Decompositions of free groups (Q1067003)

The purpose of the paper under review is to give proofs of the following two results: (A) Let G be a free group and let \(G=G_ 1*_ HG_ 2\) be an amalgamated free product decomposition of G with H finitely generated. Then there is a non-trivial free factor H' of H such that H' is a free factor of either \(G_ 1\) or \(G_ 2\). (B) Let G be a free group and let \(G=J*_{H,t}\) be an HNN-decomposition of G with H finitely generated. Then there are decompositions \(H=H_ 1*H_ 2\), \(J=J_ 1*J_ 2\) with \(H_ 1\) non-trivial such that \(H_ 1\) is a free factor of \(J_ 1\) and \(t^{-1}H_ 1t\) is conjugate in J to a subgroup of \(J_ 2\). The proof relies on \textit{H. Müller}'s theorem on the decomposition of group pairs [Math. Z. 176, 223-246 (1981; Zbl 0459.20045)].