In 1977, Makanin established the decidability of equations in free monoids. A key ingredient in his proof is the exponent of periodicity: for a word $w$, it is the largest exponent $e$ such that $w$ contains a nonempty factor of the form $p^e$. Makanin showed the following for a system of equations in free monoids: if the system has a solution with a sufficiently large exponent of periodicity, then it has infinitely many solutions. However, the converse -- whether the existence of infinitely many solutions implies the existence of solutions with arbitrarily large exponent of periodicity -- remains open. In this paper, we investigate the analogous problem for quadratic equations in finitely generated groups. We use normal forms to define the exponent of periodicity. We then identify structural conditions on groups and their normal forms that guarantee that infinite solution sets of quadratic systems have an unbounded exponent of periodicity. We prove that these conditions are preserved under graph products and, in particular, hold for all finitely generated right-angled Artin groups. In addition, we show that they also hold for finitely generated (graph products of) torsion-free nil
We prove that every locally inner (class-preserving) endomorphism of adjoint Chevalley groups and their elementary subgroups over commutative rings is inner for the root systems A1, A2, B2 (assuming 2 is invertible in the ring), and for G2 (assuming 2 and 3 are invertible). As a consequence, these groups are Sha-rigid. The proofs are direct and do not rely on classification of automorphisms or structural results about injective endomorphisms.
We consider a class of groups, called groups of F-type, which includes some known and important classes like Fuchsian groups of geometric rank $\ge 3$, surface groups of genus $\ge 2$, cyclically pinched one-relator groups and torus-knot groups, and discuss algebraic and geometric properties of groups of F-type.
Let $p$ and $n$ be positive integers. Assume additionally that $p eq 3$ is a prime and that $n>2$. Let $R$ be a field of characteristic $p$. A very special consequence of a result of Bunina and Kunyavskii (2023, arXiv:2308.10076) is that $SL_{n}(R)$ is co-Hopfian as a group if and only if $R$ is co-Hopfian as a ring. In this paper, we prove that if $k$ is the algebraic closure of the $2$ element field, then $SL_{2}(k)$ is a co-Hopfian group. Since this $k$ is trivially seen to be co-Hopfian as a ring our result somewhat extends that of Bunina and Kunyavskii. We apply our result to prove that the class of groups satisfying Turner's Retract Theorem (called Turner groups here) is not closed under elementary equivalence thereby answering a question posed by the authors in (2017, Comm. Algebra).
In this survey, we describe recent progress on asymptotic properties of various automorphic orbits in free groups. In particular, we address the problem of counting potentially positive elements of a given length. We also discuss complexity (worst-case, average-case, and generic-case) of Whitehead's automorphism problem and relevant properties of automorphic orbits, including orbit-blocking words.
In this paper we study obstructions to presentability by products for finitely generated groups. Along the way we develop both the concept of acentral subgroups, and the relations between presentability by products on the one hand, and certain geometric and measure or orbit equivalence invariants of groups on the other. This leads to many new examples of groups not presentable by products, including all groups with infinitely many ends, the (outer) automorphism groups of free groups, Thompson's groups, and even some elementary amenable groups.
Let $Ω$ be a finite set of finitary operation symbols. An $Ω$-expanded group is a group (written additively and called the additive group of the $Ω$-expanded group) with an $Ω$-algebra structure. We use the black-box model of computation in $Ω$-expanded groups. In this model, elements of a finite $Ω$-expanded group $H$ are represented (not necessarily uniquely) by bit strings of the same length, say, $n$. Given representations of elements of $H$, equality testing and the fundamental operations of $H$ are performed by an oracle. Assume that $H$ is distributive, i.e., all its fundamental operations associated with nonnullary operation symbols in $Ω$ are distributive over addition. Suppose $s=(s_1,\dots,s_m)$ is a generating system of $H$. In this paper, we present probabilistic polynomial-time black-box $Ω$-expanded group algorithms for the following problems: (i) given $(1^n,s)$, construct a generating system of the additive group of $H$, (ii) given $(1^n,s,(t_1,\dots,t_k))$ with $t_1,\dots,t_k\in H$, find a generating system of the additive group of the ideal in $H$ generated by $\{t_1,\dots,t_k\}$, and (iii) given $(1^n,s)$, decide whether $H\in\mathfrak V$, where $\mathfrak V$ is
In this paper we provide an alternative solution to a result by Juhász that the twisted conjugacy problem for odd dihedral Artin groups is solvable, that is, groups with presentation $G(m) = \langle a,b \; | \; _{m}(a,b) = {}_{m}(b,a) \rangle$, where $m\geq 3$ is odd, and $_{m}(a,b)$ is the word $abab \dots$ of length $m$, is solvable. Our solution provides an implementable linear time algorithm, by considering an alternative group presentation to that of a torus knot group, and working with geodesic normal forms. An application of this result is that the conjugacy problem is solvable in extensions of odd dihedral Artin groups.
