Free and fragmenting filling length. (Q863354)

Given finite presentation \(\mathcal P\) of the group \(\Gamma\) there are several functions \(M\colon\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{N}\) defined for estimation of the maximal length \(\ell(w)\leq n\) of a null-homotopic loop in the Cayley 2-complex \(\text{Cay}^2(\mathcal P)\) corresponding to the word \(w\). The filling length function \(\text{FL}\) was defined by \textit{M. Gromov} [Geometric group theory, Vol. 2: Asymptotic invariants of infinite groups, Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 182 (1993; Zbl 0841.20039)]. For a null-homotopic word \(w\) the function \(\text{FL}(w)\) is the minimal combinatorial length \(L\) such that \(w\) admits a base-preserving combinatorial null-homotopy through loops of length at most \(L\). The authors introduce free (fragmented free) filling length \(\text{FFL}(w)\) (\(\text{FFFL}(w)\)) of the word \(w\) in a similar way but without the requirement on the base point to be fixed (allowing the contracting loops to bifurcate). All the functions \(\text{FL},\text{FFL},\text{FFFL}\colon\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{N}\) are quasi-isometric invariants up to the following equivalence \(f\simeq g\) of functions. For \(f,g\colon\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{N}\) the notation \(f\preceq g\) means that for some constant \(C>0\) we have the inequality \(f(l)\leq Cg(Cl+C)+Cl+C\) for all \(l\in\mathbb{N}\). The equivalence \(f\simeq g\) holds when \(f\preceq g\) and \(g\preceq f\). The authors construct an example of a group \(\Gamma\) with finite aspherical presentation \(\mathcal Q\) such that: (i) there is a sequence of null-homotopic words \(w_n\) with length \(\ell(w_n)=8n+8\), and \(\text{FFL}(w_n)\simeq n\) but \(\text{FL}(w_n)\simeq 2^n\); (ii) the filling functions \(\text{IDiam}\) (intrinsic diameter), \(\text{Area}\) (combinatorial area of van Kampen diagram), \(\text{FL}\), \(\text{FFL}\) and \(\text{FFFL}\colon\mathbb{N}\to\mathbb{N}\) satisfy \[ \text{IDiam}(n)\simeq\text{FL}(n)\simeq \text{FFL}(n)\simeq\text{Area}(n)\simeq 2^n \] but \(\text{FFFL}(n)\simeq n\). A question remains open: does there exist a finite presentation for which \(\text{FL}(n)\not\simeq\text{FFL}(n)\) or \(\text{FFL}(n)\not\simeq\text{FFFL}(n)\)?