SOME PROPERTIES OF SEMI-ABELIAN -GROUPS

We prove a cohomological property for a class of finite $p$-groups introduced earlier by Xu, which we call semi-abelian $p$-groups. This result implies that a semi-abelian $p$-group has noninner automorphisms of order $p$, which settles a long-standing problem for this class. We answer also, independetly, an old question posed by Xu about the power structure of semi-abelian $p$-groups.

A Cohomological Property of π-invariant Elements

Let A be a Banach algebra and let be a continuous representation of A on a separable Hilbert space H with dim H = m. Let πi j be the coordinate functions of π with respect to an orthonormal basis and suppose that for each and . Under these conditions, we call an element left π-invariant if In this paper we prove a link between the existence of left π-invariant elements and the vanishing of certain Hochschild cohomology groups of A. Our results extend an earlier result by Lau on F-algebras and recent results of Kaniuth, Lau, Pym, and and the second author in the special case where π : A → C is a non-zero character on A.