Automorphismen von Cayleyalgebren über algebraischen Erweiterungen endlicher Körper ungerader Charakteristik. (Automorphisms of Cayley algebras over algebraic extensions of finite fields of odd characteristic) (Q750579)

The author treats the question which automorphisms of a (split) Cayley algebra over a finite field or an infinite algebraic extension of a finite field of odd characteristic are not expressible as the product of two involutory automorphisms. It turns out that such an automorphism has necessarily the minimal polynomial \((x-1)(x^ 2+x+1)^ 3.\) On the other hand, there are fields K where an automorphism which is not the product of two involutory automorphisms may have a minimal polynomial of the form \((x-1)p(x)\hat p(x)\) where \(p(x)=x^ 3-ax^ 2-bx-1\in K[x]\) is irreducible over K and \(\hat p(x)=x^ 3+bx^ 2+ax-1.\) Moreover, it is shown that the automorphism group of a Cayley algebra over an infinite algebraic extension field \(K'\) of a finite field of odd characteristic is bireflectional if and only if every polynomial of degree 3 in \(K'[x]\) is reducible.