Covering certain monolithic groups with proper subgroups

Abstract

Given a finite non-cyclic group $G$, call $\sigma(G)$ the least number of proper subgroups of $G$ needed to cover $G$. In this paper we give lower and upper bounds for $\sigma(G)$ for $G$ a group with a unique minimal normal subgroup $N$ isomorphic to $A_n^m$ where $n \geq 5$ and $G/N$ is cyclic. We also show that $\sigma(A_5 \wr C_2)=57$.