Cohomology of \(\Aut(F_n)\) in the \(p\)-rank two case (Q5931464)

The main result of the paper is a calculation of the Farrell cohomology of the automorphism group of the free group \(F_n\) of rank \(n=2(p-1)\), with coefficients in the integers localized at the odd prime \(p\). Such a calculation has been given by \textit{H. H. Glover} and \textit{G. Mislin} for \(n=p-1\) and \(p\) [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 153, No. 1, 45-63 (2000; Zbl 0986.20050)], and by Chen for \(n=p+1\) and \(p+2\); in these cases the maximal \(p\)-subgroups of the automorphism groups have \(p\)-rank one. The present paper gives the first calculation for higher \(p\)-rank. The main tools are Brown's ``normalizer spectral sequence'', a modification of Krstic and Vogtmann's proof of the contractibility of fixed point sets for outer space, the determination of normalizers and their fixed point sets of finite \(p\)-subgroups of \(\Aut F_n\) and a modification of the degree theorem of Hatcher and Vogtmann. In an appendix to the paper, implications are discussed for the usual cohomology of the automorphism groups of free groups, for the Farrell cohomology in the low rank cases \(n<2(p-1)\), as well as explicit calculations for the case \(p=3\).