Almost central involutions in split extensions of Coxeter groups by graph automorphisms

Abstract

In this paper, given a split extension of an arbitrary Coxeter group by automorphisms of the Coxeter graph, we determine the involutions in that extension whose centralizer has finite index. Our result has applications to many problems such as the isomorphism problem of general Coxeter groups. In the argument, some properties of certain special elements and of the fixed-point subgroups by graph automorphisms in Coxeter groups, which are of independent interest, are also given.