Finite 3-groups of class 3 whose elements commute with their automorphic images. (Q707965)

The authors answer a problem posed by A. Caranti in the Kourovka Notebook. Various technical considerations indicate that the problem reduces to the construction of a particular finite 3-group. They construct (and use in the process a lot of computer power combined with various algorithms for dealing with \(p\)-groups and their automorphisms) a group \(P\) of order \(3^{84}\), having class 3 and such that \(\Aut(P)=\text{Inn}(P)\Aut_c(P)\), where \(\Aut_c(P)\) is the group of central automorphisms. In particular, for every automorphism \(\alpha\in\Aut(P)\) and for every \(x\in P\) the equality \(xx^\alpha=x^\alpha x\) holds, therefore \(P\) is what is called an A-group. The novelty consists in the fact that the class of \(P\) is exactly 3 -- this was the gist of Caranti's question.