Computational complexity and the conjugacy problem

Abstract

The conjugacy problem for a finitely generated group $G$ is the two-variable problem of deciding for an arbitrary pair $(u,v)$ of elements of $G$, whether or not $u$ is conjugate to $v$ in $G$. We construct examples of finitely generated, computably presented groups such that for every element $u_0$ of $G$, the problem of deciding if an arbitrary element is conjugate to $u_0$ is decidable in quadratic time but the worst-case complexity of the global conjugacy problem is arbitrary: it can be any c.e. Turing degree , can exactly mirror the Time Hierarchy Theorem, or can be $\mathcal{NP}$-complete. Our groups also have the property that the conjugacy problem is generically linear time: that is, there is a linear time partial algorithm for the conjugacy problem whose domain has density $1$, so hard instances are very rare. We also consider the complexity relationship of the "half-conjugacy" problem to the conjugacy problem. In the last section we discuss the extreme opposite situation: groups with algorithmically finite conjugation.