Finitely presented monoids with linear Dehn function need not have regular cross-sections. (Q2247984)

Let \(A\) be a finite alphabet, \(\mathcal R=\{l\to r\}\), \(l,r\in A^*\), a finite set of rewriting rules, \(\to_{\mathcal R}^*\) the reduction relation and \(\leftrightarrow _{\mathcal R}^*\) the Thue congruence generated by the rewriting system \((A,\mathcal R)\). The rewriting system \((A,\mathcal R)\) is complete if it is Noetherian (can not generate infinite sequences of reductions) and confluent, i.e. for any \(u,u',u''\in A^*\), \(u\to_{\mathcal R}^*u'\), \(u\to _{\mathcal R}^*u''\) there exists \(v\in A^*\) such that \(u'\to_{\mathcal R}^*v\), \(u''\to_{\mathcal R}^*v\). A cross-section for the monoid \(M\) generated is a set of words (language) containing exactly one word from each \(\leftrightarrow_{\mathcal R}^*\)-class. For \(u,v\in A^*\), \(u\leftrightarrow_{\mathcal R}^*v\), let \(d_{\mathcal R}(u,v)\) be the least number of rules from \(\mathcal R\) needed to reduce \(u\) to \(v\); the Dehn function \(D_{M;A,\mathcal R}(n)=\max\{d_{\mathcal R}(u,v),\;|u|+|v|\leqslant n\}\). The authors study a complete rewriting system on four-element alphabet and show that the generated monoid has linear Dehn function, but does not have a regular cross-section. This is in contrast with the situation in groups -- finitely presented groups with linear Dehn function always have regular cross-sections.