On the number of outer automorphisms of the automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group

Abstract: We show that there is no uniform upper bound on |Out(Aut(A))| when A ranges over all right-angled Artin groups. This is in contrast with the cases where A is free or free abelian: for all n, Dyer-Formanek and Bridson-Vogtmann showed that Out(Aut(F_n)) = 1, while Hua-Reiner showed |Out(Aut(Z^n)| = |Out(GL(n,Z))| < 5. We also prove the analogous theorem for Out(Out(A)). We establish our results by giving explicit examples; one useful tool is a new class of graphs called austere graphs.