On primitive subgroups of finite groups. (Q879437)

All groups considered are finite. A subgroup \(H\) of a group \(G\) is called primitive if it is a proper subgroup of the intersection of all subgroups of \(G\) containing \(H\) properly. In 1971 Johnson asked the following Question: What will be the structure of a group \(G\) in which every primitive subgroup has prime power index? [see \textit{D. L. Johnson}, Can. J. Math. 23, 562-564 (1971; Zbl 0216.08004)]. He showed that a group \(G\) is supersoluble if every primitive subgroup of \(G\) has prime order index in \(G\). It is known that the converse of this result is not true in general. In this paper a complete answer to Johnson's question is given for primitive subgroups having prime order index in a group \(G\). In particular, it is proved Theorem. Let \(G\) be a group which is the semidirect product of its subgroups \(D\) and \(M\), where \(D\) is a normal subgroup of \(G\) such that \(D\cap M=1\) in \(G\). Denote the above semidirect product by \(G=[D]M\). Then the following statements are equivalent: (a) Every primitive subgroup of \(G\) has a nilpotent Hall supplement in \(G\). (b) \(G=[D]M\) is a supersoluble group, where \(D\) and \(M\) are nilpotent Hall subgroups of \(G\), \(D\) is the smallest term of the lower central series of \(G\) and \(G=DN_G(D\cap X)\) for every primitive subgroup \(X\) of \(G\). In particular, every maximal subgroup of \(D\) is normal in \(G\). (c) Every primitive subgroup of \(G\) has prime power index.