Cogrowth of groups and the Dedekind–Frobenius group determinant (Q4351104)

Let \(F=\langle a_1,\ldots,a_n\rangle\) be a free group, \(G=F/N\) and \(\gamma(k)\) be the number of freely reduced words from \(N\) having length not greater then \(k\). The number \(\log\lim_{k\to\infty}\gamma(k)^{1/k}/\log(2n-1)\) is called the cogrowth of the presentation \(G=F/N\). The author suggests a method for calculating cogrowth and related cogrowth functions of various types of groups (abelian, dihedral). Nice examples shows that the behaviour of the cogrowth functions is far from being trivial. Especially interesting are connections with the group determinant (which is the key idea) and trigonometric diophantine equations. Four open problems concerning cogrowth are formulated in the very end of the article.