On the intersections of nilpotent subgroups in simple groups

Abstract: Let $G$ be a finite group and let $H_p$ be a Sylow $p$-subgroup of $G$. A very recent conjecture of Lisi and Sabatini asserts the existence of an element $x \in G$ such that $H_p \cap H_p^x$ is inclusion-minimal in the set ${H_p \cap H_p^g \,:\, g \in G}$ for every prime $p$. This has been proved in several special cases, including all sufficiently large symmetric and alternating groups. For a simple group $G$, in view of a theorem of Mazurov and Zenkov from 1996, the conjecture implies the existence of an element $x \in G$ with $H_p \cap H_p^x = 1$ for all $p$. In turn, this statement implies a conjecture of Vdovin from 2002, which asserts that if $G$ is simple and $H$ is a nilpotent subgroup, then $H \cap H^x = 1$ for some $x \in G$. In this paper, we adopt a probabilistic approach to prove the Lisi-Sabatini conjecture for all non-alternating simple groups. By combining this with earlier work of Kurmazov on nilpotent subgroups of alternating groups, we complete the proof of Vdovin's conjecture. Moreover, by combining our proof for groups of Lie type with earlier work of Zenkov on alternating and sporadic groups, we are able to establish a stronger form of Vdovin's conjecture: if $G$ is simple and $A,B$ are nilpotent subgroups, then $A \cap B^x = 1$ for some $x \in G$. In addition, we study the asymptotic probability that a random pair of Sylow $p$-subgroups in a simple group of Lie type intersect trivially, complementing recent work of Diaconis et al. and Eberhard on symmetric and alternating groups.