Free group outer automorphisms were shown by Bestvina and Randell to have fixed subgroups whose rank is bounded in terms of the rank of the underlying group. We consider the case where this upper bound is achieved and obtain combinatorial results about such outer automorphisms thus extending the work of Collins and Turner. We go on to show that such automorphisms can be represented by certain graph of group isomorphisms called Dehn Twists and also solve the conjuagacy problem in a restricted case, thus reproducing the work of Cohen and Lustig, but with different methods. We rely heavily on the relative train tracks of Bestvina and Randell and in fact go on to use an analogue of these for free product automorphisms developed by Collins and Turner. We prove an index theorem for such automorphisms which counts not only the group elements which are fixed but also the points which are fixed at infinity - the infinite reduced words. Two applications of this theorem are considered, first to irreducible free group automorphisms and then to the action of an automorphism on the boundary of a hyperbolic group. We reduce the problem of counting the number of points fixed on the. boundary to the case where the hyperbolic group is indecomposable and provide an easy application to virtually free groups.

For various values of n and m we investigate homomorphisms from Out(F_n) to Out(F_m) and from Out(F_n) to GL_m(K), i.e. the free and linear representations of Out(F_n) respectively. By means of a series of arguments revolving around the representation theory of finite symmetric subgroups of Out(F_n) we prove that each homomorphism from Out(F_n) to GL_m(K) factors through the natural map p_n from Out(F_n) to GL(H_1(F_n,Z)) = GL_n(Z) whenever n=3, m < 7 and char(K) is not an element of {2,3}, and whenever n>5, m< n(n+1)/2 and char(K) is not an element of {2,3,...,n+1}. We also construct a new infinite family of linear representations of Out(F_n) (where n > 2), which do not factor through p_n. When n is odd these have the smallest dimension among all known representations of Out(F_n) with this property. Using the above results we establish that the image of every homomorphism from Out(F_n) to Out(F_m) is finite whenever n=3 and n < m < 6, and of cardinality at most 2 whenever n > 5 and n < m < n(n-1)/2. We further show that the image is finite when n(n-1)/2 -1 < m < n(n+1)/2. We also consider the structure of normal finite index subgroups of Out(F_n). If N is such then we prove that if the derived subgroup of the intersection of N with the Torelli subgroup T_n < Out(F_n) contains some term of the lower central series of T_n then the abelianisation of N is finite.

Neste trabalho, estudamos Loops de Código. Para este estudo, introduzimos os loops de código a partir de códigos pares e depois, provamos que loops de código de posto $n$ podem ser caracterizados como imagem homomórfica de certos loops de Moufang livres com n geradores. Além disso, introduzimos o conceito de vetores característicos associados a um loop de código. Com os resultados da teoria estudada, classificamos todos os loops de código de posto 3 e 4, encontramos todos os grupos de automorfismos externos destes loops e, finalmente, determinamos todas as suas respectivas representações básicas. / This work is about code loops. For this study, we introduce the code loops from even codes and then we prove that code loops of rank n can be characterized as a homomorphic image of a certain free Moufang loops with $n$ generators. Moreover, we introduce the concept of characteristic vectors associated with code loops. With the results of this theory, we classify all the code loops of rank 3 and 4, we find all the groups of outer automorphisms of these loops and finally we determine all their basic representations.

Neste trabalho, estudamos Loops de Código. Para este estudo, introduzimos os loops de código a partir de códigos pares e depois, provamos que loops de código de posto $n$ podem ser caracterizados como imagem homomórfica de certos loops de Moufang livres com n geradores. Além disso, introduzimos o conceito de vetores característicos associados a um loop de código. Com os resultados da teoria estudada, classificamos todos os loops de código de posto 3 e 4, encontramos todos os grupos de automorfismos externos destes loops e, finalmente, determinamos todas as suas respectivas representações básicas. / This work is about code loops. For this study, we introduce the code loops from even codes and then we prove that code loops of rank n can be characterized as a homomorphic image of a certain free Moufang loops with $n$ generators. Moreover, we introduce the concept of characteristic vectors associated with code loops. With the results of this theory, we classify all the code loops of rank 3 and 4, we find all the groups of outer automorphisms of these loops and finally we determine all their basic representations.