A presentation for the special automorphism group of a free group (Q795167): Difference between revisions

As the title indicates this paper gives a presentation for the group \(SA_ n\) of special automorphisms of the free group \(F_ n\) of rank n, i.e. the automorphisms which induce on \(F_ n/\gamma_ 2(F_ n)\) an automorphism (equivalently an element of \(GL_ n({\mathbb{Z}}))\) of determinant 1. For the presentation the author takes Nielsen generators and makes use of McCool's presentation which takes as generators the Whitehead automorphisms. He first finds, in this way, a presentation for the full automorphism group \(A_ n\) of \(F_ n\) and passes to the subgroup \(SA_ n\) by the Reidemeister-Schreier method. The presentation is simple and clear, although the number of generators used, like McCool's presentation, is quite big. He also gives the canonical isomorphisms \(H_ 2(A_ n,{\mathbb{Z}})\leftarrow^{\simeq}H_ 2(SA_ n,{\mathbb{Z}})\to^{\simeq}K_ 2({\mathbb{Z}})\) for \(n\geq 5\).