4 research outputs found
The word problem for one-relation monoids: a survey
This survey is intended to provide an overview of one of the oldest and most celebrated open problems in combinatorial algebra: the word problem for one-relation monoids. We provide a history of the problem starting in 1914, and give a detailed overview of the proofs of central results, especially those due to Adian and his student Oganesian. After showing how to reduce the problem to the left cancellative case, the second half of the survey focuses on various methods for solving partial cases in this family. We finish with some modern and very recent results pertaining to this problem, including a link to the Collatz conjecture. Along the way, we emphasise and address a number of incorrect and inaccurate statements that have appeared in the literature over the years. We also fill a gap in the proof of a theorem linking special inverse monoids to one-relation monoids, and slightly strengthen the statement of this theorem
Polygraphs: From Rewriting to Higher Categories
Polygraphs are a higher-dimensional generalization of the notion of directed
graph. Based on those as unifying concept, this monograph on polygraphs
revisits the theory of rewriting in the context of strict higher categories,
adopting the abstract point of view offered by homotopical algebra. The first
half explores the theory of polygraphs in low dimensions and its applications
to the computation of the coherence of algebraic structures. It is meant to be
progressive, with little requirements on the background of the reader, apart
from basic category theory, and is illustrated with algorithmic computations on
algebraic structures. The second half introduces and studies the general notion
of n-polygraph, dealing with the homotopy theory of those. It constructs the
folk model structure on the category of strict higher categories and exhibits
polygraphs as cofibrant objects. This allows extending to higher dimensional
structures the coherence results developed in the first half
Topological finiteness properties of monoids. Part 1: Foundations
We initiate the study of higher dimensional topological finiteness properties
of monoids. This is done by developing the theory of monoids acting on CW
complexes. For this we establish the foundations of -equivariant homotopy
theory where is a discrete monoid. For projective -CW complexes we prove
several fundamental results such as the homotopy extension and lifting
property, which we use to prove the -equivariant Whitehead theorems. We
define a left equivariant classifying space as a contractible projective -CW
complex. We prove that such a space is unique up to -homotopy equivalence
and give a canonical model for such a space via the nerve of the right Cayley
graph category of the monoid. The topological finiteness conditions
left- and left geometric dimension are then defined for monoids
in terms of existence of a left equivariant classifying space satisfying
appropriate finiteness properties. We also introduce the bilateral notion of
-equivariant classifying space, proving uniqueness and giving a canonical
model via the nerve of the two-sided Cayley graph category, and we define the
associated finiteness properties bi- and geometric dimension. We
explore the connections between all of the these topological finiteness
properties and several well-studied homological finiteness properties of
monoids which are important in the theory of string rewriting systems,
including , cohomological dimension, and Hochschild
cohomological dimension. We also develop the corresponding theory of
-equivariant collapsing schemes (that is, -equivariant discrete Morse
theory), and among other things apply it to give topological proofs of results
of Anick, Squier and Kobayashi that monoids which admit presentations by
complete rewriting systems are left-, right- and bi-.Comment: 59 pages, 1 figur