Finite \(p\)-groups of class 3 have noninner automorphisms of order \(p\). (Q1943370)

The authors quote Problem 4.13 from the 16-th edition of the Kourovka Notebook [2006; Zbl 1084.20001], which is asking about the existence of non-inner automorphisms of order \(p\) of a nonabelian finite \(p\)-group. This is an old and hard problem and a glance at the paper under review shows why: the (affirmative) answer for the special case when \(G\) is nilpotent of class 3 requires a long and technical proof. The authors also prove that the non-inner automorphisms of order \(p\) can be chosen such that they act trivially on the Frattini subgroup when \(p\) is odd. For \(p=2\) there are obstructions to this last extra condition of fixing the Frattini subgroup, but still, non-inner automorphisms of order \(2\) fixing the center do exist.