Noether's Problem for p-Groups with an Abelian Subgroup of Index p

Abstract

Let K be a field and G be a finite group. Let G act on the rational function field K(x(g) : g ∈ G) by K-automorphisms defined by g · x(h) = x(gh) for any g, h ∈ G. Denote by K(G) the fixed field K(x(g) : g ∈ G)G. Noether's problem then asks whether K(G) is rational over K. Let p be an odd prime and let G be a p-group of exponent pe. Assume also that (i) char K = p > 0, or (ii) char K ≠ p and K contains a primitive pe-th root of unity. In this paper we prove that K(G) is rational over K for the following two types of groups: (1) G is a finite p-group with an abelian normal subgroup H of index p such that H is a direct product of normal subgroups of G of the type Cpb × (Cp)c for some b, c with 1 ≤ b and 0 ≤ c; (2) G is any group of order p5 from the isoclinic families with numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9.