Ordering finite groups by involvement

Abstract

In the study of locally finite varieties of groups it has often been illuminating to consider when a group A is a factor (i.e. quotient of a subgroup) of a group B. We write A ⋨ B to express this and say that A is involved in B. It follows from elementary isomorphism theorems that the relation ⋨ is a partial order on any set of finite groups. The conjecture that we consider in this paper (and to which we only give the beginning of an answer) is the following: