On a conjecture of Higgins
free decompositionsfree productsGrushko's theoremHiggins conjectureKurosh theoremsurjective maps of groups
Free products of groups, free products with amalgamation, Higman-Neumann-Neumann extensions, and generalizations (20E06) Subgroup theorems; subgroup growth (20E07) Groupoids (i.e. small categories in which all morphisms are isomorphisms) (20L05) Sets with a single binary operation (groupoids) (20N02)
The following theorem has been proved by \textit{P. J. Higgins} in his work on a proof of Grushko's theorem [J. Algebra 4, 365-372 (1966; Zbl 0147.26903), and Notes on categories and groupoids, Van Nostrand Reinhold, London (1971; Zbl 0226.20054)]. Theorem 1. Suppose that \(\theta\colon G\to B\) is a surjective map of groups, where \(G\) and \(B\) are free products \(G=\prod^*_\lambda G_\lambda\) and \(B=\prod^*_\lambda B_\lambda\), and where \(\theta(G_\lambda)=B_\lambda\) for each \(\lambda\). Let \(H\) be a subgroup of \(G\) with the property that the restriction of \(\theta\) to \(H\) is surjective. Then there is a free decomposition \(\prod^*_\lambda H_\lambda\) of \(H\) with \(\theta(H_\lambda)=B_\lambda\) for each \(\lambda\). We recall the following well known Kurosh theorem (see, for example Higgins' book mentioned above). Theorem 2. Any subgroup \(H\) of a free product \(G=\prod^*_\lambda G_\lambda\) has a free decomposition \(H=\prod^*_{\lambda\mu}H_{\lambda\mu}*F\), in which (i) for each \(\lambda\), \(H_{\lambda\mu}\) is of the form \(H\cap x_{\lambda\mu}G_\lambda x_{\lambda\mu}^{-1}\), where, as \(\mu\) varies, \(x_{\lambda\mu}\) runs through a suitably chosen set of representatives of the double cosets \(HxG_\lambda\), and (ii) \(F\) is a free group. In order to show the utility of groupoid methods in combinatorial group theory Higgins asks whether one can strengthen the conclusion of Theorem 1 so that in the case when \(B\) is trivial it reduces to Theorem 2. In the article under review the authors carefully analyze the common strategy in the proof of these theorems and find that the proofs of them are seen to diverge in two strands, and the constructions entailed in these divergent approaches are in general incompatible. Moreover, any proof of Higgins' conjecture must require different techniques.
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