arXiv subjects

Mark Kambites

Publications and source records attributed to Mark Kambites.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Free adequate semigroups

We give an explicit description of the free objects in the quasivariety of adequate semigroups, as sets of labelled directed trees under a natural combinatorial multiplication. The morphisms of the free adequate semigroup onto the free ample semigroup and into the free inverse semigroup are realised by a combinatorial "folding" operation which transforms our trees into Munn trees. We use these results to show that free adequate semigroups and monoids are J-trivial and never finitely generated as semigroups, and that those which are finitely generated as (2,1,1)-algebras have decidable word problem.

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arXiv2009

Free left and right adequate semigroups

Recent research of the author has given an explicit geometric description of free (two-sided) adequate semigroups and monoids, as sets of labelled directed trees under a natural combinatorial multiplication. In this paper we show that there are natural embeddings of each free right adequate and free left adequate semigroup or monoid into the corresponding free adequate semigroup or monoid. The corresponding classes of trees are easily described and the resulting geometric representation of free left adequate and free right adequate semigroups is even easier to understand than that in the two-sided case. We use it to establish some basic structural properties of free left and right adequate semigroups and monoids.

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arXiv2008

Small overlap monoids II: automatic structures and normal forms

We show that any finite monoid or semigroup presentation satisfying the small overlap condition C(4) has word problem which is a deterministic rational relation. It follows that the set of lexicographically minimal words forms a regular language of normal forms, and that these normal forms can be computed in linear time. We also deduce that C(4) monoids and semigroups are rational (in the sense of Sakarovitch), asynchronous automatic, and word hyperbolic (in the sense of Duncan and Gilman). From this it follows that C(4) monoids satisfy analogues of Kleene's theorem, and admit decision algorithms for the rational subset and finitely generated submonoid membership problems. We also prove some automata-theoretic results which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2008

On generic properties of finitely presented monoids and semigroups

We study the generic properties of finitely presented monoids and semigroups. We show that for positive integers a > 1, k and m, the generic a-generator k-relation monoid and semigroup presentation (defined in any of several definite statistical senses) satisfy the small overlap condition C(m). It follows that the generic monoid is torsion-free and J-trivial and, by a recent result of the author, admits a linear time solution to its word problem and a regular language of unique normal forms for its elements. Moreover, the uniform word problem for finitely presented monoids is generically solvable in time linear in the word lengths and quadratic in the presentation size. We also prove some technical results about generic sets which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2008

Graph products of right cancellative monoids

Our first main result shows that a graph product of right cancellative monoids is itself right cancellative. If each of the component monoids satisfies the condition that the intersection of two principal left ideals is either principal or empty, then so does the graph product. Our second main result gives a presentation for the inverse hull of such a graph product. We then specialise to the case of the inverse hulls of graph monoids, obtaining what we call polygraph monoids. Among other properties, we observe that polygraph monoids are F*-inverse. This follows from a general characterisation of those right cancellative monoids with inverse hulls that are F*-inverse.

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arXiv2007

Small overlap monoids: the word problem

We develop a combinatorial approach to the study of semigroups and monoids with finite presentations satisfying small overlap conditions. In contrast to existing geometric methods, our approach facilitates a sequential left-right analysis of words which lends itself to the development of practical, efficient computational algorithms. In particular, we obtain a highly practical linear time solution to the word problem for monoids and semigroups with finite presentations satisfying the condition C(4), and a polynomial time solution to the uniform word problem for presentations satisfying the same condition.

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arXiv2007

Rational subsets of polycyclic monoids and valence automata

We study the classes of languages defined by valence automata with rational target sets (or equivalently, regular valence grammars with rational target sets), where the valence monoid is drawn from the important class of polycyclic monoids. We show that for polycyclic monoids of rank 2 or more, such automata accept exactly the context-free languages. For the polycyclic monoid of rank 1 (that is, the bicyclic monoid), they accept a class of languages strictly including the partially blind one-counter languages. Key to the proof is a description of the rational subsets of polycyclic and bicyclic monoids, other consequences of which include the decidability of the rational subset membership problem for these monoids, and the closure of the class of rational subsets under intersection and complement.

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arXiv2007

Formal languages and groups as memory

We present an exposition of the theory of finite automata augmented with a multiply-only register storing an element of a given monoid or group. Included are a number of new results of a foundational nature. We illustrate our techniques with a group-theoretic interpretation and proof of a key theorem of Chomsky and Schutzenberger from formal language theory.

