Free Groups and Folding

Author(s):  
Matt Clay

This chapter studies subgroups of free groups using the combinatorics of graphs and a simple operation called folding. It introduces a topological model for free groups and uses this model to show the rank of the free group H and whether every finitely generated nontrivial normal subgroup of a free group has finite index. The edge paths and the fundamental group of a graph are discussed, along with subgroups via graphs. The chapter also considers five applications of folding: the Nielsen–Schreier Subgroup theorem, the membership problem, index, normality, and residual finiteness. A group G is residually finite if for every nontrivial element g of G there is a normal subgroup N of finite index in G so that g is not in N. Exercises and research projects are included.

1949 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall Hall

This paper has as its chief aim the establishment of two formulae associated with subgroups of finite index in free groups. The first of these (Theorem 3.1) gives an expression for the total length of the free generators of a subgroup U of the free group Fr with r generators. The second (Theorem 5.2) gives a recursion formula for calculating the number of distinct subgroups of index n in Fr.Of some independent interest are two theorems used which do not involve any finiteness conditions. These are concerned with ways of determining a subgroup U of F.


2015 ◽  
Vol 159 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
MORITZ RODENHAUSEN ◽  
RICHARD D. WADE

AbstractWe refine Cohen and Lustig's description of centralisers of Dehn twists of free groups. We show that the centraliser of a Dehn twist of a free group has a subgroup of finite index that has a finite classifying space. We describe an algorithm to find a presentation of the centraliser. We use this algorithm to give an explicit presentation for the centraliser of a Nielsen automorphism in Aut(Fn). This gives restrictions to actions of Aut(Fn) on CAT(0) spaces.


2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (06) ◽  
pp. 1031-1045 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS W. M. TOUIKAN

Stalling's folding process is a key algorithm for solving algorithmic problems for finitely generated subgroups of free groups. Given a subgroup H = 〈J1,…,Jm〉 of a finitely generated nonabelian free group F = F(x1,…,xn) the folding porcess enables one, for example, to solve the membership problem or compute the index [F : H]. We show that for a fixed free group F and an arbitrary finitely generated subgroup H (as given above) we can perform the Stallings' folding process in time O(N log *(N)), where N is the sum of the word lengths of the given generators of H.


1971 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Baumslag

We establish the result that a finitely generated cyclic extension of a free group is residually finite. This is done, in part, by making use of the fact that a finitely generated module over a principal ideal domain is a direct sum of cyclic modules.


2001 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 607-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
ATHANASSIOS I. PAPISTAS

For positive integers n and c, with n [ges ] 2, let Gn, c be a relatively free group of finite rank n in the variety N2A ∧ AN2 ∧ Nc. It is shown that the subgroup of the automorphism group Aut(Gn, c) of Gn, c generated by the tame automorphisms and an explicitly described finite set of IA-automorphisms of Gn, c has finite index in Aut(Gn, c). Furthermore, it is proved that there are no non-trivial elements of Gn, c fixed by every tame automorphism of Gn, c.


2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Lev Glebsky ◽  
Nevarez Nieto Saul

AbstractLetHbe a subgroup ofFand{\langle\kern-1.422638pt\langle H\rangle\kern-1.422638pt\rangle_{F}}the normal closure ofHinF. We say thatHhas the Almost Congruence Extension Property (ACEP) inFif there is a finite set of nontrivial elements{\digamma\subset H}such that for any normal subgroupNofHone has{H\cap\langle\kern-1.422638pt\langle N\rangle\kern-1.422638pt\rangle_{F}=N}whenever{N\cap\digamma=\emptyset}. In this paper, we provide a sufficient condition for a subgroup of a free group to not possess ACEP. It also shows that any finitely generated subgroup of a free group satisfies some generalization of ACEP.


2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 235-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
SANG-HYUN KIM

Gordon and Wilton recently proved that the double D of a free group F amalgamated along a cyclic subgroup C of F contains a surface group if a generator w of C satisfies a certain 3-manifold theoretic condition, called virtually geometricity. Wilton and the author defined the polygonality of w which also guarantees the existence of a surface group in D. In this paper, virtual geometricity is shown to imply polygonality up to descending to a finite-index subgroup of F. That the converse does not hold will follow from an example formerly considered by Manning.


Author(s):  
Johanna Mangahas

This chapter considers an identifying feature of free groups: their ability to play ping-pong. In mathematics, you may encounter a group without immediately knowing which group it is. Fortunately, you can tell a group by how it acts. That is, a good group action (for example, action by isometries on a metric space) can reveal a lot about the group itself. This theme occupies a central place in geometric group theory. The ping-pong lemma, also dubbed Schottky lemma or Klein's criterion, gives a set of circumstances for identifying whether a group is a free group. The chapter first presents the statement, proof, and first examples using ping-pong before discussing ping-pong with Möbius transformations and hyperbolic geometry. Exercises and research projects are included.


1988 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 1144-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. McCool

Let An be the automorphism group of the free group Fn of rank n, and let Kn be the normal subgroup of An consisting of those elements which induce the identity automorphism in the commutator quotient group . The group Kn has been called the group of IA automorphisms of Fn (see e.g. [1]). It was shown by Magnus [7] using earlier work of Nielsen [11] that Kn is finitely generated, with generating set the automorphismsandwhere x1, x2, …, xn, is a chosen basis of Fn.


2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (04) ◽  
pp. 651-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREY V. NIKOLAEV ◽  
DENIS E. SERBIN

Using graph-theoretic techniques for f.g. subgroups of Fℤ[t] we provide a criterion for a f.g. subgroup of a f.g. fully residually free group to be of finite index. Moreover, we show that this criterion can be checked effectively. As an application we obtain an analogue of Greenberg–Stallings Theorem for f.g. fully residually free groups, and prove that a f.g. nonabelian subgroup of a f.g. fully residually free group is of finite index in its normalizer and commensurator.


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