English

HNN extensions of free groups with equal associated subgroups of finite index: polynomial time word problem

Group Theory 2026-02-24 v2 Computational Complexity Combinatorics

Abstract

Let G=FφtG=F\ast_\varphi t be an HNN extension of a free group FF with two equal associated normal subgroups H1=H2H_1 = H_2 of finite index. We prove that the word problem in GG is decidable in polynomial time. This result extends to the case where the subgroups H1=H2H_1=H_2 are not normal, provided that the isomorphism φ:H1H2\varphi:H_1\to H_2 satisfies an additional condition described in Section 5.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.03801,
  title  = {HNN extensions of free groups with equal associated subgroups of finite index: polynomial time word problem},
  author = {Hanwen Shen and Alexander Ushakov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.03801},
  year   = {2026}
}