# Is there a non-trivial group G isomorphic to Aut(G)?

The title basically says it all.

Is there a group with more than one element that is isomorphic to the group of automorphisms of itself?

I'm mainly interested in the case for finite groups, although the answer for infinite groups would still be somewhat interesting.

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–  Mariano Suárez-Alvarez Jul 2 '10 at 0:45
Answer: yes. Smallest example: $S_3$, with order 6. Arguably most interesting example: monster simple group. –  S. Carnahan Jul 2 '10 at 0:55
From Mariano's link is the example of $D_8$, which is isomorphic to its automorphism group, but not by the natural map. –  Ben Wieland Jul 2 '10 at 1:34

The automorphism group of the symmetric group $S_n$ is (isomorphic to) $S_n$ when $n$ is different from $2$ or $6$. In fact, if $G$ is a complete group you can ascertain that $G \simeq \mathrm{Aut}(G)$. The reverse implication needn't hold, though.
As mentioned in the comments above, $D_8$ is a counterexample to the reverse implication, since it is not complete but is isomorphic to its automorphism group. –  Joel David Hamkins Jul 2 '10 at 2:02