Undecidability of automorphism groups

We give a simple (and easy to apply) technique that gives the undecidability of the theory of many automorphism groups: Let G be a group of automorphisms of a structure. Suppose that is not the identity and has no non-singleton finite orbits. If the centraliser of g is transitive on the support of g and satisfies a further technical condition, then the subgroup generated by g is equal to the double centraliser of g. Thus if G contains such an element g that is conjugate to all its positive powers, then one can interpret addition and multiplication of natural numbers in the theory of G using the parameter g; consequently, G has undecidable theory. Received: 9 October 2000 / in final form: 2 October 2001 / Published online: 29 April 2002     

Class-Preserving Coleman Automorphisms of Finite Groups

 Let G be a finite group whose Sylow 2-subgroups are either cyclic, dihedral, or generalized quaternion. It is shown that a class-preserving automorphism of G of order a power of 2 whose restriction to any Sylow subgroup of G equals the restriction of some inner automorphism of G is necessarily an inner automorphism. Interest in such automorphisms arose from the study of the isomorphism problem for integral group rings, see [6, 7, 13, 14]. Received 30 September 2001; in revised form 10 December 2001     

Coleman automorphisms of finite groups and their minimal normal subgroups

In this paper, we show that all Coleman automorphisms of a finite group with self-central minimal non-trivial characteristic subgroup are inner; therefore the normalizer property holds for these groups. Using our methods we show that the holomorph and wreath product of finite simple groups, among others, have no non-inner Coleman automorphisms. As a further application of our theorems, we provide partial answers to questions raised by M. Hertweck and W. Kimmerle. Furthermore, we characterize the Coleman automorphisms of extensions of a finite nilpotent group by a cyclic p-group. Finally, we note that class-preserving Coleman automorphisms of p-power order of some nilpotent-by-nilpotent groups are inner, extending a result by J. Hai and J. Ge, where p is a prime number.     

Class-Preserving Coleman Automorphisms of Finite Groups

 Let G be a finite group whose Sylow 2-subgroups are either cyclic, dihedral, or generalized quaternion. It is shown that a class-preserving automorphism of G of order a power of 2 whose restriction to any Sylow subgroup of G equals the restriction of some inner automorphism of G is necessarily an inner automorphism. Interest in such automorphisms arose from the study of the isomorphism problem for integral group rings, see [6, 7, 13, 14].     

Almost fixed-point-free automorphisms of prime order

Let ϕ be an automorphism of prime order p of the group G with C _G (ϕ) finite of order n. We prove the following. If G is soluble of finite rank, then G has a nilpotent characteristic subgroup of finite index and class bounded in terms of p only. If G is a group with finite Hirsch number h, then G has a soluble characteristic subgroup of finite index in G with derived length bounded in terms of p and n only and a soluble characteristic subgroup of finite index in G whose index and derived length are bounded in terms of p, n and h only. Here a group has finite Hirsch number if it is poly (cyclic or locally finite). This is a stronger notion than that used in [Wehrfritz B.A.F., Almost fixed-point-free automorphisms of order 2, Rend. Circ. Mat. Palermo (in press)], where the case p = 2 is discussed.     

Finite extensions of free pro-P groups of rank at most two

For a pro-p groupG, containing a free pro-p open normal subgroup of rank at most 2, a characterization as the fundamental group of a connected graph of cyclic groups of order at mostp, and an explicit list of all such groups with trivial center are given. It is shown that any automorphism of a free pro-p group of rank 2 of coprime finite order is induced by an automorphism of the Frattini factor groupF/F ^* . Finally, a complete list of automorphisms of finite order, up to conjugacy in Aut(F), is given. Supported by an NSERC grant. Supported by the Austrian Science Foundation.     

An algorithmic construction of group automorphisms and the quantum Yang-Baxter equation

The structure group G of a non-degenerate symmetric set (X,S) is a Bieberbach and a Garside group. We describe a combinatorial method to compute explicitly a group of automorphisms of G and show this group admits a subgroup that preserves the Garside structure. In some special cases, we could also prove the group of automorphisms found is an outer automorphism group.     

一类中心循环的有限p-群的自同构群的研究

本文研究了一类中心循环的有限p-群G的自同构群.利用在G的导群上作用平凡的自同构以及环上的辛群和正交群,确定了G的自同构群的结构,这推广了Bornand的相应结果.     

Power automorphisms of finitep-groups

For a finite groupG letA(G) denote the group of power automorphisms, i.e. automorphisms normalizing every subgroup ofG. IfG is ap-group of class at mostp, the structure ofA (G) is shown to be rather restricted, generalizing a result of Cooper ([2]). The existence of nontrivial power automorphisms, however, seems to impose restrictions on thep-groupG itself. It is proved that the nilpotence class of a metabelianp-group of exponentp ² possessing a nontrival power automorphism is bounded by a function ofp. The “nicer” the automorphism—the lower the bound for the class. Therefore a “type” for power automorphisms is introduced. Several examples ofp-groups having large power automorphism groups are given.     

w-Divisoriality in Polynomial Rings

We characterize all finite p-groups G of order p ⁿ (n ≤ 6), where p is a prime for n ≤ 5 and an odd prime for n = 6, such that the center of the inner automorphism group of G is equal to the group of central automorphisms of G.     

