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Let $q=p^k$ for some prime $p$, and let $GL_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$ be the group of invertible matrices over the finite field of $q$ elements. If $\pi$ is the set of primes not equal to $p$, does $GL_n(\mathbb{F}_q)$ have a Hall $\pi$-subgroup? I've looked through a lot of the literature but cannot find an explicit answer to this very natural question.

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    $\begingroup$ Have you experimented with special cases like $n=2$ or $n=3$ for small values of $p$? The available subgroups are fairly limited then. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 5, 2014 at 14:50

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If ${\rm GL}(n,q)$ has a Hall $p^{\prime}$-subgroup, then by Dedekind's Lemma, all its parabolic subgroups would have such a Hall subgroup. Now for $n >2,$ ${\rm GL}(n,q)$ has a parabolic subgroup $P$ with unipotent radical $U$ such that $P/U \cong {\rm GL}(2,q) \times {\rm GL}(n-2,q).$ Now if $P$ has a Hall $p^{\prime}$-subgroup, so does $P/U,$ and so does every normal subgroup of $P/U.$ Hence whenever ${\rm GL}(2,q)$ does not have a Hall $p^{\prime}$-subgroup, the same is true for ${\rm GL}(n,q)$ for any $n \geq 3.$ This eliminates such a Hall subgroup for most (but not all) values of $q.$ A similar argument shows that whenever ${\rm GL}(3,q)$ does not have a Hall $p^{\prime}$-subgroup, the same is true for ${\rm GL}(n,q)$ for any $n \geq 4.$ From these two cases it is possible to list the rare cases where such a Hall subgroup exists (though it is necessary to check ${\rm GL}(4,2)$ as well when $q = 2$).

Later edit: To take care of the case $q =p >11,$ it was known to Galois that ${\rm PSL}(2,p)$ has no subgroup of index $p$ when $p >11,$ which implies that ${\rm GL}(2,p)$ has no Hall $p^{\prime}$-subgroup.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the response! I still have to work out why $GL(2,q)$ does not have such a Hall subgroup for most $q$, but this reduction of the problem is very helpful. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 5, 2014 at 15:43
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    $\begingroup$ for $n=2$ the paper `Computing Hall subgroups of finite groups', dx.doi.org/10.1112/S1461157012001039 by B.Eick and myself has a classification (Theorem 13) $\endgroup$
    – ahulpke
    Commented Nov 5, 2014 at 18:38
  • $\begingroup$ That certainly settles things, thanks for the link. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 5, 2014 at 19:39

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