Recursive characterisation of skew morphisms of finite cyclic groups

Abstract

A skew morphism of a finite group $G$ is an element $\phi$ of $\mathrm{Sym}(G)$ preserving the identity element of $G$ and having the property that for each $a\in G$ there exists a non-negative integer $i_a$ such that $\phi (ab)=\phi (a){\phi }^{i_a}(b)$ for all $b\in G$. In this paper we show that if a skew morphism $\phi$ of ${\mathbb{Z}}_n$ is not an automorphism of ${\mathbb{Z}}_n$, then it is uniquely determined by a triple $(h,\alpha ,\beta )$ where $h$ is an element of ${\mathbb{Z}}_n$, $\alpha$ is a skew morphism of ${\mathbb{Z}}_a$ where $a<n$, and $\beta$ is a skew morphism of ${\mathbb{Z}}_b$ where either $b<n$, or $b=n$ and $|⟨\beta ⟩|<|⟨\phi ⟩|$. Conversely, we also list necessary and sufficient conditions for a triple $(h,\alpha ,\beta )$ to define a skew morphism of a given cyclic group. In particular, this gives a recursive characterisation of skew morphisms for all finite cyclic groups. We use this characterisation to prove new theorems about skew morphisms of cyclic groups and to generate a census of all skew morphisms for cyclic groups of order up to $2000$.

17 pages