Versal extensions and automorphisms of free nilpotent groups (Q1599596)

If \(L\) is a free group of finite rank \(m\) and \(\Gamma_k\) is the \(k\)-th term of its lower central series, then since \(\Gamma_k\) is a characteristic subgroup each automorphism of \(L\) induces an automorphism on \(L/\Gamma_k\) and so there is a homomorphism \(\phi_k\colon\Aut L\to\Aut N_k\), where \(N_k=L/\Gamma_k\). (Here in the author's notation \(\Gamma_0=L\) and \(\Gamma_{k+1}=[L,\Gamma_k]\) for \(k\geq 0\).) For \(k=1,2\) the homomorphism \(\phi_k\) is an epimorphism. The main theorem of this paper (Theorem 1) states that if \(L\) is free of rank \(2n\geq 2\), then the epimorphism \(\phi_1\colon\Aut L\to\Aut N_1\) does not split. Note that Theorem 2 has been proved previously by the reviewer [in \textit{S. Andreadakis}, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 15, 239-268 (1965; Zbl 0135.04502)].