Non-inner automorphisms of order \(p\) in finite \(p\)-groups of coclass 3 (Q2407725)

A well-known conjecture of Berkovich asserts that every finite non-abelian \(p\)-group \(G\) has automorphisms of order \(p\) which are not inner automorphisms. The main result of the paper asserts that this conjecture is true if in addition \(G\) has coclass 3 and \(p\neq 3\). The proof is surprisingly long and technical; it uses many known results from literature to get a series of reductions and involves a technique of extending derivations to produce automorphisms. In the exceptional case \(p=3\), the authors mention that their techniques do not work.