Structure and automorphisms of some cyclic extensions of free groups (Q7308534)

The paper gives an explicit realization of the torus knot group \[T_{p,q}=\langle a,b\mid a^p=b^q\rangle\] where \(p\) and \(q\) are coprime integers with \(p>q>1\), as a cyclic extension \(F_n\rtimes_\Phi\mathbb Z\), with \(n=(p-1)(q-1)\). Here \(F_n\) is freely generated by the elements \(k_{ij}=[a^i,b^j]\), for \(0<i<p\) and \(0<j<q\), and an automorphism representing \(\Phi\) is obtained by conjugation by \(ab\).\N\NThe construction starts from the quotient \[T_{p,q}/Z(T_{p,q})\cong\mathbb Z_p*\mathbb Z_q\] and identifies the commutator subgroup with a free group of rank \((p-1)(q-1)\). The epimorphism \(\chi:T_{p,q}\to\mathbb Z\) given by \(\chi(a)=q\) and \(\chi(b)=p\) has kernel isomorphic to \(F_n\), and the corresponding outer automorphism has order \(pq\). The argument also uses the fact that finite-order outer automorphisms generating the same cyclic subgroup give isomorphic cyclic extensions.\N\NFinally, using the known description of the outer automorphism group of a torus knot group, the paper obtains \(\mathrm{Out}(F_n\rtimes_\Phi\mathbb Z)\cong\mathbb Z_2\).