Prime powers as conjugacy class lengths of π-elements

Abstract

Let G be a finite group and π an arbitrary set of primes. We investigate the structure of G when the lengths of the conjugacy classes of its π-elements are prime powers. Under this condition, we show that such lengths are either powers of just one prime or exactly {1, q a , r b }, with q and r two distinct primes lying in π and a , b > 0. In the first case, we obtain certain properties of the normal structure of G , and in the second one, we provide a characterisation of the structure of G .