Finite groups having unique proper characteristic subgroups. I

Abstract

It is well known that a characteristically-simple finite group, that is, a group having no characteristic subgroup other than itself and the identity subgroup, must be either simple or the direct product of a number of isomorphic simple groups. It was suggested to the author by Prof. Hall that finite groups possessing exactly one proper characteristic subgroup would repay attention. We shall call a finite group having a unique proper characteristic subgroup a ‘UCS group’. In the present paper we first give some results on direct products of isomorphic UCS groups, and then we consider in more detail one of the types of UCS groups which can exist, that consisting of groups whose orders are divisible by exactly two distinct primes.