Related papers: Stallings Graphs, Algebraic Extensions and Primiti…
We re-cast in a more combinatorial and computational form the foldings approach of John Stallings and pursue a detailed study of the subgroup structure of free groups. In particular, we introduce the notions of an "algebraic" and a "free"…
An extension of subgroups $H\leqslant K\leqslant F_A$ of the free group of rank $|A|=r\geqslant 2$ is called onto when, for every ambient free basis $A'$, the Stallings graph $\Gamma_{A'}(K)$ is a quotient of $\Gamma_{A'}(H)$. Algebraic…
We give a counterexample to a conjecture by Miasnikov, Ventura and Weil, stating that an extension of free groups is algebraic if and only if the corresponding morphism of their core graphs is onto, for every basis of the ambient group. In…
We study endomorphisms of a free group of finite rank by means of their action on specific sets of elements. In particular, we prove that every endomorphism of the free group of rank 2 which preserves an automorphic orbit (i.e., acts ``like…
We begin the investigation of the free factor complex of a free group of finite rank. For the case of rank 2 we axiomatize its theory and show that it is $\omega$-stable with prime model $AF_2$.
The present paper records more details of the relationship between primitive elements and palindromes in F_2, the free group of rank two. We characterise the conjugacy classes of primitive elements which contain palindromes as those which…
A new bound for the rank of the intersection of finitely generated subgroups of a free group is given, formulated in topological terms, and very much in the spirit of Stallings. The bound is a contribution to (although unfortunately not a…
The centrepiece of this paper is a normal form for primitive elements which facilitates the use of induction arguments to prove properties of primitive elements. The normal form arises from an elementary algorithm for constructing a…
A self-contained exposition is given of the topological and Galois-theoretic properties of the category of combinatorial 1-complexes, or graphs, very much in the spirit of Stallings. A number of classical, as well as some new results about…
We give an algorithm which computes the fixed subgroup and the stable image for any endomorphism of the free group of rank two $F_2$, answering for $F_2$ a question posed by Stallings in 1984 and a question of Ventura.
The Stallings construction for finitely generated subgroups of free groups is generalized by introducing the concept of Stallings section, which allows an eficient computation of the core of a Schreier graph based on edge folding. It is…
Let $F_n$ be the free group on $n$ generators and $\Gamma_g$ the surface group of genus $g$. We consider two particular generating sets: the set of all primitive elements in $F_n$ and the set of all simple loops in $\Gamma_g$. We give a…
The aim of this paper is to study the group of isomorphism classes of torsors of finite flat group schemes of rank 2 over a commutative ring $R$. This, in particular, generalises the group of quadratic algebras (free or projective), which…
In the 1970s Stallings showed that one could learn a great deal about free groups and their automorphisms by viewing the free groups as fundamental groups of graphs and modeling their automorphisms as homotopy equivalences of graphs.…
We extend the classical Stallings theory (describing subgroups of free groups as automata) to direct products of free and abelian groups: after introducing enriched automata (i.e., automata with extra abelian labels), we obtain an explicit…
We give necessary and sufficient conditions on the graph of a right-angled Artin group that determine whether the group is subgroup separable or not. Moreover, we investigate the profinite topology of the direct product of two free groups.…
We investigate the proportion of fixed point free permutations (derangements) in finite transitive permutation groups. This article is the first in a series where we prove a conjecture of Shalev that the proportion of such elements is…
We show that the following problems are decidable in a rank 2 free group F_2: does a given finitely generated subgroup H contain primitive elements? and does H meet the orbit of a given word u under the action of G, the group of…
We provide a detailed analysis of atomic *-representations of rank 2 graphs on a single vertex. They are completely classified up to unitary equivalence, and decomposed into a direct sum or direct integral of irreducible atomic…
This survey is intended to be a fast (and reasonably updated) reference for the theory of Stallings automata and its applications to the study of subgroups of the free group, with the main accent on algorithmic aspects. Consequently,…