Inverse semigroups with idempotent-fixing automorphisms

Abstract

A celebrated result of J. Thompson says that if a finite group \(G\) has a fixed-point-free automorphism of prime order, then \(G\) is nilpotent. The main purpose of this note is to extend this result to finite inverse semigroups. An earlier related result of B. H. Neumann says that a uniquely 2-divisible group with a fixed-point-free automorphism of order 2 is abelian. We similarly extend this result to uniquely 2-divisible inverse semigroups.