On p-groups of maximal class (Q755883)

Let G be a group of order \(p^ m\) and class m-1, where p is a prime and \(m\geq 4\). This paper is concerned with the number r(G) of conjugacy classes of G. The degree of commutativity \(c=c(G)\) is defined to be the greatest integer c such that \([\gamma_ i(G),\gamma_ j(G)]\leq \gamma_{i+j+c}(G)\) for all \(i,j>0\), and \({\mathcal F}\) denotes the totality of those groups G for which c(G)\(\neq c(G/Z(G))\). For any G, \(G^{{\mathcal F}}\) denotes the smallest normal subgroup N of G for which G/N\(\in {\mathcal F}\). It is proved that \(| G/G^{{\mathcal F}}|\) is of the form \(p^{c+2j}\), and that the order of the centre of \(\gamma_ 1(G/G^{{\mathcal F}})\) is \(p^{c+1}\). Theorem 2.10 asserts that for \(G\in {\mathcal F}\), \(r(G)=r(G/Z)+p^{c-1}(p-1)\), with c-1 replaced by 1 for \(c=0\). In {\S}3, r(G) is calculated in the case when G is metabelian; the result is that if \(\gamma_ 1'(G)=\gamma_ w(G)\), then \(r(G)=p^{m- 4}+(p^ 2-1)(p^{w-4}+1)\). In {\S}4, r(G) is given for \(m\leq 7\). In {\S}5, a lower bound for r(G) is given in terms of \(c=c(G)\). To describe this, define \(f_ k(p^{2a+e})=a(p^ 2-1)+p^ e+k(p^ 2-1)(p-1)\), where e is 0 or 1; it was proved by P. Hall that \(r(G)=f_ k(p^ m)\) for some k. Then if \(k\neq 0\), \(k\geq p^{c-3}\). Finally, it is shown that if \(r(G)=f_ 0(| G|)\), then c(G)\(\leq 1\), and \(G\in {\mathcal F}\) if \(c=0\), whereas \(| G/G^{{\mathcal F}}| =p^ 5\) for \(c=1\). The proofs of these results are very technical, and it is not possible to describe them here.