English

Enumeration of skew morphisms of cyclic $2$-groups

Group Theory 2026-04-23 v1

Abstract

A skew morphism of a finite group BB is a permutation of BB fixing the identity and satisfying φ(xy)=φ(x)φix(y)\varphi(xy) = \varphi(x)\varphi^{i_x}(y) for some integers ixi_x indexed by xBx \in B. The enumeration of skew morphisms of finite cyclic groups remains an open problem. The most substantial progress to date concerns cyclic pp-groups with pp odd, for which a full classification and enumeration was obtained by Kov\'{a}cs and Nedela. In this paper we treat the remaining case p=2p = 2, giving a complete classification and enumeration of skew morphisms of finite cyclic 22-groups. Writing Skew(n)\mathrm{Skew}(n) for the number of skew morphisms of Zn\mathbb{Z}_n, we prove that Skew(2e)=4Skew(2e1)4\mathrm{Skew}(2^e) = 4\,\mathrm{Skew}(2^{e-1}) - 4 for each e4e \geq 4, and that Skew(2e)=(74e2+8)/6\mathrm{Skew}(2^e) = (7 \cdot 4^{e-2} + 8)/6 for each e3e \geq 3. This completes the enumeration of skew morphisms for all cyclic pp-groups.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.20590,
  title  = {Enumeration of skew morphisms of cyclic $2$-groups},
  author = {Martin Bachratý},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.20590},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

15 pages, 1 table