English

The Conjugacy Problem in Wreath Products

Group Theory 2026-07-14 v1

Abstract

In 1966 Jane Matthews claimed that the conjugacy problem is solvable in the standard restricted wreath product ABA \wr B of two nontrivial groups AA and BB if and only if (i) the conjugacy problem is solvable in AA and BB and (ii) BB has a \textit{solvable power problem}. We show that there should be an additional condition that either AA is abelian or BB has a \textit{solvable order problem}. We also show that, if AA and BB are non-trivial recursively presented groups where AA has an infinite number of conjugacy classes and BB acts on B/HB/H transitively, then the conjugacy problem in the permutational restricted wreath product AB/HBA \wr_{B/H} B is solvable if and only if the following hold: (1) the conjugacy problem is solvable in AA and in BB; (2) either AA is abelian or \textit{the orbit order problem} is solvable in BB; (3) for any γ,βB\gamma, \beta \in B the membership problem for HγβH \gamma \langle \beta \rangle is solvable; and (4) for any βB\beta \in B and any finite set of nn pairs of elements (αi,γi)(\alpha_i, \gamma_i), where αi,γiB\alpha_i, \gamma_i \in B we can determine whether or not \big{[} \bigcap_{i=1}^n \alpha^{-1}_iH\gamma_i \langle \beta \rangle\big{]} \cap C_B(\beta) = \emptyset .

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.12411,
  title  = {The Conjugacy Problem in Wreath Products},
  author = {Sara Luder},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.12411},
  year   = {2026}
}