THE AUTOMORPHISM GROUP OF COMMUTING GRAPH OF A FINITE GROUP

Let G be a finite group and X be a union of conjugacy classes of G. Define C(G,X) to be the graph with vertex set X and $x,y{\in}X$ ($x{\neq}y$) joined by an edge whenever they commute. In the case that X = G, this graph is named commuting graph of G, denoted by ${\Delta}(G)$. The aim of this paper is to study the automorphism group of the commuting graph. It is proved that Aut(${\Delta}(G)$) is abelian if and only if ${\mid}G{\mid}{\leq}2$; ${\mid}Aut({\Delta}(G)){\mid}$ is of prime power if and only if ${\mid}G{\mid}{\leq}2$, and ${\mid}Aut({\Delta}(G)){\mid}$ is square-free if and only if ${\mid}G{\mid}{\leq}3$. Some new graphs that are useful in studying the automorphism group of ${\Delta}(G)$ are presented and their main properties are investigated.