Weakly power automorphisms of groups

An automorphism α of a group G is called a weakly power automorphism if it maps every non-periodic subgroup of G onto itself. The aim of this paper is to investigate the behavior of weakly power automorphisms. In particular, among other results, it is proved that all weakly power automorphisms of a soluble non-periodic group G of derived length at most 3 are power automorphisms, i.e. they fix all subgroups of G. This result is best possible, as there exists a soluble non-periodic group of derived length 4 admitting a weakly power automorphism, which is not a power automorphism.     

On central automorphisms that fix the centre elementwise

Let G be a group and let Aut _c (G) be the group of central automorphisms of G. Let be the set of all central automorphisms of G fixing Z(G) elementwise. In this paper we prove that if G is a finite p-group, then = Inn(G) if and only if G is abelian or G is nilpotent of class 2 and Z(G) is cyclic. This work was supported in part by the Center of Excellence for Mathematics, University of Isfahan, Iran. Received: 30 October 2006     

On Generators of the Tame Automorphism Group of Free Metabelian Lie Algebras

We prove that the tame automorphism group TAut(M _n ) of a free metabelian Lie algebra M _n in n variables over a field k is generated by a single nonlinear automorphism modulo all linear automorphisms if n ≥ 4 except the case when n = 4 and char(k) ≠ 3. If char(k) = 3, then TAut(M ₄) is generated by two automorphisms modulo all linear automorphisms. We also prove that the tame automorphism group TAut(M ₃) cannot be generated by any finite number of automorphisms modulo all linear automorphisms.     

On orbits of automorphism groups II

Let G be a finite group, let A be a group of automorphisms of G and let C_G(A) denote the subgroup of fixed points of A in G. If the order of C_G(A) is coprime to the number of orbits of A in G, then C_G(A) is contained in the autocommutator subgroup [G, A]. The notion of class-avoiding automorphism is used to extend theorems of J. Thompson and P. Rowley. Received: 3 November 2008, Revised: 1 December 2008     

Uniquely factorizable elements and solvability of finite groups

In a finite group G every element can be factorized in such a way that there is one factor for each prime divisor p of | G |, and the order of this factor is p^α for some integer α ≧ 0. We define g ∈G to be uniquely factorizable if it has just one such factorization (whose factors must be pairwise commuting). We consider the existence of uniquely factorizable elements and its relation to the solvability of the group. We prove that G is solvable if and only if the set of all uniquely factorizable elements of G is the Fitting subgroup of G. We also prove various sufficient conditions for the non-existence of uniquely factorizable elements in non-solvable groups. Received: 9 June 2005     

Commutative semigroups with few invariant congruences

Simple objects in the class of commutative semigroups with a group of automorphisms are studied. Among others, the following result is proven: Let S be a semilattice possessing no smallest element and such that S is simple over a commutative automorphism group G . Then (up to isomorphism) S is a subchain of the real line R , G is a subgroup of R(+) and (Theorem 8.4). October 15, 1999     

On automorphisms of some finite <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-groups

We give a sufficient condition on a finite p-group G of nilpotency class 2 so that Aut _c (G) = Inn(G), where Aut _c (G) and Inn(G) denote the group of all class preserving automorphisms and inner automorphisms of G respectively. Next we prove that if G and H are two isoclinic finite groups (in the sense of P. Hall), then Aut _c (G) ≃ Aut _c (H). Finally we study class preserving automorphisms of groups of order p ⁵, p an odd prime and prove that Aut _c (G) = Inn(G) for all the groups G of order p ⁵ except two isoclinism families.     

Automorphisms with only infinite orbits on non-algebraic elements

 This paper generalizes results of F. K?rner from [4] where she established the existence of maximal automorphisms (i.e. automorphisms moving all non-algebraic elements). An ω-maximal automorphism is an automorphism whose powers are maximal automorphisms. We prove that any structure has an elementary extension with an ω-maximal automorphism. We also show the existence of ω-maximal automorphisms in all countable arithmetically saturated structures. Further we describe the pairs of tuples (ˉa,ˉb) for which there is an ω-maximal automorphism mapping ˉa to ˉb. Received: 12 December 2001 / Published online: 10 October 2002 Supported by the ``Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture' Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): Primary: 03C50; Secondary: 03C57 Key words or phrases: Automorphism – Recursively saturated structure     

Free actions of virtually FC-groups

If an infinite group G admits a free action by a group of automorphisms A which is virtually an FC-group and which has only finitely many orbits, then G is isomorphic to the additive group of a field and the action is that of a group of semilinear transformations. Received: 21 February 2005