Given a morphism $\varphi \;:\; G \to A \wr B$ from a finitely presented group G to a wreath product $A \wr B$, we show that, if the image of $\varphi$ is a sufficiently large subgroup, then $\mathrm{ker}(\varphi)$ contains a non-abelian free subgroup and $\varphi$ factors through an acylindrically hyperbolic quotient of G. As direct applications, we classify the finitely presented subgroups in $A \wr B$ up to isomorphism and we deduce that a finitely presented group having a wreath product $(\text{non-trivial}) \wr (\text{infinite})$ as a quotient must be SQ-universal (extending theorems of Baumslag and Cornulier–Kar). Finally, we exploit our theorem in order to describe the structure of the automorphism groups of several families of wreath products, highlighting an interesting connection with the Kaplansky conjecture on units in group rings.

In this article, we study the Johnson homomorphisms of basis-conjugating automorphism groups of free groups. We construct obstructions for the surjectivity of the Johnson homomorphisms. By using it, we determine their cokernels of degree up to four and give further observations for degree greater than four. As applications, we give the affirmative answer to the Andreadakis problem for the basis-conjugating automorphism groups of free groups at degree four. Moreover, we calculate twisted first cohomology groups of the braid-permutation automorphism groups of free groups.

In the present work, we investigate the Lie algebra of the Formanek-Procesi group $\textrm {FP}(A_{\Gamma })$ with base group $A_{\Gamma }$ a right-angled Artin group. We show that the Lie algebra $\textrm {gr}(\textrm {FP}(A_{\Gamma }))$ has a presentation that is dictated by the group presentation. Moreover, we show that if the base group $G$ is a finitely generated residually finite $p$-group, then $\textrm { FP}(G)$ is residually nilpotent. We also show that $\textrm {FP}(A_{\Gamma })$ is a residually torsion-free nilpotent group.

We initiate the study of outer automorphism groups of special groups $G$, in the Haglund–Wise sense. We show that $\operatorname {Out}(G)$ is infinite if and only if $G$ splits over a co-abelian subgroup of a centraliser and there exists an infinite-order ‘generalised Dehn twist’. Similarly, the coarse-median preserving subgroup $\operatorname {Out}_{\rm cmp}(G)$ is infinite if and only if $G$ splits over an actual centraliser and there exists an infinite-order coarse-median-preserving generalised Dehn twist. The proof is based on constructing and analysing non-small, stable $G$-actions on $\mathbb {R}$-trees whose arc-stabilisers are centralisers or closely related subgroups. Interestingly, tripod-stabilisers can be arbitrary centralisers, and thus are large subgroups of $G$. As a result of independent interest, we determine when generalised Dehn twists associated to splittings of $G$ preserve the coarse median structure.

The automorphism group $\operatorname {Aut}(F_n)$ of the free group $F_n$ acts on a space $A_d(n)$ of Jacobi diagrams of degree d on n oriented arcs. We study the $\operatorname {Aut}(F_n)$-module structure of $A_d(n)$ by using two actions on the associated graded vector space of $A_d(n)$: an action of the general linear group $\operatorname {GL}(n,\mathbb {Z})$ and an action of the graded Lie algebra $\mathrm {gr}(\operatorname {IA}(n))$ of the IA-automorphism group $\operatorname {IA}(n)$ of $F_n$ associated with its lower central series. We extend the action of $\mathrm {gr}(\operatorname {IA}(n))$ to an action of the associated graded Lie algebra of the Andreadakis filtration of the endomorphism monoid of $F_n$. By using this action, we study the $\operatorname {Aut}(F_n)$-module structure of $A_d(n)$. We obtain an indecomposable decomposition of $A_d(n)$ as $\operatorname {Aut}(F_n)$-modules for $n\geq 2d$. Moreover, we obtain the radical filtration of $A_d(n)$ for $n\geq 2d$ and the socle of $A_3(n)$.

In this paper, we study the structure of the rational cohomology groups of the IA-automorphism group $\mathrm {IA}_3$ of the free group of rank three by using combinatorial group theory and representation theory. In particular, we detect a nontrivial irreducible component in the second cohomology group of $\mathrm {IA}_3$, which is not contained in the image of the cup product map of the first cohomology groups. We also show that the triple cup product of the first cohomology groups is trivial. As a corollary, we obtain that the fourth term of the lower central series of $\mathrm {IA}_3$ has finite index in that of the Andreadakis–Johnson filtration of $\mathrm {IA}_3$.

We construct free abelian subgroups of the group U(AΓ) of untwisted outer automorphisms of a right-angled Artin group, thus giving lower bounds on the virtual cohomological dimension. The group U(AΓ) was studied in [5] by constructing a contractible cube complex on which it acts properly and cocompactly, giving an upper bound for the virtual cohomological dimension. The ranks of our free abelian subgroups are equal to the dimensions of principal cubes in this complex. These are often of maximal dimension, so that the upper and lower bounds agree. In many cases when the principal cubes are not of maximal dimension we show there is an invariant contractible subcomplex of strictly lower dimension.

