Centers of Sylow subgroups and automorphisms (Q2218717)

The aim of this paper is to prove that if \(p\) is an odd prime, \(L\) is a finite group with no non-trivial normal \(p'\)-subgroup, and \(a\) is an automorphism of \(L\) whose order is a power of \(p\) centralising a Sylow \(p\)-subgroup of \(L\), then \(a\) is an inner automorphism of \(L\) (Theorem 1.1). This generalises a result of \textit{F. Gross} [J. Algebra 77, 202--233 (1982; Zbl 0489.20019)] for groups that, in addition, have no non-trivial normal \(p\)-subgroup. The paper presents two different proofs of Theorem 1.1. As a consequence of this result, if \(p\) is a prime number, \(G\) is a finite group with \(O_{p'}(G)=1\), and \(P\) is a Sylow \(p\)-subgroup of \(G\), then the centre of \(P\) is contained in the generalised Fitting subgroup of \(G\) (Corollary 1.2).