14.65 (1999)

Open

(Well-known problem). For a finite group $G$ let $\rho(G)$ denote the set of prime numbers dividing the order of some conjugacy class, and $\sigma(G)$ the maximum number of primes dividing the order of some conjugacy class. Is it true that $\lvert\rho(G)\rvert \leqslant 3\sigma(G)$?

A possible linear bound for $\lvert\rho(G)\rvert$ in terms of $\sigma(G)$ cannot be better than $3\sigma(G)$, since there is a family of groups $\{G_n\}$ such that $\lim_{n \to \infty} \lvert\rho(G_n)\rvert/\sigma(G_n) = 3$ (C. Casolo, S. Dolfi, Rend. Sem. Mat. Univ. Padova, 96 (1996), 121–130).

Progress

Comment of 2009: A quadratic bound was obtained in (A. Moretó, Int. Math. Res. Not., 2005, no. 54, 3375–3383), and a linear bound in (C. Casolo, S. Dolfi, J. Group Theory, 10, no. 5 (2007), 571–583).

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