67 research outputs found
Definable sets in a hyperbolic group
We give a description of definable sets in a free
non-abelian group and in a torsion-free non-elementary hyperbolic group
that follows from our work on the Tarski problems. This answers Malcev's
question for . As a corollary we show that proper non-cyclic subgroups of
and are not definable and prove Bestvina and Feighn's result that
definable subsets in a free group are either negligible or
co-negligible in their terminology.Comment: Corollary of Theorem 3 was corrected and incorporated into Theorem
Conjugacy in Baumslag's group, generic case complexity, and division in power circuits
The conjugacy problem belongs to algorithmic group theory. It is the
following question: given two words x, y over generators of a fixed group G,
decide whether x and y are conjugated, i.e., whether there exists some z such
that zxz^{-1} = y in G. The conjugacy problem is more difficult than the word
problem, in general. We investigate the complexity of the conjugacy problem for
two prominent groups: the Baumslag-Solitar group BS(1,2) and the
Baumslag(-Gersten) group G(1,2). The conjugacy problem in BS(1,2) is
TC^0-complete. To the best of our knowledge BS(1,2) is the first natural
infinite non-commutative group where such a precise and low complexity is
shown. The Baumslag group G(1,2) is an HNN-extension of BS(1,2). We show that
the conjugacy problem is decidable (which has been known before); but our
results go far beyond decidability. In particular, we are able to show that
conjugacy in G(1,2) can be solved in polynomial time in a strongly generic
setting. This means that essentially for all inputs conjugacy in G(1,2) can be
decided efficiently. In contrast, we show that under a plausible assumption the
average case complexity of the same problem is non-elementary. Moreover, we
provide a lower bound for the conjugacy problem in G(1,2) by reducing the
division problem in power circuits to the conjugacy problem in G(1,2). The
complexity of the division problem in power circuits is an open and interesting
problem in integer arithmetic.Comment: Section 5 added: We show that an HNN extension G = < H, b | bab^-1 =
{\phi}(a), a \in A > has a non-amenable Schreier graph with respect to the
base group H if and only if A \neq H \neq
Logspace computations in graph products
We consider three important and well-studied algorithmic problems in group
theory: the word, geodesic, and conjugacy problem. We show transfer results
from individual groups to graph products. We concentrate on logspace complexity
because the challenge is actually in small complexity classes, only. The most
difficult transfer result is for the conjugacy problem. We have a general
result for graph products, but even in the special case of a graph group the
result is new. Graph groups are closely linked to the theory of Mazurkiewicz
traces which form an algebraic model for concurrent processes. Our proofs are
combinatorial and based on well-known concepts in trace theory. We also use
rewriting techniques over traces. For the group-theoretical part we apply
Bass-Serre theory. But as we need explicit formulae and as we design concrete
algorithms all our group-theoretical calculations are completely explicit and
accessible to non-specialists
On All Things Star-Free
We investigate the star-free closure, which associates to a class of languages its closure under Boolean operations and marked concatenation. We prove that the star-free closure of any finite class and of any class of groups languages with decidable separation (plus mild additional properties) has decidable separation. We actually show decidability of a stronger property, called covering. This generalizes many results on the subject in a unified framework. A key ingredient is that star-free closure coincides with another closure operator where Kleene stars are also allowed in restricted contexts
- …