Computing subgroups invariant under a set of automorphisms (Q1283197)

This paper describes an algorithm to determine the conjugacy classes of subgroups invariant under a given set of automorphisms, in a given finite solvable group. Even when the set of automorphisms is trivial this is a new method for computing (up to conjugacy) all subgroups of a solvable group. The author calls his algorithm ``eae'' for elementary abelian extension, as his algorithm constructs the subgroups by stepping down a normal series with elementary abelian factors. This is different from the well-known ``cyclic extension'' method for constructing all subgroups from the bottom up. The ``eae'' algorithm has been implemented in GAP and this paper includes some runtimes showing that it is often considerably faster than the cyclic extension method in computing the subgroup lattice for large groups. Furthermore it can be used to efficiently compute the subgroups invariant under certain automorphisms in some cases where the total number of subgroups is so large that computing all of them would be impractical.