On word structure of the modular group over finite and real quadratic fields (Q1377845)

Let \(\widehat F=F\cup\{\infty\}\) be the projective line over a field \(F\) and let \(G\) be the image (under the natural map) of the modular group \(\text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{Z})\) in \(\text{PSL}_2(F)\). Then \(G\) acts on \(\widehat F\) as a group of linear fractional transformations in the usual way. Let \(g\in C\) fix \(\beta\in\widehat F\). Now \(g\) can be written as a word in the ``standard'' generators of \(G\) and this gives rise (regarding the elements of \(\widehat F\) as the vertices of a graph) to a circuit in \(\widehat F\) containing \(\beta\). In this paper, the author is concerned with questions of the following type. Suppose that \(F\) is a real quadratic or finite field and let \(\alpha\) belong to a circuit. What conditions on the circuit ensure that the conjugate of \(\alpha\), \(\overline\alpha\), also belongs to the circuit?