arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Carl-Fredrik Nyberg-Brodda.
Let $n\ge 2$, and let $M$ be either the $n$-dimensional sphere $\mathbb{S}^n$ or the real projective space $\mathbb{RP}^n$. Given $α\ge 1$, we construct a finitely generated group $G_{n,α}$ that embeds into the group of $C^α$-diffeomorphisms of $M$, but does not embed into the group of $C^β$-diffeomorphisms of $M$ for any $β>α$.
We prove that the Diophantine problem, i.e. the problem of solving equations with coefficients, in one-relator groups and one-relation monoids is undecidable in general. Specifically, we show that for all $d \geq 2$, the Diophantine problem for the Baumslag-Gersten group $\mathcal{B}_d = \operatorname{BG}(1,d)$ and for a closely related one-relation monoid $\mathcal{M}_d$ are both undecidable. Both results are obtained by an encoding of a recent undecidability result due to Rybalov.
For $m=5$ and for every $m \geq 7$ we construct families of pairwise non-isomorphic free-by-cyclic groups isomorphic to $F_{2m} \rtimes \mathbb{Z}$ having isomorphic profinite completions. This answers a question of Bridson & Reid from 2015.
We show that the $n$-strand braid group $\mathbf{B}_n$ is not profinitely rigid when $n \geq 4$. We do this by exhibiting a family of pairwise non-isomorphic, finitely presented residually finite groups with the same profinite completion as $\mathbf{B}_n$. This answers a well-known problem negatively, and gives the first known examples of non-profinitely rigid mapping class groups.
We construct a simple and useful sufficient condition, based on actions on a lattice of idempotents, for monoids admitting homomorphisms to the monogenic free inverse monoid $\mathrm{FIM}(1)$ to not be of type $\mathrm{FP}_2$. This recovers a result of Gray and Steinberg that free inverse monoids are not of type $\mathrm{FP}_2$. The same technique is then used to show that a finitely generated submonoid of $\mathrm{FIM}(1)$ is of type $\mathrm{FP}_2$ if and only if it is finitely presented, answering a question of Cho & Ruškuc.
We prove that a certain representation of the Baumslag-Gersten one-relator group $\mathrm{BG}(1,2)$ by germs of continuous functions is not faithful. This gives a negative answer to a problem of A. Yu. Olshanskii from 2010 (Problem 17.99 in the Kourovka Notebook).
The density of a rational language can be understood as the frequency of some pattern in the shift space, for example a pattern like "words with an even number of a given letter." We study the density of group languages, i.e. rational languages recognized by morphisms onto finite groups, inside shift spaces. We show that the density with respect to any given ergodic measure on a shift space exists for every group language, because it can be computed by using any ergodic lift of the given measure to a skew product between the shift space and the recognizing group. We then further study densities in shifts of finite type (with a suitable notion of irreducibility), and then in minimal shifts. In the latter case, we obtain a closed formula for the density under the condition that the aforementioned skew product has minimal closed invariant subsets which are ergodic under the product of the original measure and the uniform probability measure on the group. The formula is derived in part from a characterization of minimal closed invariant subsets for skew products between shifts and finite groups relying on notions of cocycles and coboundaries. In the case where the whole skew product is ergodic under the product measure, then the density is just the cardinality of the subset of the group which defines the language divided by the cardinality of the group. Moreover, we provide sufficient conditions for the skew product to have minimal closed invariant subsets that are ergodic under the product measure. Finally, we investigate the link between minimal closed invariant subsets, return words and bifix codes.
The second homology group is of central importance in the study of profinite rigidity of $3$-manifold groups. Although general and deep results imply that the integral homology of cocompact hyperbolic $3$-orbifold groups is computable in principle, the resulting algorithm is not practical. We develop an effective method for computing $H_2$ in the case of orbifold groups arising as finite extensions of the fundamental group of hyperbolic rational homology $3$-spheres. As a special case, this yields explicit computations of the second homology groups of all cocompact lattices between $π_1(\mathcal{W})$ and its normalizer in $\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb C)$, where $\mathcal{W}$ is the Weeks manifold. We also show that these lattices are absolutely profinitely rigid, completing work by Bridson, McReynolds, Reid & Spitler in this setting. As a special case, we determine that $H_2(Γ_{\mathcal{O}}, \mathbb Z) \cong \mathbb{Z} / 2\mathbb{Z}$, where $Γ_{\mathcal{O}}$ is the normalizer of the group of units $Γ_{\mathcal{O}}^1$ in a choice of maximal order $\mathcal{O}$ of the quaternion algebra associated to $\mathcal{W}$, thereby answering a question of Bridson & Reid. Although this non-vanishing obstructs one possible construction of Grothendieck pairs in $Γ_{\mathcal{O}}^1 \times Γ_{\mathcal{O}}^1$, we use our computations to show the vanishing of the second homology of another lattice whose derived subgroup is $Γ_{\mathcal{O}}^1$, which then yields Grothendieck pairs in this direct product by a theorem of Bridson & Reid. Finally, to showcase the generality of the techniques, we also compute the second homology of some finite extensions by orientable isometries of the fundamental group of some Fibonacci manifolds $M_n$.
We give a short proof of the following result due to Howie: if $A(Γ)$ is a right-angled Artin group embedding into some one-relator group, then $Γ$ is a finite forest. The proof only uses elementary Bass--Serre theory and classical properties of one-relator groups.
