Characterization by prime graph of PGL(2, pk) where p and k> 1 are odd

Abstract

Let G be a finite group. The prime graph Γ(G) of G is defined as follows. The vertices of Γ(G) are the primes dividing the order of G and two distinct vertices p, p′ are joined by an edge if there is an element in G of order pp′. In [G. Y. Chen et al., Recognition of the finite almost simple groups PGL2(q) by their spectrum, Journal of Group Theory, 10 (2007) 7185], it is proved that PGL(2, pk), where p is an odd prime and k > 1 is an integer, is recognizable by its spectrum. It is proved that if p > 19 is a prime number which is not a Mersenne or Fermat prime and Γ(G) = Γ(PGL(2, p)), then G has a unique nonabelian composition factor which is isomorphic to PSL(2, p). In this paper as the main result, we show that if p is an odd prime and k > 1 is an odd integer, then PGL(2, pk) is uniquely determined by its prime graph and so these groups are characterizable by their prime graphs. © 2010 World Scientific Publishing Company.