In this thesis we explore the problem of computing automorphisms of finite groups, eventually focusing on some group product constructions. Roughly speaking, the automorphism group of a group gives the nature of its internal symmetry. In general, determination of the automorphism group requires significant computational effort and it is advantageous to find situations in which this may be reduced.
The two main results give descriptions of the automorphism groups of finite direct products and split metacyclic p-groups. Given a direct product G = H x K where H and K have no common direct factor, we give the order and structure of Aut G in terms of Aut H, Aut K and the central homomorphism groups Hom (H, Z(K)) and Hom (K, Z(H)). A similar result is given for the the split metacyclic p-group, in the case where p is odd. Implementations of both of these results are given as functions for the computational algebra system GAP, which we use extensively throughout.
An account of the literature and relevant standard results on automorphisms is given. In particular we mention one of the more esoteric constructions, the automorphism tower. This is defined as the series obtained by repeatedly taking the automorphism group of some starting group G₀. There is interest as to whether or not this series terminates, in the sense that some group is reached that is isomorphic to its group of automorphisms. Besides a famous result of Wielandt in 1939, there has not been much further insight gained here. We make use of the technology to construct several examples, demonstrating their complex and varied behaviour.
For the main results we introduce a 2 x 2 matrix description for the relevant automorphism groups, where the entries come from the homorphism groups mentioned previously. In the case of the direct product, this is later generalised to an n x n matrix (when we consider groups with any number of direct factors) and the common direct factor restriction is relaxed to the component groups not having a common abelian direct factor. In the case of the split metacyclic p-group, our matrices have entries that are not all homomorphisms, but are similar. We include the code for our GAP impementation of these results, which we show significantly expedites computation of the automorphism groups.
We show that this matrix language can be used to describe automorphisms of any semidirect product and certain central products too, although these general cases are much more complicated. Specifically, multiplication is no longer defined in such a natural way as is seen in the previous cases and the matrix entries are mappings much less well-behaved than homomorphisms. We conclude with some suggestion of types of semidirect products for which our approach may yield a convenient description of the automorphisms.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217492 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Bidwell, Jonni, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Otago. Department of Mathematics & Statistics |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://policy01.otago.ac.nz/policies/FMPro?-db=policies.fm&-format=viewpolicy.html&-lay=viewpolicy&-sortfield=Title&Type=Academic&-recid=33025&-find), Copyright Jonni Bidwell |
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