Conjugacy growth of commutators (Q1734237)

In this paper, the author obtains the asymptotic for the number of conjugacy classes of commutators in free group \(F_r\) with a given word length in a fixed set of free generators of \(F_r\) and in free product of finite groups \(G\) and \(H\) with a given word length in the set of generators given by the nontrivial elements of \(G\) and \(H\). He proves the following theorems. Theorem 1. Let \(F_r\) be the free group on \(r>1\) generators and let \(k\ge0\) be even. The number of distinct conjugacy classes of commutators in \(F_r\) with length \(k\) is given by \[ \frac{(2r-2)^2(2r-1)^{\frac{k-2}{2}}}{96r}(k^2+O_r(k)), \] where the implied constant depends only on \(r\) and is effectively computable. Theorem 2. Let \(G\), \(H\) be two nontrivial finite groups of orders \(|G|=g+1\), \(|H|=h+1\), respectively, and let \(k\geq0\) be a multiple of 4. The number of distinct conjugacy classes of commutators in the free product \(G*H\) with length \(k\) is given by \[ \frac{k^2}{192}\left(g(h-1)^2+(g-1)^2h\right)g^{\frac{k-4}{4}}h^{\frac{k-4}{4}}+O_{g,h}(kg^\frac{k}{4}h^\frac{k}{4}), \] where the implied constant only depends on \(g\) and \(h\), and is effectively computable. The proofs of these theorems use the description of commutators in free groups and in free products by \textit{M. J. Wicks} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 37, 433--444 (1962; Zbl 0107.01802)]. Wicks, in particular, showed that a word in a free group represents a commutator if and only if it is conjugate to a word \(XYZX^{-1}Y^{-1}Z^{-1}\) in which no cancellations are possible between the factors. The case of free products of groups is formulated more complicated although it is based on the same idea.