A group of generalized finitary automorphisms of an abelian group (Q516387)

For an abelian group \(A\) and an endomorphism \(\phi\) of \(A\), a subgroup \(H\) of \(A\) is \textit{\(\phi\)-inert} if the index \(|H+\phi H:H|\) is finite; this concept was considered in [\textit{D. Dikranjan} et al., J. Pure Appl. Algebra 219, No. 7, 2933--2961 (2015; Zbl 1355.20041)] for the study of the dynamical properties (namely, entropy) of \((A,\phi)\). In previous papers, the authors defined an endomorphism \(\phi\) of \(A\) to be \textit{inertial} if every subgroup of \(A\) is \(\phi\)-inert, and they studied the subring of the endomorphisms ring of \(A\) consisting of all inertial endomorphisms of \(A\). Moreover, in [the authors, Rend. Semin. Mat. Univ. Padova 127, 213--233 (2012; Zbl 1254.20041)] they considered the subgroup \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) of \(\mathrm{Aut}(A)\) generated by all inertial automorphisms of \(A\), and proved that \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) is locally finite-by-abelian. In the present paper, the study of the structure of \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) is pushed further. First observe that \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) contains the subgroup \(\mathrm{FAut}(A)\) of \(\mathrm{Aut}(A)\) of all \textit{finitary automorphisms} \(\gamma\) of \(A\) (i.e., \(\gamma\) acts as the identity map on a subgroup of \(A\) of finite index), and \(\mathrm{FAut}(A)\) is known to be locally finite (see [\textit{B. A. F. Wehrfritz}, J. Algebra Appl. 1, No. 4, 375--389 (2002; Zbl 1041.20040)]). Moreover, \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) contains the subgroup \(\mathrm{PAut}(A)\) of \(\mathrm{Aut}(A)\) of all \textit{power automorphisms} \(\eta\) of \(A\) (i.e., \(\eta(H)=H\) for every subgroup \(H\) of \(A\)). In case \(A\) is periodic, a complete description of \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) is given, in terms of \(\mathrm{FAut}(A)\) and \(\mathrm{PAut}(A)\); moreover, it turns out that \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) is abelian-by-locally finite. On the other hand, for \(p\) an odd prime, \(\mathrm{IAut}(\mathbb Z(p^\infty)\oplus\mathbb Z)\) is not locally nilpotent-by-locally finite, but for every abelian group \(A\), the group \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) is metabelian-by-locally finite; more precisely, \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)\) has a normal subgroup \(\Gamma\) such that \(\mathrm{IAut}(A)/\Gamma\) is locally finite and the derived subgroup \(\Gamma'\) is abelian and periodic, and all its subgroups are normal in \(\Gamma\).