Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 May 2020
Let $G$ be a finite group and
$p$ be an odd prime. We show that if
$\mathbf{O}_{p}(G)=1$ and
$p^{2}$ does not divide every irreducible
$p$-Brauer character degree of
$G$, then
$|G|_{p}$ is bounded by
$p^{3}$ when
$p\geqslant 5$ or
$p=3$ and
$\mathsf{A}_{7}$ is not involved in
$G$, and by
$3^{4}$ if
$p=3$ and
$\mathsf{A}_{7}$ is involved in
$G$.
The project was supported by NSFC (11671063), the Natural Science Foundation of CSTC (cstc2018jcyjAX0060) and a grant from the Simons Foundation (No. 499532).