Computer Search for Nilpotent Complexes (Q4376779)

The authors, together with a team of undergraduate students at Fordham University, used computers to search for three-dimensional finite nilpotent complexes over groups of the form \(\mathbb{Z}_n\oplus \mathbb{Z}_m\). Such complexes were eventually found for \(\mathbb{Z}_2\oplus \mathbb{Z}_6\), \(\mathbb{Z}_2\oplus \mathbb{Z}_{10}\), and \(\mathbb{Z}_3\oplus \mathbb{Z}_6\). The present paper describes the strategy for constructing nilpotent complexes of dimension three, and some of the issues in implementing the computer search. The main computational issues are ``normalizing'' matrices, especially to the Smith normal form, and mapping matrices over \(\mathbb{Z}\) to matrices over \(\mathbb{Z}_p\) for various primes \(p\). The authors conclude with a summary of the complexes discovered and open questions.