Actions of nilpotent groups on nilpotent groups (Q7006042)

This note examines group actions where both the acting group \(J\) and the group \(N\) being acted upon are finite and nilpotent. Using tools from non-abelian group cohomology, the author establishes a primary decomposition theorem for the cohomology set \(H^1(J, N)\): it splits as a product \(\prod_{p \in D} H^1(J_p, N)^{J_p'}\), where \(J_p\) is a Sylow \(p\)-subgroup of \(J\), \(J_p'\) the corresponding Hall \(p'\)-subgroup and \(D\) the set of common prime divisors of \(|J|\) and \(|N|\). This result generalizes the known decomposition in the abelian case and sharpens earlier criteria on the conjugacy of nilpotent complements, notably those due to \textit{G. O. Losey} and \textit{S. E. Stonehewer} [Q. J. Math., Oxf. II. Ser. 30, 183--190 (1979; Zbl 0408.20013)].\N\NAs an application, the paper proves the following fixed point result in the style of Glauberman, which extends to the non-coprime nilpotent setting (Theorem 4): Let \(J\) and \(N\) be finite nilpotent groups with \(J\) acting on \(N\) via automorphisms. Suppose the semidirect product \(N \rtimes J\) acts on a non-empty set \(\Omega\), such that the action of \(N\) is transitive. If, for each prime \(p\), a Sylow \(p\)-subgroup of \(J\) fixes some element of \(\Omega\), then \(J\) itself fixes an element of \(\Omega\).\N\NThe argument relies on cohomological characterizations of complements in semidirect products and on careful reductions via Sylow-theoretic control. The methods are grounded in the classical framework of Galois cohomology as developed by \textit{J.-P. Serre} [Galois cohomology. Transl. from the French by Patrick Ion. 2nd printing. Berlin: Springer (2002; Zbl 1004.12003)], but extended to non-abelian and non-coprime settings.