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arXiv2007

Rational semigroup automata

We show that for any monoid M, the family of languages accepted by M-automata (or equivalently, generated by regular valence grammars over M) is completely determined by that part of M which lies outside the maximal ideal. Hence, every such family arises as the family of languages accepted by N-automata where N is a simple or 0-simple monoid. A consequence is that every such family is either the class of regular languages, contains all the blind one-counter languages, or is the family of languages accepted by G-automata for G a non-locally-finite torsion group. We consider a natural extension of the usual definition which permits the automata to utilise more of the structure of each monoid, and also allows us to define S-automata for S an arbitrary semigroup. In the monoid case, the resulting automata are equivalent to the valence automata with rational target sets} which arise in the theory of regulated rewriting systems. We study the case that the register semigroup is completely simple or completely 0-simple, obtaining a complete characterisation of the classes of languages corresponding to such semigroups in terms of their maximal subgroups. In the process, we obtain a number of results about rational subsets of Rees matrix semigroups which may be of independent interest.

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arXiv2007

The loop problem for Rees matrix semigroups

We study the relationship between the loop problem of a semigroup, and that of a Rees matrix construction (with or without zero) over the semigroup. This allows us to characterize exactly those completely zero-simple semigroups for which the loop problem is context-free. We also establish some results concerning loop problems for subsemigroups and Rees quotients.

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arXiv2006

On groups and counter automata

We study finitely generated groups whose word problems are accepted by counter automata. We show that a group has word problem accepted by a blind n-counter automaton in the sense of Greibach if and only if it is virtually free abelian of rank n; this result, which answers a question of Gilman, is in a very precise sense an abelian analogue of the Muller-Schupp theorem. More generally, if G is a virtually abelian group then every group with word problem recognised by a G-automaton is virtually abelian with growth class bounded above by the growth class of G. We consider also other types of counter automata.

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arXiv2006

The loop problem for monoids and semigroups

We propose a way of associating to each finitely generated monoid or semigroup a formal language, called its loop problem. In the case of a group, the loop problem is essentially the same as the word problem in the sense of combinatorial group theory. Like the word problem for groups, the loop problem is regular if and only if the monoid is finite. We study also the case in which the loop problem is context-free, showing that a celebrated group-theoretic result of Muller and Schupp extends to describe completely simple semigroups with context-free loop problems. We consider also right cancellative monoids, establishing connections between the loop problem and the structural theory of these semigroups by showing that the syntactic monoid of the loop problem is the inverse hull of the monoid.

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arXiv2006

On the rational subset problem for groups

We use language theory to study the rational subset problem for groups and monoids. We show that the decidability of this problem is preserved under graph of groups constructions with finite edge groups. In particular, it passes through free products amalgamated over finite subgroups and HNN extensions with finite associated subgroups. We provide a simple proof of a result of Grunschlag showing that the decidability of this problem is a virtual property. We prove further that the problem is decidable for a direct product of a group G with a monoid M if and only if membership is uniformly decidable for G-automata subsets of M. It follows that a direct product of a free group with any abelian group or commutative monoid has decidable rational subset membership.

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arXiv2006

On commuting elements and embeddings of graph groups and monoids

We study commutation properties of subsets of right-angled Artin groups and trace monoids. We show that if Gamma is any graph not containing a four-cycle without chords, then the group G(Gamma) does not contain four elements whose commutation graph is a four-cycle; a consequence is that G(Gamma) does not have a subgroup isomorphic to a direct product of non-abelian free groups. We also obtain corresponding and more general results for monoids.

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arXiv2005

Wreath product decompositions for triangular matrix semigroups

We consider wreath product decompositions for semigroups of triangular matrices. We exhibit an explicit wreath product decomposition for the semigroup of all n-by-n upper triangular matrices over a given field k, in terms of aperiodic semigroups and affine groups over k. In the case that k is finite this decomposition is optimal, in the sense that the number of group terms is equal to the group complexity of the semigroup. We also obtain some decompositions for semigroups of triangular matrices over more general rings and semirings.

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arXiv2005

Uniform decision problems in automatic semigroups

We consider various decision problems for automatic semigroups, which involve the provision of an automatic structure as part of the problem instance. With mild restrictions on the automatic structure, which seem to be necessary to make the problem well-defined, the uniform word problem for semigroups described by automatic structures is decidable. Under the same conditions, we show that one can also decide whether the semigroup is completely simple or completely zero-simple; in the case that it is, one can compute a Rees matrix representation for the semigroup, in the form of a Rees matrix together with an automatic structure for its maximal subgroup. On the other hand, we show that it is undecidable in general whether a given element of a given automatic monoid has a right inverse.

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arXiv2005

Automatic Rees matrix semigroups over categories

We consider the preservation of the properties of automaticity and prefix-automaticity in Rees matrix semigroups over semigroupoids and small categories. Some of our results are new or improve upon existing results in the single-object case of Rees matrix semigroups over semigroups.

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arXiv2005

The Spectra of Lamplighter Groups and Cayley Machines

We calculate the spectra and spectral measures associated to random walks on restricted wreath products of finite groups with the infinite cyclic group, by calculating the Kesten-von Neumann-Serre spectral measures for the random walks on Schreier graphs of certain groups generated by automata. This generalises the work of Grigorchuk and Zuk on the lamplighter group. In the process we characterise when the usual spectral measure for a group generated by automata coincides with the Kesten-von Neumann-Serre spectral measure.

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