On ambivalent groups (Q6919093)

A group \(G\) is said to be ambivalent iff every element of its is real, that is, conjugate in \(G\) to its own inverse. The authors collect some information on ambivalent groups, but their main aim is to correct some imprecise statements in [\textit{I. Armeanu}, İstanb. Üniv. Fen Fak. Mat. Derg. 54, 49--50 (1997; Zbl 0907.20030)].\N\NAfter checking that a finite Frobenius group is ambivalent if and only if its Frobenius complement is, the authors determine the structure of some types of ambivalent Frobenius complements. The main results are as follows. Let \(G\) be a finite Frobenius group with Frobenius complement \(H\). Then:\N\NCorollary 4.4: if \(G\) is soluble, then \(G\) is ambivalent but not \(2\)\nobreakspace-nilpotent if and only if \(H\) can be presented as \(\langle p,q,b,r\mid p^4=b^{3n}=1, p^2=q^2=(pq)^2=r^2,p^q=p^{-1},p^b=q,q^b=pq,p^r=qp,q^r=q^{-1},b^r=b^{-1}\rangle\) for some positive integer \(n\) (such an \(H\) is factorised as \(H=Q\langle b\rangle\), where \(Q\) is a quaternion group of order \(16\) and \(3\) divides the order of \(b\)).\N\NTheorem 4.5: if \(G\) is not soluble, then \(G\) is ambivalent if and only if \(H\) is isomorphic to either \(\mathrm{SL}(2,5)\) or a certain, explicitely described, non-split extension of the latter by a group of order \(2\) (the conformal special unitary group on the field of order \(25\)).\N\NSuitable examples are provided.\N\NUnfortunately, probably due to some glitch in the editorial process, at the time of writing this review the list of references in the article as published online is incomplete. In fact, it does not contain the following items which are actually cited in the paper: [\textit{G. Higman, B.H. Neumann and H. Neumann}, J. Lond. Math. Soc. 24, 247--254 (1949; Zbl 0034.30101); \textit{B. Huppert}, Endliche Gruppen. I. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1967; Zbl 0217.07201); \textit{D. Osin}, Ann. Math. (2) 172, No. 1, 1--39 (2010; Zbl 1203.20031)].