On minimal p-degrees in 2-transitive permutation groups

Suppose G is a transitive permutation group on a finite set W\mit\Omega of n points and let p be a prime divisor of |G||G|. The smallest number of points moved by a non-identity p-element is called the minimal p-degree of G and is denoted m_p (G). ¶ In the article the minimal p-degrees of various 2-transitive permutation groups are calculated. Using the classification of finite 2-transitive permutation groups these results yield the main theorem, that m_p(G) 3 (p-1)/(p+1)] ·|W|m_{p}(G) \geq {{p-1} \over {p+1}} \cdot |\mit\Omega | holds, if Alt(W) \nleqq G {\rm Alt}(\mit\Omega ) \nleqq G .¶Also all groups G (and prime divisors p of |G||G|) for which m_p(G) ￡ (p-1)/(p)] ·|W|m_{p}(G)\le {{p-1}\over{p}} \cdot |\mit\Omega | are identified.