Automorphic orbits in free groups.

DOI10.1016/S0021-8693(03)00339-9MaRDI QIDQ1414027zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Vladimir Shpilrain, Alexei Myasnikov

Publication date 19 November 2003

Published in Journal of Algebra (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0211157

zbMATH Keywords

automorphismsendomorphismsfree groupsorbitscomplexity of Whitehead algorithm

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Analysis of algorithms and problem complexity (68Q25) Free nonabelian groups (20E05) Automorphisms of infinite groups (20E36)

Abstract: Let $F_n$ be the free group of a finite rank $n$. We study orbits $Or{b}_{phi}(u)$, where $u$ is an element of the group $F_n$, under the action of an automorphism $phi$. If an orbit like that is finite, we determine precisely what its cardinality can be if $u$ runs through the whole group $F_n$, and $phi$ runs through the whole group $Aut(F_n)$. Another problem that we address here is related to Whitehead's algorithm that determines whether or not a given element of a free group of finite rank is an automorphic image of another given element. It is known that the first part of this algorithm (reducing a given free word to a free word of minimum possible length by elementary Whitehead automorphisms) is fast (of quadratic time with respect to the length of the word). On the other hand, the second part of the algorithm (applied to two words of the same minimum length) was always considered very slow. We give here an improved algorithm for the second part, and we believe this algorithm always terminates in polynomial time with respect to the length of the words. We prove that this is indeed the case if the free group has rank 2.

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Cites work

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Cited in

(28)

• A tighter bound for the number of words of minimum length in an automorphic orbit.
• Average-case complexity of the Whitehead problem for free groups
• The primitivity index function for a free group, and untangling closed curves on hyperbolic surfaces.With the appendix by Khalid Bou–Rabee
• Short, Highly Imprimitive Words Yield Hyperbolic One-Relator Groups
• Equations in simple matrix groups: algebra, geometry, arithmetic, dynamics.
• On an algorithm to decide whether a free group is a free factor of another
• Classification of automorphic conjugacy classes in the free group on two generators.
• Search and witness problems in group theory.
• Criteria for equidistribution of solutions of word equations on \(\mathrm{SL}(2)\).
• Automorphisms of free groups have asymptotically periodic dynamics
• Automorphisms of free groups with boundaries.
• Automorphic orbits in free groups: words versus subgroups.
• On the word problem for special monoids
• ON THE COMPLEXITY OF THE WHITEHEAD MINIMIZATION PROBLEM
• Growing words in the free group on two generators.
• The monomorphism problem in free groups.
• Palindromic primitives and palindromic bases in the free group of rank two.
• Detecting automorphic orbits in free groups.
• Primitive and almost primitive elements of Schreier varieties
• On endomorphisms of the direct product of two free groups
• Random equations in free groups.
• Quantifying orbit detection: \(\varphi\)-order and \(\varphi\)-spectrum
• Growth of primitive elements in free groups.
• Counting words of minimum length in an automorphic orbit.
• A hybrid search algorithm for the Whitehead minimization problem.
• Problèmes de densité d'orbites pour des groupes d'automorphismes de C2
• The subadditive ergodic theorem and generic stretching factors for free group automorphisms.
• POLYNOMIAL-TIME COMPLEXITY FOR INSTANCES OF THE ENDOMORPHISM PROBLEM IN FREE GROUPS

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