On connected transversals to abelian subgroups and loop theoretical consequences

In this paper one of our questions is the following: Which finite abelian groups are (are not) isomorphic to inner mapping groups of loops? It is well known that if the inner mapping group of a finite loop Q is abelian, then Q is centrally nilpotent. The other question is: Which properties of abelian inner mapping groups imply the central nilpotency of class at most two of the loop? After reminding the reader of the known results we show new ones. To solve these problems we transform them into group theoretical problems, then using connected transversals we get some answer. Received: 1 December 2004; revised: 8 November 2005