Quasigeodesic languages are not context-free in some non-hyperbolic groups
Group Theory
2026-04-28 v2
Abstract
We study the full language of quasigeodesics in Cayley graphs, with fixed error constants. We show that, given a non-virtually-cyclic nilpotent group or Baumslag--Solitar group, and any finite generating set, such languages fail to be context-free for sufficiently large error constants. In fact, this conclusion holds for any finitely generated group which contains one of these groups as an undistorted subgroup. This strengthens a recent theorem of Hughes, Nairne, and Spriano, who showed that such languages fail to be regular in any non-hyperbolic group, for sufficiently large error constants.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.12520,
title = {Quasigeodesic languages are not context-free in some non-hyperbolic groups},
author = {Arya Saranathan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.12520},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
17 pages, 3 figures; comments welcome!