arXiv subjects

Philippe Malbos

Publications and source records attributed to Philippe Malbos.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Polygraphs of finite derivation type

Craig Squier proved that, if a monoid can be presented by a finite convergent string rewriting system, then it satisfies the homological finiteness condition left-FP3. Using this result, he constructed finitely presentable monoids with a decidable word problem, but that cannot be presented by finite convergent rewriting systems. Later, he introduced the condition of finite derivation type, which is a homotopical finiteness property on the presentation complex associated to a monoid presentation. He showed that this condition is an invariant of finite presentations and he gave a constructive way to prove this finiteness property based on the computation of the critical branchings: being of finite derivation type is a necessary condition for a finitely presented monoid to admit a finite convergent presentation. This survey presents Squier's results in the contemporary language of polygraphs and higher-dimensional categories, with new proofs and relations between them.

math.CT↗

arXiv2016

Knuth's Coherent Presentations of Plactic Monoids of Type A

We construct finite coherent presentations of plactic monoids of type A. Such coherent presentations express a system of generators and relations for the monoid extended in a coherent way to give a family of generators of the relations amongst the relations. Such extended presentations are used for representations of monoids, in particular, it is a way to describe actions of monoids on categories. Moreover, a coherent presentation provides the first step in the computation of a categorical cofibrant replacement of a monoid. Our construction is based on a rewriting method introduced by Squier that computes a coherent presentation from a convergent one. We compute a finite coherent presentation of a plactic monoid from its column presentation that is known to be finite and convergent. Finally, we show how to reduce this coherent presentation to a Tietze equivalent one having Knuth's generators.

math.CO↗

arXiv2015

Coherent presentations of Artin monoids

We compute coherent presentations of Artin monoids, that is presentations by generators, relations, and relations between the relations. For that, we use methods of higher-dimensional rewriting that extend Squier's and Knuth-Bendix's completions into a homotopical completion-reduction, applied to Artin's and Garside's presentations. The main result of the paper states that the so-called Tits-Zamolodchikov 3-cells extend Artin's presentation into a coherent presentation. As a byproduct, we give a new constructive proof of a theorem of Deligne on the actions of an Artin monoid on a category.

math.CT↗

arXiv2012

Higher-dimensional normalisation strategies for acyclicity

We introduce acyclic polygraphs, a notion of complete categorical cellular model for (small) categories, containing generators, relations and higher-dimensional globular syzygies. We give a rewriting method to construct explicit acyclic polygraphs from convergent presentations. For that, we introduce higher-dimensional normalisation strategies, defined as homotopically coherent ways to relate each cell of a polygraph to its normal form, then we prove that acyclicity is equivalent to the existence of a normalisation strategy. Using acyclic polygraphs, we define a higher-dimensional homotopical finiteness condition for higher categories which extends Squier's finite derivation type for monoids. We relate this homotopical property to a new homological finiteness condition that we introduce here.

math.CT↗

arXiv2010

Coherence in monoidal track categories

We introduce homotopical methods based on rewriting on higher-dimensional categories to prove coherence results in categories with an algebraic structure. We express the coherence problem for (symmetric) monoidal categories as an asphericity problem for a track category and we use rewriting methods on polygraphs to solve it. The setting is extended to more general coherence problems, seen as 3-dimensional word problems in a track category, including the case of braided monoidal categories.

math.CT↗

arXiv2010

Identities among relations for higher-dimensional rewriting systems

We generalize the notion of identities among relations, well known for presentations of groups, to presentations of n-categories by polygraphs. To each polygraph, we associate a track n-category, generalizing the notion of crossed module for groups, in order to define the natural system of identities among relations. We relate the facts that this natural system is finitely generated and that the polygraph has finite derivation type.

math.CT↗

arXiv2009

Higher-dimensional categories with finite derivation type

We study convergent (terminating and confluent) presentations of n-categories. Using the notion of polygraph (or computad), we introduce the homotopical property of finite derivation type for n-categories, generalizing the one introduced by Squier for word rewriting systems. We characterize this property by using the notion of critical branching. In particular, we define sufficient conditions for an n-category to have finite derivation type. Through examples, we present several techniques based on derivations of 2-categories to study convergent presentations by 3-polygraphs.

math.CT↗