Girth alternative for HNN extensions

DOI10.1007/S10711-026-01096-9MaRDI QIDQ7294412zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Azer Akhmedov, Pratyush Mishra

Publication date 10 July 2026

Published in Geometriae Dedicata (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/S10711-026-01096-9

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Free nonabelian groups (20E05) Free products of groups, free products with amalgamation, Higman-Neumann-Neumann extensions, and generalizations (20E06) Generators, relations, and presentations of groups (20F05) Geometric group theory (20F65) Hyperbolic groups and nonpositively curved groups (20F67)

Review text

Let \(G\) be a finitely generated group and \(S\) a finite generating set. The quantity \(\operatorname{girth}(G,S)\) is the length of a shortest non-trivial relation in \(S\), and \(\operatorname{girth}(G)=\sup\{\operatorname{girth}(G,S)\mid \langle S\rangle=G,\ |S|<\infty\}\).\N\NThe main result proves that every proper HNN extension \(G_{\varphi}^{*}=(G,A,B,t)\), where \(\varphi\colon A\to B\) is an isomorphism between proper subgroups of \(G\), has infinite girth. Hence the Girth Alternative holds for this class. In contrast, a semi-proper HNN extension with \(A=G\), \(B<G\), and \(G\) satisfying a law has finite girth. The proof combines a generating-set criterion with Britton's lemma.\N\NThe paper also proves that a proper amalgamated free product \(A\mathbin{*}_C B\) has infinite girth if \(\max\{[A:C],[B:C]\}\geq 3\), and that every HNN extension of a non-elementary word hyperbolic group has infinite girth. In particular, this holds for every HNN extension of \(F_n\) with \(n\geq 2\).

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Cited in

(1)

• On the girth of groups acting on CAT(0) cube complexes

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