WHEN IS THE AUTOMORPHISM GROUP OF A VIRTUALLY POLYCYCLIC GROUP VIRTUALLY POLYCYCLIC? (Q4458961)

Let \(G\) be a polycyclic-by-finite group. It is well-known that \(\Aut G\) is finitely generated and embeds in \(\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\), for some \(n\in\mathbb{N}\), so either \(\Aut G\) is polycyclic-by-finite or it contains a nonabelian free subgroup. In this paper the author explores the problem of deciding whether or not \(\Aut G\) is polycyclic-by-finite without explicitly computing it. This is done by examining the module structure of a characteristic semisimple series of \(G\), a characteristic series whose factors are either finite or free Abelian and rationally semisimple. The main theorem, Theorem 1.2 (giving necessary and sufficient conditions for \(\Aut G\) to be polycyclic-by-finite for certain such groups \(G\)), generalizes recent work of \textit{W. Malfait} and \textit{A. Szczepański} [Compos. Math. 136, No. 1, 89-101 (2003; Zbl 1023.20026)], which was concerned with Bieberbach groups, and uses the same concept of an inhomogeneous \(\mathbb{R}\)-module. A free Abelian factor \(F\) of \(G\) is \(\mathbb{R}\)-inhomogeneous if, as a \(\mathbb{Q} G\)-module, \(F=F_1\oplus F_2\oplus\cdots\oplus F_r\), a direct sum of pairwise non-isomorphic irreducible modules, where each \(F_i\) either has Schur index 1 or is irreducible also as an \(\mathbb{R}\)-module. The following sufficient conditions always hold: If \(G\) is polycyclic-by-finite and if each Abelian factor in a characteristic semisimple series of \(G\) is \(\mathbb{R}\)-inhomogeneous then \(\Aut G\) is polycyclic-by-finite.