Fixed point subgroups of a supertight automorphism (Q7020458)

The author studies fixed-point subgroups of so-called supertight automorphisms in infinite simple groups of finite Morley rank. An automorphism \(\alpha\) of such a group \(G\) is called super-tight if every power \(\alpha^n\) is tight (i.e., its fixed-point subgroup generates every definable, connected, \(\alpha\)-invariant subgroup) and if the centralizers satisfy a strict nesting condition: for \(m \ne n\), \(m | n\), one has \(C_G(\alpha^m) < C_G(\alpha^n)\). A canonical example is the non-standard Frobenius automorphism of a Chevalley group over a non-standard pseudo-finite field.\N\NAssuming that each fixed-point subgroup \(C_G(\alpha^n)\) is pseudo-finite, the main result proves that their socles form a uniformly bounded-index subgroup and are simple Chevalley groups over pseudo-finite fields, with Sylow \(2\)-subgroups growing unboundedly with \(n\). These results reinforce the algebraic part of the super-tight programme, which aims to derive the Cherlin-Zilber conjecture from the model-theoretic behavior of such automorphisms.\N\NThe author also discusses the extent to which the classification of finite simple groups (CFSG) is used in the arguments. In particular, she proves that the identification of \(G\) in the case of Prüfer \(2\)-rank one can be achieved without relying on CFSG, using earlier results on small simple groups.