Abelian supplements in almost simple groups (Q7035762)

Let \(G\) be a finite group and let \(N \trianglelefteq G\) be a normal subgroup of \(G\), a supplement \(A \leq G\) of \(N\) is a subgroup such that \(G=NA\). In general it is not true that if \(G/N\) is abelian, then \(N\) admits an abelian supplement in \(G\) (e.g. consider \(G=Q_{8}\) and \(N=Z(G)\)).\N\NIn the paper under review, the authors, using the classification of the finite simple groups, prove Theorem 1: Let \(G\) be an almost simple group with socle \(G_{0}\). If \(G/G_{0}\) is abelian, then \(G\) contains an abelian subgroup \(A\) such that \(G=AG_{0}\). As a consequence, they prove the following: \N\NCorollary 2. Let \(G\) be a finite group and suppose that \(F(G) =1\). Let \(N= \mathsf{soc}\)(G). If \(a\) and \(b\) are two elements of \(G\) and \([a, b] \in N\) then there exist \(n, m \in N\) such that \([an, bm]=1\).\N\NLet \(G\) be a finite non-cyclic group and \(d(G)\) the smallest cardinality of a generating set of \(G\). The rank graph \(\Gamma(G)\) associated to \(G\) is the graph whose vertices are the elements of \(G\) and where \(x, y \in G\) are adjacent if there exists a generating set \(X \subseteq G\) of cardinality \(d(G)\) such that \(x, y \in X\). Moreover, let \(\Delta(G)\) be the subgraph of \(\Gamma(G)\) induced by its non-isolated vertices. If \(G\) is a non-abelian simple group, then \(\Delta(G)\) is connected with diameter two [\textit{T. Breuer} et al., Int. J. Algebra Comput. 16, No. 3, 493--503 (2006; Zbl 1103.20066)].\N\NIn a paper by the second and third author [J. Algebra 665, 131--144 (2025; Zbl 1557.20031)], Corollary 2 plays a crucial role in the proof of the following result: If \(d(G) \geq 3\), then \(\Delta(G)\) is connected.