An automorphism of a graph product of groups is conjugating if it sends each factor to a conjugate of a factor (possibly different). In this article, we determine precisely when the group of conjugating automorphisms of a graph product satisfies Kazhdan’s property (T) and when it satisfies some vastness properties including SQ-universality.

Let p be an odd prime and let G be a non-abelian finite p-group of exponent p2 with three distinct characteristic subgroups, namely 1, Gp and G. The quotient group G/Gp gives rise to an anti-commutative 𝔽p-algebra L such that the action of Aut (L) is irreducible on L; we call such an algebra IAC. This paper establishes a duality G ↔ L between such groups and such IAC algebras. We prove that IAC algebras are semisimple and we classify the simple IAC algebras of dimension at most 4 over certain fields. We also give other examples of simple IAC algebras, including a family related to the m-th symmetric power of the natural module of SL(2, 𝔽).

For a group G, a weak Cayley table isomorphism is a bijection f : G → G such that f(g1g2) is conjugate to f(g1)f(g2) for all g1, g2 ∈ G. The set of all weak Cayley table isomorphisms forms a group (G) that is the group of symmetries of the weak Cayley table of G. We determine (G) for each of the 17 wallpaper groups G, and for some other crystallographic groups.

In this paper, we give an explicit realization of the universal SL2-representation rings of free groups by using ‘the ring of component functions’ of SL(2, ℂ)-representations of free groups. We introduce a descending filtration of the ring, and determine the structure of its graded quotients. Then we study the natural action of the automorphism group of a free group on the graded quotients, and introduce a generalized Johnson homomorphism. In the latter part of this paper, we investigate some properties of these homomorphisms from a viewpoint of twisted cohomologies of the automorphism group of a free group.

If the centre of a group $G$ is trivial, then so is the centre of its automorphism group. We study the structure of the centre of the automorphism group of a group $G$ when the centre of $G$ is a cyclic group. In particular, it is shown that the exponent of $Z(\text{Aut}(G))$ is less than or equal to the exponent of $Z(G)$ in this case.

An almost-direct product of free groups is an iterated semidirect product of finitely generated free groups in which the action of the constituent free groups on the homology of one another is trivial. We determine the structure of the cohomology ring of such a group. This is used to analyze the topological complexity of the associated Eilenberg–MacLane space.

A group G is called morphic if every endomorphism α:G→G for which Gα◃G satisfies G/Gα≅ker (α). Call an endomorphism α∈end(G) regular if αβα=α for some β∈end(G), and call α unit regular if β can be chosen to be an automorphism of G. The main purpose of this paper is to prove the following group-theoretic analogue of a theorem of Ehrlich: if G is a morphic group, an endomorphism α:G→G for which Gα◃G is unit regular if and only if it is regular. As an application, a cancellation theorem is proved that characterizes the morphic groups among those with regular endomorphism monoids.

We describe the group of all reflection-preserving automorphisms of an imprimitive complex reflection group. We also study some properties of this automorphism group.

This note contains some remarks on generating pairs for automorphism groups of free groups. There has been significant use of electronic assistance. Little of this is used to verify the results.

In this paper a necessary and sufficient condition will be given for groups to be ν-isologic, with respect to a given variety of groups ν. Its is also shown that every ν-isologism family of a group contains a ν-Hopfian group. Finally we show that if G is in the variety ν, then every ν-covering group of G is a Hopfian group.

Miller's group of order 64 is a smallest example of a nonabelian group with an abelian automorphism group, and is the first in an infinite family of such groups formed by taking the semidirect product of a cyclic group of order 2m (m ≥ 3) with a dihedral group of order 8. This paper gives a method for constructing further examples of non abelian 2-groups which have abelian automorphism groups. Such a 2-group is the semidirect product of a cyclic group and a special 2-group (satisfying certain conditions). The automorphism group of this semidirect product is shown to be isomorphic to the central automorphism group of the corresponding direct product. The conditions satisfied by the special 2-group are determined by establishing when this direct product has an abelian central automorphism group.

An infinite family of 2-groups is produced. These groups have no direct factors and have a non-abelian automorphism group in which all automorphisms are central.

Let G be a finite group and let Aut(G) be its automorphism group. Then G is called a k-orbit group if G has k orbits (equivalence classes) under the action of Aut(G). (For g, hG, we have g ~ h if ga = h for some Aut(G).) It is shown that if G is a k-orbit group, then kGp + 1, where p is the least prime dividing the order of G. The 3-orbit groups which are not of prime-power order are classified. It is shown that A5 is the only insoluble 4-orbit group, and a structure theorem is proved about soluble 4-orbit groups.