Rigid automorphisms of linking systems

Abstract

A rigid automorphism of a linking system is an automorphism which restricts to the identity on the Sylow subgroup. A rigid inner automorphism is conjugation by an element in the center of the Sylow subgroup. At odd primes, it is known that each rigid automorphism of a centric linking system is inner. We prove that the group of rigid outer automorphisms of a linking system at the prime $2$ is elementary abelian, and that it splits over the subgroup of rigid inner automorphisms. In a second result, we show that if an automorphism of a finite group $G$ restricts to the identity on the centric linking system for $G$, then it is of $p'$-order modulo the group of inner automorphisms, provided $G$ has no nontrivial normal $p'$-subgroups. We present two applications of this last result, one to tame fusion systems.