An exotic presentation of Z Z and the Andrews-Curtis conjecture

Generators, relations, and presentations of groups (20F05) Geometric group theory (20F65) Fundamental group, presentations, free differential calculus (57M05) Simple homotopy type, Whitehead torsion, Reidemeister-Franz torsion, etc. (57Q10)

Review text

Two presentations \(\langle x_1,\dots,x_m\mid r_1,\dots,r_n\rangle\) and \(\langle x'_1,\dots,x'_{m'}\mid r'_1,\dots,r'_{n'}\rangle\) are \emph{Q-equivalent} if one can be converted to the other by a sequence of changing a relator \(r_j\) to (i) \(r_jr_i\) (ii) \(r_j^{-1}\) (iii) \(r_j^g\) for some free group word \(g\). They are \textit{Q*-equivalent} if one allows (iv) \(r_j^\phi\) for some free group automorphism \(\phi\), and they are \textit{Q**-equivalent} if one also allows addition or deletion of a new generator paired with itself as a new relator. The (varying-strength) Andrews-Curtis conjectures assert that any two presentations of the trivial group with \(m=n\) generators and relators are Q-, Q*- or Q**-equivalent. This conjecture is still open; the difficulty is that one may not add an arbitrary number of trivial relators, whence all presentations of isomorphic group are Tietze-equivalent.\N\NThe contribution of this paper is an example of two presentations of \(\mathbb Z^2\) which are Q**-equivalent but not Q*-equivalent. They are above the minimal Euler characteristic, in that the presentations have two relators while the minimal number is one. Explicitly, they are\N\[\N\mathscr P=\langle x,y\mid [x,y],1\rangle\N\]\Nand\N\[\N\mathscr Q=\langle x,y\mid [x,[x,y^{-1}]]^2\cdot {}^y[y^{-1},x],[x,[[y^{-1},x],x]]\rangle.\N\]\NThe isomorphism of \(\mathscr Q\) to \(\mathbb Z^2\) is proven by a sequence of Tietze transformations.\N\NThe Q*-inequivalence is proven by computing the images of the relators in \(F'_{x,y}/F_{x,y}\cong\mathbb Z[X^{\pm1},Y^{\pm1}]=:R\). They are two vectors in \(R^2\) that are in the same \(\mathrm{GL}_2(R)\)-orbit but not the same \(E_2(R)\)-orbit, where \(E_2\) is the group of elementary \(2\times2\) matrices over \(R\).\N\NThe Q**-equivalence is proven by showing that the standard complexes of the presentations \(\mathscr P,\mathscr Q\) are simple homotopy equivalent (namely equivalent by a sequence of collapses and expansions). This follows from the fact that the standard complexes \(K_{\mathscr P}\), \(K_{\mathscr Q}\) have isomorphic fundamental groups and same Euler characteristic, thanks to the fact that \(\mathbb Z^2\) is aspherical -- the author recalls the elegant argument by \textit{J. Harlander} [Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 446, 1--26 (2018; Zbl 1435.57014)].

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