Products of characters with few irreducible constituents. (Q877695)

Let \(G\) be a finite group. For \(\chi\in\text{Irr}(G)\) write \(\eta(\chi)\) for the number of distinct, nonprincipal irreducible constituents of \(\chi\overline\chi\). The author studies the properties of solvable \(G\) when \(\eta(\chi)\) is small for some faithful \(\chi\). In Theorem A she proves that if \(\eta(\chi)=1\), then the multiplicity of the only nonprincipal character occurring in \(\chi\overline\chi\) is 1, there is a nonabelian normal subgroup \(E\) such that \(G/E\) acts transitively on the nonidentity elements of \(E/Z(G)\), \(Z(G)\) is cyclic, and \(|E/Z(G)|=e^2\) with \(e\in\{2,3,5,7,9\}\), and detailed descriptions of the groups for each value of \(e\) are also given. In Theorem B she assumes \(\eta(\chi)=2\) and obtains some less detailed information on the structure of \(G\), such as \(|G|\) is even and the derived length of \(G\) is bounded by an absolute constant (18 is given in the paper, but could certainly be much improved using [\textit{D. A. Foulser}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 143, 1-54 (1969; Zbl 0187.29401)] in the proof of Proposition 4.2.5).