A note on central automorphisms of groups (Q1195006)

An automorphism \(\theta\) of a group \(G\) is said to be central if it acts trivially on the factor group \(G/Z(G)\). The author proves that for an automorphism \(\theta\) of a group \(G\) the following conditions are equivalent: (a) \(\theta\) is a central automorphism. (b) \([g,g^ \theta] = 1\) for every \(g \in G\) and \(\langle\theta\rangle\) is normalized by the group of inner automorphisms of \(G\). (c) \([g,g^ \theta] = 1\) and \(\langle[g,\theta]\rangle\) is a normal subgroup of \(G\) for every \(g \in G\). As an application of this theorem, a new proof is given of \textit{C. D. H. Cooper}'s result stating that every power automorphism of a group is central [Math. Z. 107, 335-356 (1968; Zbl 0169.338)].