Homology of Gaussian groups

We describe new combinatorial methods for constructing an explicit free resolution of Z by ZG-modules when G is a group of fractions of a monoid where enough least common multiples exist (``locally Gaussian monoid''), and, therefore, for computing the homology of G. Our constructions apply in particular to all Artin groups of finite Coxeter type, so, as a corollary, they give new ways of computing the homology of these groups

A strong geometric hyperbolicity property for directed graphs and monoids

We introduce and study a strong "thin triangle"' condition for directed graphs, which generalises the usual notion of hyperbolicity for a metric space. We prove that finitely generated left cancellative monoids whose right Cayley graphs satisfy this condition must be finitely presented with polynomial Dehn functions, and hence word problems in NP. Under the additional assumption of right cancellativity (or in some cases the weaker condition of bounded indegree), they also admit algorithms for more fundamentally semigroup-theoretic decision problems such as Green's relations L, R, J, D and the corresponding pre-orders. In contrast, we exhibit a right cancellative (but not left cancellative) finitely generated monoid (in fact, an infinite class of them) whose Cayley graph is a essentially a tree (hence hyperbolic in our sense and probably any reasonable sense), but which is not even recursively presentable. This seems to be strong evidence that no geometric notion of hyperbolicity will be strong enough to yield much information about finitely generated monoids in absolute generality.Comment: Exposition improved. Results unchange

A Homotopical Completion Procedure with Applications to Coherence of Monoids

International audienceOne of the most used algorithm in rewriting theory is the Knuth-Bendix completion procedure which starts from a terminating rewriting system and iteratively adds rules to it, trying to produce an equivalent convergent rewriting system. It is in particular used to study presentations of monoids, since normal forms of the rewriting system provide canonical representatives of words modulo the congruence generated by the rules. Here, we are interested in extending this procedure in order to retrieve information about the low-dimensional homotopy properties of a monoid. We therefore consider the notion of coherent presentation, which is a generalization of rewriting systems that keeps track of the cells generated by confluence diagrams. We extend the Knuth-Bendix completion procedure to this setting, resulting in a homotopical completion procedure. It is based on a generalization of Tietze transformations, which are operations that can be iteratively applied to relate any two presentations of the same monoid. We also explain how these transformations can be used to remove useless generators, rules, or confluence diagrams in a coherent presentation, thus leading to a homotopical reduction procedure. Finally, we apply these techniques to the study of some examples coming from representation theory, to compute minimal coherent presentations for them: braid, plactic and Chinese monoids

A category-like structure of computational paths for parallel reduction (Proof theory and related topics)

We introduce a formal system of reduction paths as a category-like structure induced from a digraph. Our motivation behind this work comes from a quantitative analysis of reduction systems based on the perspective of computational cost and computational orbit. From the perspective, we define a formal system of reduction paths for parallel reduction, wherein reduction paths are generated from a quiver by means of three pathoperators. Next, we introduce an equational theory and reduction rules for the reduction paths, and show that the rules on paths are terminating and confluent so that normal paths are obtained. Following the notion of normal paths, a graphical representation of reduction paths is provided. Then we prove that the reduction graph is a plane graph, and unique path and universal common-reduct properties are established. Based on this, a set of transformation rules from a conversion sequence to a reduction path leading to the universal common-reduct is given under a certain strategy. Finally, path matrices are defined as block matrices of adjacency matrices to count reduction orbits

On finite complete presentations and exact decompositions of semigroups

We prove that given a finite (zero) exact right decomposition (M, T) of a semigroup S, if M is defined by a finite complete presentation, then S is also defined by a finite complete presentation. Exact right decompositions are natural generalizations to semigroups of coset decompositions in groups. As a consequence, we deduce that any Zappa–Szép extension of a monoid defined by a finite complete presentation, by a finite monoid, is also defined by such a presentation. It is also proved that a semigroup M 0[A; I, J; P], where A and P satisfy some very general conditions, is also defined by a finite complete presentation

Towards 3-Dimensional Rewriting Theory

String rewriting systems have proved very useful to study monoids. In good cases, they give finite presentations of monoids, allowing computations on those and their manipulation by a computer. Even better, when the presentation is confluent and terminating, they provide one with a notion of canonical representative of the elements of the presented monoid. Polygraphs are a higher-dimensional generalization of this notion of presentation, from the setting of monoids to the much more general setting of n-categories. One of the main purposes of this article is to give a progressive introduction to the notion of higher-dimensional rewriting system provided by polygraphs, and describe its links with classical rewriting theory, string and term rewriting systems in particular. After introducing the general setting, we will be interested in proving local confluence for polygraphs presenting 2-categories and introduce a framework in which a finite 3-dimensional rewriting system admits a finite number of critical pairs