Equations in simple matrix groups: algebra, geometry, arithmetic, dynamics. (Q2440567)

The authors write in their introduction: ``Matrix equations, which in the most general form can be written as \(F(A_1,\ldots,A_m,X_1,\ldots,X_d)=0\), where \(A_1,\ldots,A_m\) are some fixed matrices, \(X_1,\ldots,X_d\) are unknowns, \(F\) is an associative noncommutative polynomial, and the solutions must belong to a certain class of matrices, constitute a vast research domain, with spectacular applications well beyond algebra, say, in areas such as differential equations and mathematical physics.'' They point out, that no answer to this question is known, and that there are even obstacles to solve an equation of the form \(F( X_1,\ldots,X_d)=A\), where \(A\) is a constant matrix. The authors concentrate on solutions to questions where the entries belong to a certain group of matrices. They report on many results that are connected with the word equation \(w(x_1,\ldots,x_d)=g\), such as the word length, commutator length, etc. The authors give an extensive account of recent progress in group theory. They give brief but insightful indications of the methods used in certain proofs. They point out that often long standing problems can be solved by introducing tools from other disciplines. Some of the quoted results are obtained using computer algebra, dynamical systems, number theory or arithmetic geometry. As an example we may consider the history of the Ore Conjecture: `If \(G\) is a finite non-Abelian simple group, then every element of \(G\) is a commutator.' This problem was originally posed by Ore in 1951. It was solved by Liebeck, O'Brien, Shalev, and Tiep in 2010 [\textit{M. W. Liebeck} et al., J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 12, No. 4, 939-1008 (2010; Zbl 1205.20011)], using computer algebra to establish certain base cases for an induction argument in the proof. Some of the topics covered in this survey are: the characterization of finite solvable groups, verbal dynamical systems, mapping tori of endomorphisms of free groups, the image of the word map on finite simple groups, and word maps on \(\text{SL}(2,q)\) and \(\text{PSL}(2,q)\).