Rank type conditions on commutators in finite groups

TL;DR

This paper investigates conditions under which the subgroup generated by commutators in finite groups has bounded rank, focusing on Sylow subgroups and automorphism groups, with results applicable to p-soluble and general finite groups.

Contribution

It establishes new bounds on the rank of commutator subgroups in finite groups based on subgroup generation conditions involving commutators and automorphisms.

Findings

If G is p-soluble with certain subgroup generation conditions, then [G,P] has r-bounded rank.

Counterexamples show the necessity of p-solubility for some results.

In groups with coprime automorphisms, the rank of [G,A] is r-bounded under subgroup generation conditions.

Abstract

For a subgroup $S$ of a group $G$, let $I_G(S)$ denote the set of commutators $[g,s]=g^{-1}g^s$, where $g\in G$ and $s\in S$, so that $[G,S]$ is the subgroup generated by $I_G(S)$. We prove that if $G$ is a $p$-soluble finite group with a Sylow $p$-subgroup $P$ such that any subgroup generated by a subset of $I_G(P)$ is $r$-generated, then $[G,P]$ has $r$-bounded rank. We produce examples showing that such a result does not hold without the assumption of $p$-solubility. Instead, we prove that if a finite group $G$ has a Sylow $p$-subgroup $P$ such that (a) any subgroup generated by a subset of $I_G(P)$ is $r$-generated, and (b) for any $x\in I_G(P)$, any subgroup generated by a subset of $I_G(x)$ is $r$-generated, then $[G,P]$ has $r$-bounded rank. We also prove that if $G$ is a finite group such that for every prime $p$ dividing $|G|$ for any Sylow $p$-subgroup $P$, any subgroup generated by a subset of $I_G(P)$ can be generated by $r$ elements, then the derived subgroup $G'$ has $r$-bounded rank. As an important tool in the proofs, we prove the following result, which is also of independent interest: if a finite group $G$ admits a group of coprime automorphisms $A$ such that any subgroup generated by a subset of $I_G(A)$ is $r$-generated, then the rank of $[G,A]$ is $r$-bounded.