On the minimal degree of a transitive permutation group with stabilizer a 2-group (Q831211)

Let \(G\) be a finite permutation group on a finite set \(\Omega\). For \(g\in G\), the set of fixed points of \(g\) in \(\Omega\) is denoted by \(\mathrm{Fix}_{\Omega}(g)\) and the number \(\operatorname{fpr}_{\Omega}(g)=|\mathrm{Fix}_{\Omega}(g)|/|\Omega|\) is called the fixed-points ratio of \(g\). The minimal degree \(\operatorname{mindeg}_{\Omega}(G)\) of \(G\) is the minimum of \(|\Omega\setminus \mathrm{Fix}_{\Omega}(g)|\) for \(g\in G\setminus{1}\). Several authors studied upper and lower bounds on the minimal degree or fixed-points ratios of primitive permutation groups. So, \textit{R. Guralnick} and \textit{K. Magaard} [J. Algebra 207, No. 1, 127--145 (1998; Zbl 0911.20003)] building on earlier work of \textit{M. W. Liebeck} and \textit{J. Saxl} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 63, No. 2, 266--314 (1991; Zbl 0696.20004)] proved that, except for an explicit list of exceptions, the minimal degree of every primitive permutation group of degree \(n\) is at least \(n/2\). In this paper, the authors prove the following theorem: If \(G\) is transitive on \(\Omega\) with \(O_2(G)=1\) and the point stabilizer \(G_{\omega}~(\omega\in\Omega)\) is a 2-group, then \(\operatorname{mindeg}_{\Omega}(G)\geq\frac{2}{3}\) (equivalently, \(\operatorname{fpr}_{\Omega}(g)\leq\frac{1}{3}\)).The motivation of the authors to prove this result stems from the investigation of the minimal degree of permutation groups appearing as arc-transitive automorphism groups of connected graphs.