Adjoint groups of \(p\)-nil rings and \(p\)-group automorphisms. (Q2016120)

Let \(N\) be an Abelian normal subgroup of the group \(G\). \textit{H. Laue} [J. Algebra 96, 532-547 (1985; Zbl 0573.20028)] proved that there is an isomorphism between the monoid \(\mathrm{End}_N(G)\) of the endomorphisms of \(G\) that leave \(N\) invariant, and induce the identity on \(G/N\), and the adjoint monoid of the ring \(\mathrm{Der}(G,N)\). The latter set consists of the derivations of \(G\) into \(N\), and becomes a ring under addition and composition; the adjoint monoid has as operation the circle \(x\circ y=x+y+xy\). Laue's result has proved very useful in investigating automorphisms of groups, in particular finite \(p\)-groups. The paper under review follows up Laue's ideas. The authors define a ring \(R\) to be left (right) \(p\)-nil, where \(p\) is an odd prime, if every element of additive order \(p\) is a left (right) annihilator. They show among others that the power structure of the adjoint group of a left or right \(p\)-nil ring is very close to that of the additive group of the ring. They then apply their results to the study of automorphism groups of finite \(p\)-groups. A typical result is that if \(G\) is a finite \(p\)-group in which the center is contained in the Frattini subgroup, then the group of central automorphisms, that is, those automorphisms that induce the identity on the central quotient \(G/Z(G)\), has nilpotence class at most \(\min\{r,s\}\), where \(p^r\) is the exponent of the Abelianization \(G/G'\), and \(p^s\) is the exponent of the center.