Related papers: Normal $2$-coverings of the finite simple groups a…

We show that, if $w_1, \ldots , w_6$ are words which are not an identity of any (non-abelian) finite simple group, then $w_1(G)w_2(G) \cdots w_6(G) = G$ for all (non-abelian) finite simple groups $G$. In particular, for every word $w$,…

The normal covering number $\gamma(G)$ of a finite, non-cyclic group $G$ is the minimum number of proper subgroups such that each element of $G$ lies in some conjugate of one of these subgroups. We find lower bounds linear in $n$ for…

A 2-covering for a finite group $G$ is a set of proper subgroups of $G$ such that every pair of elements of $G$ is contained in at least one subgroup in the set. The minimal number of subgroups needed to 2-cover a group $G$ is called the…

For a finite non cyclic group $G$, let $\gamma(G)$ be the smallest integer $k$ such that $G$ contains $k$ proper subgroups $H_1,\dots,H_k$ with the property that every element of $G$ is contained in $H_i^g$ for some $i \in \{1,\dots,k\}$…

A group is small if it has countably many complete $n$-types over the empty set for each natural number n. More generally, a group $G$ is weakly small if it has countably many complete 1-types over every finite subset of G. We show here…

The normal covering number $\gamma(G)$ of a finite, non-cyclic group $G$ is the least number of proper subgroups such that each element of $G$ lies in some conjugate of one of these subgroups. We prove that there is a positive constant $c$…

Let $G$ be a finite almost simple group with socle $G_0$. In this paper we prove that whenever $G/G_0$ is abelian, then there exists an abelian subgroup $A$ of $G$ such that $G=AG_0$. We propose a few applications of this structural…

Let v and w be nontrivial words in two free groups. We prove that, for all sufficiently large finite non-abelian simple groups G, there exist subsets C of v(G) and D of w(G) of size such that every element of G can be realized in at least…

The normal covering number $\gamma(G)$ of a finite group $G$ is the minimum number of proper subgroups whose conjugates cover the group. We give various estimates for $\gamma(S_n)$ and $\gamma(A_n)$ depending on the arithmetic structure of…

A finite group $G$ admits a normal $2$-covering if there exist two proper subgroups $H$ and $K$ with $G=\bigcup_{g\in G}H^g\cup\bigcup_{g\in G}K^g$. For determining inductively the finite groups admitting a normal $2$-covering, it is…

Let $G$ be a finite simple group. By a theorem of Guralnick and Kantor, $G$ contains a conjugacy class $C$ such that for each non-identity element $x \in G$, there exists $y \in C$ with $G = \langle x,y\rangle$. Building on this deep…

Given a finite non-cyclic group $G$, call $\sigma(G)$ the smallest number of proper subgroups of $G$ needed to cover $G$. Lucchini and Detomi conjectured that if a nonabelian group $G$ is such that $\sigma(G) < \sigma(G/N)$ for every…

A subgroup of a finite group G is said to be second maximal if it is maximal in every maximal subgroup of G that contains it. A question which has received considerable attention asks: can every positive integer occur as the number of the…

Garonzi and Lucchini~\cite{GL} explored finite groups $G$ possessing a normal $2$-covering, where no proper quotient of $G$ exhibits such a covering. Their investigation offered a comprehensive overview of these groups, delineating that…

A graph is normal if it admits a clique cover $\mathcal C$ and a stable set cover $\mathcal S$ such that each clique in $\mathcal C$ and each stable set in $\mathcal S$ have a vertex in common. The pair $(\mathcal{C,S})$ is a normal cover…

In our previous paper, we gave a complete list of the finite non-abelian simple groups whose holomorph contains a solvable regular subgroup. In this paper, we refine our previous work by considering all finite almost simple groups. In…

We say that finite groups are isospectral if they have the same sets of orders of elements. It is known that every nonsolvable finite group $G$ isospectral to a finite simple group has a unique nonabelian composition factor, that is, the…

Let G be a finite group and cd(G) denote the set of complex irreducible character degrees of G. In this paper, we prove that if G is a finite group and H is an almost simple group whose socle is a sporadic simple group H0 such that cd(G) =…

We define the cover number of a graph $G$ by a graph class $\mathcal P$ as the minimum number of graphs of class $\mathcal P$ required to cover the edge set of $G$. Taking inspiration from a paper by Harary, Hsu and Miller, we find an exact…

For a non-cyclic finite group $G$, let $\gamma(G)$ denote the smallest number of conjugacy classes of proper subgroups of $G$ needed to cover $G$. Bubboloni, Praeger and Spiga, motivated by questions in number theory, have recently…