Centralizers of coprime automorphisms of finite groups. (Q2014992)

Let \(A\) be an elementary Abelian \(p\)-group of order \(p^k\) of rank \(k\geq 3\) acting on a finite \(p'\)-group \(G\). It is proved that (a) if \(\gamma_{k-2}(C_G(a))\) is nilpotent of class at most \(c\) for every \(a\in A\setminus\{1\}\), then \(\gamma_{k-2}(G)\) is nilpotent of \((c,k,p)\)-bounded class, and (b) if, for some \(d\leq\log_2(k-2)\), the \(d\)-th derived subgroup \(C_G(a)^{(d)}\) is nilpotent of class at most \(c\) for every \(a\in A\setminus\{1\}\), then \(G^{(d)}\) is nilpotent of \((c,k,p)\)-bounded class. This confirms a conjecture of the second author [in Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 129, No. 12, 3479-3484 (2001; Zbl 0990.20015)], where these results were proved for \(C_G(a)\) and \(G\), and \(C_G(a)^{(1)}\) and \(G^{(1)}\), respectively. (Earlier, J.~N.~Ward derived nilpotency of \(G\) (or, respectively, \(G^{(1)}\)) from the nilpotency of \(C_G(a)\) (or \(C_G(a)^{(1)}\)) for every \(a\in A\setminus\{1\}\) without bounds for the nilpotency class.) In the proofs, reduction to soluble case follows by Glauberman's signalizer functor theorem; then the authors perform reduction to nilpotent groups. In the main case of nilpotent group \(G\), the analogous Lie ring results of the second author [loc. cit.] are combined with the technique of the authors' paper [J. Algebra 342, No. 1, 161-174 (2011; Zbl 1254.20019)].