A description of auto-fixed subgroups in a free group. (Q1879803)

The authors describe, in a fairly precise manner, the subgroups of a finitely generated free group which are the fixed subgroups of some automorphisms. The methods are those introduced by \textit{M. Bestvina} and \textit{M. Handel} [Ann. Math. (2) 135, No. 1, 1-51 (1992; Zbl 0757.57004)], to prove the Scott conjecture. If \(F\) is a free group of finite rank and \(\varphi\in\Aut F\), then the fixed subgroup \(\text{Fix\,}\varphi\) of \(\varphi\) is naturally defined by \(\text{Fix\,}\varphi=\{x\in F:x\varphi=x\}\). The final conclusions of the paper are contained in the main theorem which states: Let \(F\) be a non-trivial finitely generated free group and let \(\varphi\in\Aut(F)\) such that \(\text{Fix\,}\varphi\neq 1\). Then, there exist integers \(r,s\geq 0\), \(\varphi\)-invariant non-trivial subgroups \(K_1,\dots,K_r\leq F\), primitive elements \(y_1,\dots,y_s \in F\), a subgroup \(L\leq F\), and elements \(1\neq h_j'\in H_j=K_1*\cdots*K_r*\langle y_1,\dots,y_j\rangle\), \(j=0,\dots,s-1\), such that \[ F=K_1*\cdots*K_r*\langle y_1,\dots,y_s\rangle*L \] and \(y_j\varphi=h_{j-1}'y_j\) for \(j=1,\dots,s\); moreover, \[ \text{Fix\,}\varphi=\langle w_1,\dots,w_r,y^{-1}_1h_0y_1,\dots,y^{-1}_sh_{s-1}y_s\rangle \] for some non-proper powers \(1\neq w_i\in K_i\) and some \(1\neq h_j\in H_j\) such that \(h_j\varphi=h_j'h_jh^{-1}_{j'}\), \(i=1,\dots,r\), \(j=0,\dots,s-1\). The proof is rather long and is essentially by induction on the rank of \(F\) by considering several cases. The references list contains 18 items.