On the automorphism group of extraspecial 2-groups (Q1841835)

Extraspecial 2-groups and their automorphism groups have been studied already extensively, but the author enriches the theory by some interesting results. To mention only two, denote by \(q=q^+_{2n}\) resp. \(q=q^-_{2n}\) the quadratic forms (differing by their Witt index) corresponding to the two extraspecial groups \(E(q)\) of order \(2^{2n+1}\) and put \(A(q):=\Aut(E(q))\). As is well-known, \(\text{Out}(E(q)):=O(q)\) is the orthogonal group \(O^+_{2n}(2)\). Without using the fact, that \(\text{Out}(O(q))=1\) (except in one case), in Theorem 1 it is proved among others that \(\text{Out}(A(q))=1\) unless \(q=q^+_2\) or \(q=q^+_6\), in which cases its order equals 2. Theorem 2 states that the Schur multiplier \(M(A(q))\) is an elementary 2-group. The exact order is obtained via the natural map \(M(A(q))\to M(O(q))\), which is shown to be an epimorphism, whose kernel always has order 2 except for the case \(q=q^+_6\), where it is 4. The wanted order then follows by a result of Steinberg, saying that \(M(O(q))=1\) except in a few cases. Other results concern the investigation of all group extensions \(1\to E(q)\to G\to O(q)\to 1\), of the representation groups of \(A(q)\) (there exist just two) and of so-called minimum degree representations.