For any group $G$ and integer $k\ge 2$ the Andrews-Curtis transformations act as a permutation group, termed the Andrews-Curtis group $AC_k(G)$, on the subset $N_k(G) \subset G^k$ of all $k$-tuples that generate $G$ as a normal subgroup (provided $N_k(G)$ is non-empty). The famous Andrews-Curtis Conjecture is that if $G$ is free of rank $k$, then $AC_k(G)$ acts transitively on $N_k(G)$. The set $N_k(G)$ may have a rather complex structure, so it is easier to study the full Andrews-Curtis group $FAC(G)$ generated by AC-transformations on a much simpler set $G^k$. Our goal here is to investigate the natural epimorphism $λ\colon FAC_k(G) \to AC_k(G)$. We show that if $G$ is non-elementary torsion-free hyperbolic, then $FAC_k(G)$ acts faithfully on every nontrivial orbit of $G^k$, hence $λ\colon FAC_k(G) \to AC_k(G)$ is an isomorphism.
This paper looks at the class of groups admitting normal forms for which the right multiplication by a group element is computed in linear time on a multi-tape Turing machine. We show that the groups $\mathbb{Z}_2 \wr \mathbb{Z}^2$, $\mathbb{Z}_2 \wr \mathbb{F}_2$ and Thompson's group $F$ have normal forms for which the right multiplication by a group element is computed in linear time on a $2$-tape Turing machine. This refines the results previously established by Elder and the authors that these groups are Cayley polynomial-time computable.
We study both the Submonoid Membership problem and the Rational Subset Membership problem in finitely generated nilpotent groups. We give two reductions with important applications. First, Submonoid Membership in any nilpotent group can be reduced to Rational Subset Membership in smaller groups. As a corollary, we prove the existence of a group with decidable Submonoid Membership and undecidable Rational Subset Membership, confirming a conjecture of Lohrey and Steinberg. Second, the Rational Subset Membership problem in $H_3(\mathbb Z)$ can be reduced to the Knapsack problem in the same group, and is therefore decidable. Combining both results, we deduce that the filiform $3$-step nilpotent group has decidable Submonoid Membership.
Motivated by the renormalization method in statistical physics, Itai Benjamini defined a finitely generated infinite group G to be scale-invariant if there is a nested sequence of finite index subgroups G_n that are all isomorphic to G and whose intersection is a finite group. He conjectured that every scale-invariant group has polynomial growth, hence is virtually nilpotent. We disprove his conjecture by showing that the following groups (mostly finite-state self-similar groups) are scale-invariant: the lamplighter groups F\wr\Z, where F is any finite Abelian group; the solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups BS(1,m); the affine groups A\ltimes\Z^d, for any A\leq GL(\Z,d). However, the conjecture remains open with some natural stronger notions of scale-invariance for groups and transitive graphs. We construct scale-invariant tilings of certain Cayley graphs of the discrete Heisenberg group, whose existence is not immediate just from the scale-invariance of the group. We also note that torsion-free non-elementary hyperbolic groups are not scale-invariant.
We study the conjugacy class growth function in finitely generated virtually abelian groups. That is, the number of elements in the ball of radius $n$ in the Cayley graph which intersect a fixed conjugacy class. In the class of virtually abelian groups, we prove that this function is always asymptotically equivalent to a polynomial. Furthermore, we show that in any affine Coxeter group, the degree of polynomial growth of a conjugacy class is equivalent to the reflection length of any element of that class.
