Computing the signatures of subgroups of non-Euclidean crystallographic groups (Q517077)

A non-Euclidean crystallographic (NEC, in short) group \(\Delta\) is a subgroup of the automorphism group of the hyperbolic plane \(\mathbb{H}^2\), whose orbit space \(\mathbb{H}^2/ \Delta\) is a compact surface. If \(\Delta\) has only orientation-preserving elements, it is a Fuchsian group, and otherwise a proper NEC group. NEC groups are classified algebraically by means of a symbol called signature, which has the form \[ (g, \pm, [m_1, \dots, m_r], \{(n_{1,1}, \dots, n_{1,s_1}), \dots (n_{k,1}, \dots, n_{k,s_k})\}). \] In particular, the ordered sets \((n_{i,1}, \dots, n_{i,s_i})\) are called period-cycles. Given two NEC groups, \(\Delta\) and \(\Delta '\), their signatures allow to determine if the groups are isomorphic. So, the signs in the signatures are the same if the groups are isomorphic. Besides, let \((n_{i,1}, \dots, n_{i,s_i})\), \(i=1, \dots, k\) be the period-cycles on the signature of \(\Delta\), resp. \((n'_{j,1}, \dots, n'_{j,s_j})\), \(j=1, \dots, k'\) for \(\Delta '\). Then, if \(\Delta\) and \(\Delta '\) are isomorphic, \(k = k'\), while each \((n'_{j,1}, \dots, n'_{j,s_j})\) is a cyclic permutation of a \((n_{i,1}, \dots, n_{i,s_i})\) or of its inverse. When the sign in both signatures is \(``+" \), all those cyclic permutations are either direct or inverse; whilst if the signs are \(``-"\), some permutations are direct and others inverse. In order to use NEC groups as a tool to study compact surfaces, or real algebraic curves, it is very important to determine the signatures of the subgroups of an NEC group, which are also NEC groups. \textit{A. H. M. Hoare} gave in [Q. J. Math., Oxf. II. Ser. 41, No. 161, 45--59 (1990; Zbl 0693.20044)] a method to compute the signature of a subgroup \(\Gamma\) of an NEC group \(\Delta\). In the present paper the authors prove that the algorithm of Hoare fails in some cases with sign \(``+"\), when determining the direction of the period-cycles in the signature of the subgroup. This is shown by means of an example in which the signature of the subgroup \(\Gamma\) has four period-cycles with numbers \(\{6, 12, 24\}\), \(\{2, 12, 8\}\), \(\{6, 12, 24\}\) and \(\{8, 4, 6\}\). The Hoare method does not determine the order of the numbers in the four period-cycles. So in Section 5, the authors explain the algorithm that they have implemented in a MATLAB program, which computes the signatures of the subgroups in all cases. In the example above, they show that the period-cycles of \(\Gamma\) are actually \((6, 12, 24)\), \((8, 12, 2)\), \((6, 12, 24)\) and \((8, 4, 6)\).