Lifting nilpotent automorphisms and the (3.5)-theorem (Q1061848)

For a group \(G\), let \(\lambda_ k(G)\) denote the \(k\)th term of the lower central series of \(G\). If \(\Aut(G)\) is the automorphism group of \(G\), put \[ K(G,k)=\text{kernel}\{\Aut(G/\lambda_ k(G))\to\Aut(G/\lambda_{k-1}(G))\} \] and \[ K^*(G,k)=K(G,k)\cap\text{\,image}\{\Aut(G)\to \Aut(G/\lambda_ k(G))\}. \] Let \(F(n)\) denote the free group of rank \(n\) and \(\phi(n)\) the free metabelian group of rank \(n\). A theorem of Chein combined with a theorem of the author's yields the following, which is called the (3,5) Theorem: Any element of \(K(\phi(n),k)\) which lifts to an automorphism of \(\phi(n)\) also lifts to an automorphism of \(F(n)\) except when \(n=3\) and \(k=5\). Other results in this article include estimates for the ranks of the free abelian groups \(K^*(F(n),k)\) for all \(n\geq 3\) and \(k\geq 4\), and the exact determination of the ranks of \(K^*(F(n),4)\) for all \(n\geq 3\). The rank of \(K^*(F(n),4)\) is \(2n{n+1\choose n-2}{n+1\choose n-1}\).