Motivated by a classic theorem of Birman and Series about the set of complete simple geodesics on a hyperbolic surface, we study the Hausdorff dimension of the set of endpoints in $\partial F_r$ of some abstract algebraic laminations associated with free group automorphisms. For an exponentially growing outer automorphism $φ\in Out(F_r)$ we show that the set of endpoints $\mathcal E_{L}\subseteq \partial F_r$ of any of the \emph{attracting laminations} $L$ of $φ$ has Hausdorff and packing dimension $0$ for any visual metric on the boundary $\partial F_r$. Similarly that $L\subseteq \partial^2 F_r$ (where $\partial^2 F_r$ is equipped with the product metric of a visual metric) has Hausdorff dimension $0$ and packing dimension $0$. If $φ\in Out(F_r)$ is an atoroidal and fully irreducible, we deduce the same conclusion for the set of endpoints of the ending lamination $Λ_φ$ of $φ$ that gets collapsed by the Cannon-Thurston map $\partial F_r\to \partial G_φ$ for the associated free-by-cyclic group $G_φ=F_r\rtimes_φ\mathbb Z$. By contrast, the set of endpoints of any of these laminations has upper box dimension $>0$ for any visual metric on $\partial F_r$.
We use the interplay between combinatorial and coarse geometric versions of negative curvature to investigate the geometry of infinitely presented graphical $Gr'(1/6)$ small cancellation groups. In particular, we characterize their 'contracting geodesics', which should be thought of as the geodesics that behave hyperbolically. We show that every degree of contraction can be achieved by a geodesic in a finitely generated group. We construct the first example of a finitely generated group $G$ containing an element $g$ that is strongly contracting with respect to one finite generating set of $G$ and not strongly contracting with respect to another. In the case of classical $C'(1/6)$ small cancellation groups we give complete characterizations of geodesics that are Morse and that are strongly contracting. We show that many graphical $Gr'(1/6)$ small cancellation groups contain strongly contracting elements and, in particular, are growth tight. We construct uncountably many quasi-isometry classes of finitely generated, torsion-free groups in which every maximal cyclic subgroup is hyperbolically embedded. These are the first examples of this kind that are not subgroups of hyperbolic grou
We prove that torsion subgroups of groups defined by C(6), C(4)-T(4) or C(3)-T(6) small cancellation presentations are finite cyclic groups. This follows from a more general result on the existence of fixed points for locally elliptic (every element fixes a point) actions of groups on simply connected small cancellation complexes. We present an application concerning automatic continuity. We observe that simply connected C(3)-T(6) complexes may be equipped with a CAT(0) metric. This allows us to get stronger results on locally elliptic actions in that case. It also implies that the Tits Alternative holds for groups acting on simply connected C(3)-T(6) small cancellation complexes with a bound on the order of cell stabilisers.
In this article, we study the asymptotic behaviour of conjugacy separability for wreath products of abelian groups. We fully characterise the asymptotic class in the case of lamplighter groups and give exponential upper and lower bounds for generalised lamplighter groups. In the case where the base group is infinite, we give superexponential lower and upper bounds. We apply our results to obtain lower bounds for conjugacy depth functions of various wreath products of groups where the acting group is not abelian.
Sofic groups generalise both residually finite and amenable groups, and the concept is central to many important results and conjectures in measured group theory. We introduce a topological notion of a sofic boundary attached to a given sofic approximation of a finitely generated group and use it to prove that coarse properties of the approximation (property A, asymptotic coarse embeddability into Hilbert space, geometric property (T)) imply corresponding analytic properties of the group (amenability, a-T-menability and property (T)), thus generalising ideas and results present in the literature for residually finite groups and their box spaces. Moreover, we generalise coarse rigidity results for box spaces due to Kajal Das, proving that coarsely equivalent sofic approximations of two groups give rise to a uniform measure equivalence between those groups. Along the way, we bring to light a coarse geometric view point on ultralimits of a sequence of finite graphs first exposed by Jan Špakula and Rufus Willett, as well as proving some bridging results concerning measure structures on topological groupoid Morita equivalences that will be of interest to groupoid specialists.
We give a necessary and sufficient condition for two Hopf algebras presented as central extensions to be isomorphic, in a suitable setting. We then study the question of isomorphism between the Hopf algebras constructed in 0707.0070v1 as quantum subgroups of quantum groups at roots of 1. Finally, we apply the first general result to show the existence of infinitely many non-isomorphic Hopf algebras of the same dimension, presented as extensions of finite quantum groups by finite groups.
The isomorphism problem for infinite finitely presented groups is probably the hardest among standard algorithmic problems in group theory. Classes of groups where it has been completely solved are nilpotent groups, hyperbolic groups, and limit groups. In this short paper, we address the problem of isomorphism to particular groups, including free groups. We also address the algorithmic problem of embedding a finitely presented group in a given limit group.