Petit Algebras and their Automorphisms

Abstract: In this thesis, we study the properties of a nonassociative algebra construction from skew polynomial rings. This construction was introduced by Petit in the 1960s but largely ignored until recently. In particular, the automorphism groups of these algebras are studied, paying particular attention to the case when the construction yields a finite semifield. The thesis is concluded by revisiting a result on associative solvable crossed product algebras by both Petit and Albert. We show a crossed product algebra is solvable if and only if it can be written as a chain of Petit algebras satisfying certain conditions.