On automorphisms of A-groups

Let G be an A-group (i.e. a group in which xx ^α  = x ^α x for all and let denote the subgroup of Aut(G) consisting of all automorphisms that leave invariant the centralizer of each element of G. The quotient is an elementary abelian 2-group and natural analogies exist to suggest that it might always be trivial. It is shown that, in fact, for any odd prime p and any positive integer r, there exist infinitely many finite pA-groups G for which has rank r. Received: 23 March 2008, Revised: 20 May 2008