On the exponent conjecture of Schur

Abstract

It is a longstanding conjecture that for a finite group $G$, the exponent of the second homology group $H_2(G,\mathbb{Z})$ divides the exponent of $G$. In this paper, we prove this conjecture for $p$-groups of class at most $p$, finite nilpotent groups of odd exponent and of nilpotency class 5, $p$-central metabelian $p$-groups, and groups considered by L. E . Wilson in \cite{LEW}. Moreover, we improve several bounds given by various authors. We achieve most of our results using an induction argument.

32 pages, Version 3. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1906.06918