Automorphisms of automorphism groups of free groups (Q1579166)

The main result of the paper states that, for \(n\geq 3\), every automorphism of the outer automorphism group \(\text{Out}(F_n)\) of the free group \(F_n\) of rank \(n\) is an inner automorphism, or in other words that \(\text{Out}(\text{Out}(F_n))\) is the trivial group (and the same also for the automorphism group \(\Aut(F_n)\), a result obtained previously for this case by Dyer and Formanek by different methods). The result is motivated by the analogy between lattices in semisimple Lie groups on one hand, and mapping class groups of surfaces and automorphism groups of free groups on the other. Tits proved that all automorphisms of a spherical building stem from the underlying algebraic group; as a consequence, the outer automorphism group of any lattice in higher rank is finite. Ivanov proved that the natural map from the mapping class group to the group of automorphisms of the curve complex of a surface is an isomorphism which implies that the outer automorphism group of the mapping class group is finite. The present authors proved that the natural map from \(\text{Out}(F_n)\) to the group of automorphisms of outer space (as defined by Culler and Vogtmann) is an isomorphism. The main result of the present paper is proved by analyzing the action of \(\text{Out}(F_n)\) on outer space (whose points are marked finite graphs with fundamental group \(F_n\)) in the neighbourhood of ``roses'' (graphs with one vertex and \(n\) edges). The stabilizers of roses (isomorphic to the group of graph automorphisms of the rose) are characterized among the finite subgroups of \(\text{Out}(F_n)\) by their abstract isomophism type (these are also the maximal finite subgroups of \(\text{Out}(F_n)\)). This implies that, up to inner automorphisms, one can assume that an automorphism \(\Phi\) of \(\text{Out}(F_n)\) leaves invariant the stabilizer of the standard rose which, together with one other automorphism \(r\) of \(F_n\), generates \(\text{Out}(F_n)\). The result is proved by analyzing the action of \(\Phi\) on this stabilizer and the possibilities for \(\Phi(r)\).