Powers with minimal commutator length in free products of groups

Abstract: Given a free product of groups

G = {l a r g e *}_{j i n J} A_{j}

and a natural number

n

, what is the minimal possible commutator length of an element

g^{n} i n G

not conjugate to elements of the free factors? We give an exhaustive answer to this question.

Review text

In any group, the cube of a commutator is a product of two commutators: \[ [a,b]^{3}=[a^{-1}ba, a^{-2}bab^{-1}][bab^{-1}, b^{2}], \] furthermore \([a,b]^{n}\) can be written as product of \(\lfloor n/2 \rfloor+1\) commutators [\textit{M. Culler}, Topology 20, 133--145 (1981; Zbl 0452.20038)]. Let \(G\) be a group with a free-product decomposition: \(G=\ast_{j \in J} A_{j}\), \(\widehat{G}\) the set elements of \(G\) not conjugate to elements of the free factors, \(k(G,n)\) the minimal number \(k\) such that an element \(g^{n} \in \widehat{G}\) can be decomposed into a product of \(k\) commutators and \(N(G)\) the minimal order of a nonidentity element of \(G\). The main result of this paper (Theorem 1) is that \(k(G,n)=\lfloor n/2 \rfloor-\lfloor n/N(G) \rfloor +1\). This result is refined in Theorems 2 and 3.

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