Discrete and free groups acting on locally finite trees (Q2075932)

It is well known that a group \(G\) acting freely on a simplicial tree \(T\) is free. A particular case of a result by \textit{R. Weidmann} [Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. (3) 85, No. 1, 93--118 (2002; Zbl 1018.20020), Theorem 7], says that given a finite generating set \(S\) of \(G\), then either \(G\) is free, with free basis \(S\), or there is a Nielsen-equivalent generating set \(S'\) containing a (maybe trivial) elliptic element. Weidmann's result is obtained by minimizing a particular complexity involving the displacement of a base point by the generators. In the paper under review, the author introduces another complexity \(L(S)\) associated to a generating set defined in terms of translation lengths of the generators and their products. The author conjectures that if \(L(S)\) cannot be reduced by an explicit finite set of product replacements, then either some generator is elliptic or we can apply a ping pong lemma showing that \(G\) is freely generated by \(S\). Then the author proves that this conjecture holds in the case where \(\#S\leq 3\). The paper also shows that if the conjecture holds, and if \(T\) is a locally finite tree, then one can algorithmically decide which outcome of Weidmann's result [loc. cit.] holds.