On the Orbits of Automaton Semigroups and Groups

arXiv2007.10273MaRDI QIDQ6345485FDOQ6345485

Authors: Daniele D'Angeli, Dominik Francoeur, Emanuele Rodaro, Jan Philipp Wächter 

Publication date: 16 July 2020

Abstract: We investigate the orbits of automaton semigroups and groups to obtain algorithmic and structural results, both for general automata but also for some special subclasses. First, we show that a more general version of the finiteness problem for automaton groups is undecidable. This problem is equivalent to the finiteness problem for left principal ideals in automaton semigroups generated by complete and reversible automata. Then, we look at $omega$-word (i.e. right infinite words) with a finite orbit. We show that every automaton yielding an $omega$-word with a finite orbit already yields an ultimately periodic one, which is not periodic in general, however. On the algorithmic side, we observe that it is not possible to decide whether a given periodic $omega$-word has an infinite orbit and that we cannot check whether a given reversible and complete automaton admits an $omega$-word with a finite orbit, a reciprocal problem to the finiteness problem for automaton semigroups in the reversible case. Finally, we look at automaton groups generated by reversible but not bi-reversible automata and show that many words have infinite orbits under the action of such automata.

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Algebraic theory of languages and automata (68Q70) Word problems, other decision problems, connections with logic and automata (group-theoretic aspects) (20F10) Representation of semigroups; actions of semigroups on sets (20M30) Semigroups in automata theory, linguistics, etc. (20M35) Structure and classification of infinite or finite groups (20E99)

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