Let $G$ be a group of order $n$ where every non identity element is of order $2$. Then, ${\rm Aut}(G) $ is isomorphic to $S_{n-1}$

abelian-groupsabstract-algebraautomorphism-groupgroup-theorysymmetric-groups

Let $G$ be a group of order $n$ where every non identity element is of order $2$. Then, ${\rm Aut}(G) $ is isomorphic to $S_{n-1}$. Is this true?

I read that ${\rm Aut}(K_4)$ is isomorphic to $S_3$. We can see this because of the permutations of the non identity elements, all of which have order $2$. So for each non identity element, we have $3$ choices for it's image. Proceeding recursively, we get $3!$ and ${\rm Aut}(K_4)$ is isomorphic to $S_3$.

Can we further generalize this idea to groups in which all non identity elements are of order $2$?

Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

A group in which every non-identity element has order $2$ is abelian: to see this, note that $a^2=1$ for all $a$, implies that $a = a^{-1}$ for all $a$, so that $$ab = (a^{-1})^{-1}(b^{-1})^{-1} = (b^{-1}a^{-1})^{-1} =b^{-1}a^{-1}= ba$$

for all $a$ and $b$. It follows that any group, $G$, in which every non-identity element has order $2$ is a vector space over the field $\Bbb{F}_2$ with $2$ elements, and that its group automorphisms are the invertible linear transformations. Hence, if $G$ is finite of order $n$, then $n = 2^k$ for some $k$ and the automorphism group of $G$ is isomorphic to $\mathrm{GL}_k(\Bbb{F}_2)$. The formula for $|\mathrm{GL}_k(\Bbb{F}_2)|$ given in the first answer to this question about the order of these groups shows that this automorphism group cannot be isomorphic to a symmetric group unless $n \le 4$.