The Higman-Neumann-Neumann (HNN) paper of 1949 is a landmark of group theory in the twentieth century. The proof of its main theorem covers less than a page and uses only pre-existing technology, but the construction that it introduced -- the HNN extension -- quickly became one of the principal tools of combinatorial group theory, widely used to build new groups and to describe enlightening decompositions of existing groups. In this article, we shall describe the contents of the HNN paper, and then discuss some of the important developments that followed in its wake, leading up to the central role that HNN extensions play in the Bass--Serre theory of groups acting on trees.
We prove (using grammars) that the free inverse monoid of every finite rank has co-context-free word problem. Equivalently, the co-word problem of the free inverse monoid of every finite rank is context-free.
We study several natural decision problems in braid groups and Artin groups. We classify the Artin groups with decidable submonoid membership problem in terms of the non-existence of certain forbidden induced subgraphs of the defining graph. Furthermore, we also classify the Artin groups for which the following problems are decidable: the rational subset membership problem, semigroup intersection problem, and the fixed-target submonoid membership problem. In the case of braid groups our results show that the submonoid membership problem, and each and every one of these problems, is decidable in the braid group $\mathbf{B}_n$ if and only if $n \leq 3$, which answers an open problem of Potapov (2013). Our results also generalize and extend results of Lohrey & Steinberg (2008) who classified right-angled Artin groups with decidable submonoid (and rational subset) membership problem.
We study the structure of a series of groups $Γ_n^4$ defined by Kim and Manturov. We show that the groups are finite for all $n \ge 6$ and in fact they are 2-step nilpotent $2$-groups.
We study subsets of groups and monoids defined by language-theoretic means, generalizing the classical approach to the word problem. We expand on results by Herbst from 1991 to a more general setting, and for a class of languages $\mathbf{C}$ we define the classes of $\mathbf{C}^\forall$-flat and $\mathbf{C}^\exists$-flat groups. We prove several closure results for these classes of groups, prove a connection with the word problem, and characterize $\mathbf{C}^\forall$-flat groups for several classes of languages. In general, we prove that the class of $\mathbf{C}^\forall$-flat groups is a strict subclass of the class of groups with word problem in $\mathbf{C}$, including for the class $\mathbf{REC}$ of recursive languages, for which $\mathbf{C}^\forall$-flatness for a group resp. monoid is proved to be equivalent to the decidability of the subgroup membership problem resp. the submonoid membership problem. We provide a number of examples, including the Tarski monsters of Ol'shanskii, showing the difficulty of characterizing $\mathbf{C}^\exists$-flat groups. As an application of our general methods, we also prove in passing that if $\mathbf{C}$ is a full semi-$\mathrm{AFL}$, then the class of epi-$\mathbf{C}$ groups is closed under taking finite index subgroups. This answers a question recently posed by Al Kohli, Bleak & Elliott.
This is an English translation of three articles, originally written in German, by Wilhelm Magnus (1907--1990). The articles are from 1930, 1931, and 1932, respectively, and were the first articles published on one-relator group theory. The first article gives a proof of the famous Freiheitssatz, and many applications of the same. The second investigates various topics in combinatorial group theory, including determining the automorphism group of the figure-eight knot group, listing the subgroups of the modular group, and a proof of the decidability of the word problem in a restricted class of one-relator groups. The third gives a proof of the decidability of the word problem in all one-relator groups. A short preface is provided, summarizing the articles.
The theory of one-relator groups is now almost a century old. The authors therefore feel that a comprehensive survey of this fascinating subject is in order, and this document is an attempt at precisely such a survey. This article is divided into two chapters, reflecting the two different phases in the story of one-relator groups. The first chapter, written by the second author, covers the historical development of the theory roughly until the advent of geometric group theory. The second chapter, written by the first author, covers the recent progress in the theory up until the present day. The two chapters can be read independently of one another and have minimal overlap.
This is an English translation of four remarkable articles, originally written in Russian, by Sergei Ivanovich Adian (1931--2020), supplemented by the translation of two closely related articles by Andrei Andreevich Markov Jr (1903--1979). All six articles concern algorithmic undecidability of various problems for groups and monoids. The articles by S. I. Adian give his proof of the famous "Adian-Rabin Theorem", which shows that there is no algorithm which takes as input a finite presentation of a group together with a "Markov" property $P$ (e.g. being the trivial group, being infinite, etc.), and which outputs whether or not the presented group has property $P$. The articles by A. A. Markov (Jr) give the analogous result for monoids (a significantly easier result), and appeared several years before the group-theoretic analogue. A preface detailing the contents of the articles and some commentary is provided, including the somewhat difficult task of deciding which of Adian's four articles should be considered as containing "the" proof of the Adian-Rabin theorem.
The free regular $\star$-monoid of rank $r$ is the freest $r$-generated regular monoid $\mathbf{F}_r^\star$ in which every element $m$ has a distinguished pseudo-inverse $m^\star$ satisfying $mm^\star m = m$ and $(m^\star)^\star = m$. We study the growth rate of the monogenic regular $\star$-monoid $\mathbf{F}_1^\star$, and prove that this growth rate is intermediate. In particular, we deduce that $\mathbf{F}_r^\star$ is not rational or automatic for any $r \geq 1$, yielding the analogue of a result of Cutting & Solomon for free inverse monoids. Next, for all ranks $r \geq 1$ we determine the integral homology groups $H_\ast(\mathbf{F}_r^\star, \mathbb{Z})$, and by constructing a collapsing scheme prove that they vanish in dimension $3$ and above. As a corollary, we deduce that the free regular $\star$-monoid $\mathbf{F}_r^\star$ of rank $r \geq 1$ does not have the homological finiteness property $\operatorname{FP}_2$, yielding the analogue of a result of Gray & Steinberg for free inverse monoids.