On Ulam widths of finitely presented infinite simple groups
For a simple group \(G\), the paper considers the notion of \(n\)-uniform simplicity and the associated Ulam width \(\mathcal R(G)\), defined as the least \(n\) such that every nontrivial element is a product of at most \(n\) conjugates of a fixed nontrivial element and its inverse. The main result constructs, for each \(n\in\mathbb N\), a finitely presented infinite simple group \(G\) with \(n<\mathcal R(G)<\infty\). This provides a family of finitely presented infinite simple groups with finite but unbounded Ulam width, extending to the finitely presented setting the earlier existence result for finitely generated simple groups due to \textit{A.~Muranov} [Int. J. Algebra Comput. 17, No. 3, 607--659 (2007; Zbl 1141.20022)].\N\NThe construction is explicit. The authors define groups \(\Omega_n\leq \mathrm{Homeo}^+(\mathbb R)\) by means of \(1\)-periodic piecewise linear homeomorphisms with dyadic breakpoints and a congruence condition relating the derivative to an integer-valued cocycle and then pass to quotients acting on \(S^1\). The resulting derived subgroups \(\Gamma_n'\) are shown to be uniformly simple, finitely presented and of type \(F_\infty\), with a lower bound on \(\mathcal R(\Gamma_n')\) that tends to infinity with \(n\).\N\NThe paper also studies the analogous width for uniform perfection. It proves that the commutator width of the groups \(\Gamma_n'\) is finite and unbounded in the family, yielding the first such family among finitely presented infinite simple groups. The arguments combine the structure of the constructed piecewise linear groups with quantitative control on products of conjugates and commutators.\N\NThe notion of uniform simplicity is sometimes attributed to an announcement of \textit{S.~M.~Ulam} and \textit{J.~von Neumann} [Bull. AMS 53, p. 506 (1947)], where it was claimed that the identity component of the group of orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of the sphere is simple, with a uniform bound on the number of conjugates needed to express an arbitrary element. However, this result appeared only as a brief announcement and was not followed by a complete published proof. Rigorous proofs of simplicity for groups of homeomorphisms were obtained later, notably by \textit{R.~D.~Anderson} [Am. J. Math. 80, 955--963 (1958; Zbl 0090.38802)] and \textit{G.~M.~Fisher} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 97, 193--212 (1960; Zbl 0144.22902)] and subsequently extended using deeper topological results. For a clear historical overview of these developments and their modern context, see the interesting and well-written paper by \textit{E.~Ghys} [Astérisque 446, 251--284, Exp. No. 1204 (2023; Zbl 1545.57023)].
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