The conjugacy problem for knot groups (Q2367233): Difference between revisions

The word problem and the conjugacy problem are difficult, but basic problems for any group. The word problem for a knot group, or more generally the fundamental group of a sufficient large manifold, has been solved by H. Waldhausen in 1968. Since then, many attempts have been made to solve the conjugacy problem for these groups, and a few results have been obtained. For example, the conjugacy problem for an alternating knot group has been solved by Appel and Schupp. In this paper, however, the author completely solves the conjugacy problem for a knot group as follows. First, using the Jaco-Shalen splitting theorem, the author shows that the conjugacy problem finally reduces to the corresponding problem to the fundamental group of geometric pieces of a knot complement. Therefore, it essentially suffices to solve the problem for the fundamental group of a hyperbolic manifold with finite volume and that of a Seifert fibred space appearing as a knot complement. Proofs are mostly group theoretic.