s^{t} < r\), where \(s\) is a prime, and \(s^t \equiv 0,1,4 \pmod{5}\) one has \(\pi(J_4),\,\pi(E_8(q)) \nsubseteq \pi(E_8(r))\), then \(E_8(r)\) is \(\mathcal{V}\)-recognizable.\N\NThe proof relies on structural properties of the vanishing prime graph \(\mathcal{G}(G)\) and the spectrum \(\pi_e(G)\) of element orders. A key point is that for simple groups of Lie type, including \(E_8(q)\), one has \(\operatorname{Vo}(G) = \pi_e(G) \setminus \{1\}\). The author makes systematic use of known factorizations of \(|E_8(q)|\) and known spectral data to show that no group other than \(E_8(r)\) can share the same vanishing set.\N\NAs an application, the author shows that for all primes \(p < 10000\) congruent to \(0,1,4 \pmod{5}\), the group \(E_8(p)\) is \(\mathcal{V}\)-recognizable, except for seven exceptional primes listed explicitly. The exclusion is verified computationally and a nice implementation (in Python) is included in the appendix.