We settle the noninner automorphism conjecture for finite p-groups ($p> 2$) with certain conditions. Also, we give an elementary and short proof of the main result of Ghoraishi [‘On noninner automorphisms of finite nonabelian p-groups’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 89(2) (2014) 202–209].

We say that a subgroup H is isolated in a group G if for each $x\in G$ either $x\in H$ or $\langle x\rangle \cap H={1}$ . We determine the structure of finite p-groups with isolated minimal nonabelian subgroups and finite p-groups with an isolated metacyclic subgroup.

For a finite group $G$, denote by $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(G)$ the degree of a minimal permutation representation of $G$. We call $G$ exceptional if there is a normal subgroup $N\unlhd G$ with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(G/N)>\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(G)$. To complete the work of Easdown and Praeger [‘On minimal faithful permutation representations of finite groups’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc.38(2) (1988), 207–220], for all primes $p\geq 3$, we describe an exceptional group of order $p^{5}$ and prove that no exceptional group of order $p^{4}$ exists.

Let $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}G$ be a finite 2-group. If $G$ is of coclass 2 or $(G,Z(G))$ is a Camina pair, then $G$ admits a noninner automorphism of order 2 or 4 leaving the Frattini subgroup elementwise fixed.

For a finite group G, we denote by μ(G) the minimum degree of a faithful permutation representation of G. We prove that if G is a finite p-group with an abelian maximal subgroup, then μ(G/G′)≤μ(G).

Let G be a group and let CAutΦ(G)(Z(Φ(G))) be the set of all automorphisms of G centralizing G/Φ(G) and Z(Φ(G)). For each prime p and finite p-group G, we prove that CAutΦ(G)(Z(Φ(G)))≤Inn(G) if and only if G is elementary abelian or Φ(G)=Z(G) and Z(G) is cyclic.

Let G be a p-group of maximal class of order pn. It is shown that the order of the group of all automorphisms of G centralizing the Frattini quotient takes the maximum value p2n−4 if and only if G is metabelian. A structure theorem is proved for the Sylow p-subgroup, Autp(G), of the automorphism group of G when G is metabelian. For p=2, Aut2(G) is the full automorphism group of G. For p=3, we prove a structure theorem for the full automorphism group of G.

Let p be a prime, a field of pn elements, and G a finite p-group. It is shown here that if G has a quotient whose commutator subgroup is of order p and whose centre has index pk, then the group of normalized units in the group algebra has a conjugacy class of pnk elements. This was first proved by A. Bovdi and C. Polcino Milies for the case k = 2; their argument is now generalized and simplified. It remains an intriguing question whether the cardinality of the smallest noncentral conjugacy class can always be recognized from this test.