Solvable groups admitting an automorphism of prime power order whose centralizer is small (Q1076140)

It is well known that if \(G\) is a finite soluble group admitting a fixed point free automorphism of prime power order \(p^ n\), then the Fitting length of \(G\) is at most \(n\), that is, \(G=F_ n(G)\), the \(n\)-th term of the Fitting series of \(G\). The author proves the following variations on this. Let \(p\) be a prime and \(G\) be a finite soluble \(p'\)-group admitting an automorphism of order \(p^ n\) with at most \(m\) fixed points. Theorem 1: If \(p\neq 2\), then \(| G: F_ n(G)|\) is bounded by a number depending only on \(p,n\) and \(m\). Theorem 2: If \(p=2\) and \(n\geq 2\), then \(| G:F_{2n-2}(G)|\) is bounded in terms of \(n\) and \(m\). The proof does not yield an explicit bound for the indices, and the fixed point free case thus is not a consequence of these results. The proofs have the same general flavour as the corresponding fixed point free results, but there are substantial technical differences. The theorems are proved by induction on \(n\). The main tool in the induction is the notion of an ''\(F\)-chain'', a certain chain of sections related to the Fitting series. The inductive step involves some detailed and technical representation theoretic results. The reviewer and \textit{V. Turau} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 102, 431--441 (1987; Zbl 0629.20007)] have recently shown that Theorem 1 remains true for \(p=2\), and have removed the coprimeness assumption.