English

The conjugacy problem for UPG elements of $Out(F_n)$

Group Theory 2025-07-02 v3

Abstract

An element ϕ\phi of the outer automorphism group \Out(\f)\Out(\f) of the rank nn free group FnF_n is {\it polynomially growing} if the word lengths of conjugacy classes in \f\f grow at most polynomially under iteration by ϕ\phi. It is {\it unipotent} if additionally its action on the first homology of \f\f with integer coefficients is unipotent. In particular, if ϕ\phi is polynomially growing and acts trivially on first homology with coefficients the integers mod 3 then ϕ\phi is unipotent and also every polynomially growing element has a positive power that is unipotent. We solve the conjugacy problem in \Out(\f)\Out(\f) for the subset of unipotent elements. Specifically, there is an algorithm that decides if two such are conjugate in \Out(\f)\Out(\f).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1906.04147,
  title  = {The conjugacy problem for UPG elements of $Out(F_n)$},
  author = {Mark Feighn and Michael Handel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1906.04147},
  year   = {2025}
}