Isolated subgroups of finite abelian groups

Abstract

We say that a subgroup $H$ is isolated in a group $G$ if for every $x\in G$ we have either $x\in H$ or $⟨x⟩\cap H=1$. In this short note, we describe the set of isolated subgroups of a finite abelian group. The technique used is based on an interesting connection between isolated subgroups and the function sum of element orders of a finite group.