Finite groups admitting an automorphism of prime order with central fixed points

Abstract

In 1957, Higman showed that a Lie algebra admitting a fixed-point-free automorphism is nilpotent, and that an analogous result also holds for a finite soluble group. Two years later, Thompson proved that a finite group having a fixed-point-free automorphism of prime order is soluble, and consequently nilpotent. Generalizing that situation, a few years ago, Kharchenko set up a conjecture on the solubility of a Lie algebra L admitting an automorphism of prime order whose fixed points lie in the center of L. A similar conjecture applies also with finite groups. Here we affirm the latter for the case where the order p of an automorphism is equal to 2 and deny it for all p>3.