733 research outputs found
On the Finiteness Problem for Automaton (Semi)groups
This paper addresses a decision problem highlighted by Grigorchuk,
Nekrashevich, and Sushchanskii, namely the finiteness problem for automaton
(semi)groups.
For semigroups, we give an effective sufficient but not necessary condition
for finiteness and, for groups, an effective necessary but not sufficient
condition. The efficiency of the new criteria is demonstrated by testing all
Mealy automata with small stateset and alphabet. Finally, for groups, we
provide a necessary and sufficient condition that does not directly lead to a
decision procedure
Automaton Semigroups and Groups: On the Undecidability of Problems Related to Freeness and Finiteness
In this paper, we study algorithmic problems for automaton semigroups and
automaton groups related to freeness and finiteness. In the course of this
study, we also exhibit some connections between the algebraic structure of
automaton (semi)groups and their dynamics on the boundary. First, we show that
it is undecidable to check whether the group generated by a given invertible
automaton has a positive relation, i.e. a relation p = 1 such that p only
contains positive generators. Besides its obvious relation to the freeness of
the group, the absence of positive relations has previously been studied and is
connected to the triviality of some stabilizers of the boundary. We show that
the emptiness of the set of positive relations is equivalent to the dynamical
property that all (directed positive) orbital graphs centered at non-singular
points are acyclic.
Gillibert showed that the finiteness problem for automaton semigroups is
undecidable. In the second part of the paper, we show that this undecidability
result also holds if the input is restricted to be bi-reversible and invertible
(but, in general, not complete). As an immediate consequence, we obtain that
the finiteness problem for automaton subsemigroups of semigroups generated by
invertible, yet partial automata, so called automaton-inverse semigroups, is
also undecidable.
Erratum: Contrary to a statement in a previous version of the paper, our
approach does not show that that the freeness problem for automaton semigroups
is undecidable. We discuss this in an erratum at the end of the paper
The finiteness of a group generated by a 2-letter invertible-reversible Mealy automaton is decidable
We prove that a semigroup generated by a reversible two-state Mealy automaton
is either finite or free of rank 2. This fact leads to the decidability of
finiteness for groups generated by two-state or two-letter
invertible-reversible Mealy automata and to the decidability of freeness for
semigroups generated by two-state invertible-reversible Mealy automata
A characterization of those automata that structurally generate finite groups
Antonenko and Russyev independently have shown that any Mealy automaton with
no cycles with exit--that is, where every cycle in the underlying directed
graph is a sink component--generates a fi- nite (semi)group, regardless of the
choice of the production functions. Antonenko has proved that this constitutes
a characterization in the non-invertible case and asked for the invertible
case, which is proved in this paper
Automaton semigroups: new construction results and examples of non-automaton semigroups
This paper studies the class of automaton semigroups from two perspectives:
closure under constructions, and examples of semigroups that are not automaton
semigroups. We prove that (semigroup) free products of finite semigroups always
arise as automaton semigroups, and that the class of automaton monoids is
closed under forming wreath products with finite monoids. We also consider
closure under certain kinds of Rees matrix constructions, strong semilattices,
and small extensions. Finally, we prove that no subsemigroup of arises as an automaton semigroup. (Previously, itself was
the unique example of a finitely generated residually finite semigroup that was
known not to arise as an automaton semigroup.)Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures; substantially revise
Algorithmic decidability of Engel's property for automaton groups
We consider decidability problems associated with Engel's identity
( for a long enough commutator sequence) in groups
generated by an automaton. We give a partial algorithm that decides, given
, whether an Engel identity is satisfied. It succeeds, importantly, in
proving that Grigorchuk's -group is not Engel. We consider next the problem
of recognizing Engel elements, namely elements such that the map
attracts to . Although this problem seems intractable in
general, we prove that it is decidable for Grigorchuk's group: Engel elements
are precisely those of order at most . Our computations were implemented
using the package FR within the computer algebra system GAP
Automaton semigroup constructions
The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the class of automaton
semigroups is closed under certain semigroup constructions. We prove that the
free product of two automaton semigroups that contain left identities is again
an automaton semigroup. We also show that the class of automaton semigroups is
closed under the combined operation of 'free product followed by adjoining an
identity'. We present an example of a free product of finite semigroups that we
conjecture is not an automaton semigroup. Turning to wreath products, we
consider two slight generalizations of the concept of an automaton semigroup,
and show that a wreath product of an automaton monoid and a finite monoid
arises as a generalized automaton semigroup in both senses. We also suggest a
potential counterexample that would show that a wreath product of an automaton
monoid and a finite monoid is not a necessarily an automaton monoid in the
usual sense.Comment: 13 pages; 2 figure
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