On balanced automorphisms of abelian groups (Q6181988)

Let \(G\) be a finite abelian group written additively and let \(-\iota_{G} \in \mathrm{Aut}(G)\) be such that \(-\iota_{G}: G \rightarrow G \;\; g \mapsto -g\). An automorphism \(\phi \in \mathrm{Aut}(G)\) is balanced in \(g \in G\) if and only if \(\phi^{n}=-\iota_{G}\) for a suitable \(n \in \mathbb{N}\) and \(\langle g \langle \phi \rangle \rangle=G\). An automorphism \(\phi\) is balanced if and only if it is balanced in some \(g\) and the smallest \(n\in \mathbb{N}\) with the property \(\phi^{n}=\iota_{G}\) is called the semi-order of \(\phi\). If \(G\) is not an elementary abelian \(2\)-group, then the order of a balanced automorphism equals twice its semi-order. The notion of balanced automorphism was introduced in [\textit{M. Škoviera} and \textit{J. Širáň}, Discrete Math. 109, No. 1--3, 265--276 (1992; Zbl 0782.05028)] in order to study regular Cayley maps over finite groups. Motivated by the research of orientable Cayley maps, \textit{M. Conder} et al. in [J. Algebr. Comb. 25, No. 3, 259--283 (2007; Zbl 1121.05057)] posed the following question: Which abelian groups admit a balanced automorphism? In the paper under review, the author answers this question completely.