Gilman's conjecture (Q1989814)

\textit{R. Gilman} [Lect. Notes Comput. Sci. 174, 207--212 (1984; Zbl 0549.68025)] conjectured that a group $G$ is presented by a finite, monadic, confluent rewriting system if and only if $G$ is the free product of a finitely generated free group with finitely many finite groups. In some special cases, Gilman's conjecture was proved by \textit{J. Avenhaus} et al., [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 297, 427--443 (1986; Zbl 0604.20034)] and the second author [Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 91, No. 3, 426--434 (2015); Zbl 1335.20037]. Here, the authors prove the conjecture in its full generality (Theorem 5.3). They also give a new proof of \textit{Y. Cochet}'s result [In: Algebraic theory of semigroups. Amsterdam, Oxford, New York: North-Holland Publishing Company. 51--60 (1979; Zbl 0408.20054)] that a group $G$ is presented by a finite, special, confluent rewriting system if and only if $G$ is the free product finitely many cyclic groups (Theorem 4.8).