On automorphisms of A-groups

Let G be an A-group (i.e. a group in which xxα = xαx for all \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$x \in G, \alpha \in {\rm Aut}(G))$$\end{document} and let \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$A_\mathcal{C}(G)$$\end{document} denote the subgroup of Aut(G) consisting of all automorphisms that leave invariant the centralizer of each element of G. The quotient \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\rm Aut}(G)/A_\mathcal{C}(G)$$\end{document} is an elementary abelian 2-group and natural analogies exist to suggest that it might always be trivial. It is shown that, in fact, for any odd prime p and any positive integer r, there exist infinitely many finite pA-groups G for which \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\rm Aut}(G)/A_\mathcal {C}(G)$$\end{document} has rank r.