Bass units as free factors in integral group rings of simple groups.

Abstract: Let

G

be a finite group,

u

a Bass unit based on an element

a

of

G

of prime order, and assume that

u

has infinite order modulo the center of the units of the integral group ring

. It was recently proved that if

G

is solvable then there is a Bass unit or a bicyclic unit

v

and a positive integer

n

such that the group generated by

u^{n}

and

v^{n}

is a non-abelian free group. It has been conjectured that this holds for arbitrary groups

G

. To prove this conjecture it is enough to do it under the assumption that

G

is simple and

a

is a dihedral

p

-critical element in

G

. We first classify the simple groups with a dihedral

p

-critical element. They are all of the form

P S L (2, q)

. We prove the conjecture for

p = 5

; for

p > 5

and

q

even; and for

p > 5

and

q + 1 = 2 p

. We also provide a sufficient condition for the conjecture to hold for

p > 5

and

q

odd. With the help of computers we have verified the sufficient condition for all

q < 10000

.

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