Finding non-trivial elements and splittings in groups.

DOI10.1016/J.JALGEBRA.2010.12.013zbMATH Open1244.20034arXiv1002.2786OpenAlexW2126719858MaRDI QIDQ716463FDOQ716463

Authors: Maurice Chiodo 

Publication date: 22 September 2011

Published in: Journal of Algebra (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: It is well known that the triviality problem for finitely presented groups is unsolvable; we ask the question of whether there exists a general procedure to produce a non-trivial element from a finite presentation of a non-trivial group. If not, then this would resolve an open problem by J. Wiegold: `Is every finitely generated perfect group the normal closure of one element?' We prove a weakened version of our question: there is no general procedure to pick a non-trivial generator from a finite presentation of a non-trivial group. We also show there is neither a general procedure to decompose a finite presentation of a non-trivial free product into two non-trivial finitely presented factors, nor one to construct an embedding from one finitely presented group into another in which it embeds. We apply our results to show that a construction by Stallings on splitting groups with more than one end can never be made algorithmic, nor can the process of splitting connect sums of non-simply connected closed 4-manifolds.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1002.2786

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zbMATH Keywords

recursion theoryfinitely presented groupsalgorithms in groupsdecision problems in groupsfinite presentations of groupspartial algorithmsrecursively unsolvable problems

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Free products of groups, free products with amalgamation, Higman-Neumann-Neumann extensions, and generalizations (20E06) Generators, relations, and presentations of groups (20F05) Word problems, other decision problems, connections with logic and automata (group-theoretic aspects) (20F10) Applications of computability and recursion theory (03D80)

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Cited In (5)

• Detecting geometric splittings in finitely presented groups
• The subgroup identification problem for finitely presented groups.
• Torsion, torsion length and finitely presented groups
• Finitely annihilated groups.
• Finding intermediate subgroups

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