Coordinates and automorphisms of polynomial and free associative algebras of rank three. (Q1956523)

This paper is a survey about automorphisms of free associative and free polynomial (that is associative and commutative) algebras. The authors are mainly concerned with the automorphisms of \(K\langle x,y,z\rangle\) and \(K[x,y,z]\). It turned out that of great importance are automorphisms that fix one of the variables, say \(z\), so the authors deal with such automorphisms. They discuss a wide range of quite recent results in this area, and give ideas of most of the (non-obvious) proofs. Moreover there are very many open problems stated precisely, with the due comments concerning their origin and importance. The readers may also benefit from the extensive bibliography cited in the paper. The paper is well organized, and I am sure the specialists in the area will find it quite useful.