Related papers: Automorphic orbits in free groups
We associate a finite directed graph with each equivalence class of words in $F_2$ under $\operatorname*{Aut} F_2$, and we completely classify these graphs, giving a structural classification of the automorphic conjugacy classes of $F_2$.…
Let F_2 be a free group of rank 2. We prove that there is an algorithm that decides whether or not, for given two elements u, v of F_2, u and v are translation equivalent in F_2, that is, whether or not u and v have the property that the…
We develop a refinement of Whitehead's algorithm for primitive words in a free group. We generalize to subgroups, establishing a strengthened version of Whitehead's algorithm for free factors. We make use of these refinements in proving new…
Every word in a free group $F$ induces a probability measure on every finite group in a natural manner. It is an open problem whether two words that induce the same measure on every finite group, necessarily belong to the same orbit of…
Let $G$ be a group. The orbits of the natural action of $Aut(G)$ on $G$ are called the automorphism orbits of $G$, and their number is denoted by $\omega(G)$. Let $\mathbb{F}$ be an infinite field, and let $UT_n(\mathbb{F})$ denote the…
We show that a finitely generated subgroup of a free group, chosen uniformly at random, is strictly Whitehead minimal with overwhelming probability. Whitehead minimality is one of the key elements of the solution of the orbit problem in…
For $N\geq 4$, we show that there exist automorphisms of the free group $F_N$ which have a parabolic orbit in $\partial F_N$. In fact, we exhibit a technology for producing infinitely many such examples.
The Whitehead Minimization problem is a problem of finding elements of the minimal length in the automorphic orbit of a given element of a free group. The classical algorithm of Whitehead that solves the problem depends exponentially on the…
We discuss the following question of G. Makanin from ``Kourovka notebook'': does there exist an algorithm to determine is for an arbitrary pair of words $U$ and $V$ of a free group $F_n$ and an arbitrary automorphism $\phi \in Aut(F_n)$ the…
We study finite groups $G$ such that the maximum length of an orbit of the natural action of the automorphism group $\operatorname{Aut}(G)$ on $G$ is bounded from above by a constant. Our main results are the following: Firstly, a finite…
In \cite{KSS06} it was shown that with respect to the simple non-backtracking random walk on the free group $F_N=F(a_1,\dots,a_N)$ the Whitehead algorithm has strongly linear time generic-case complexity and that "generic" elements of $F_N$…
We present an effective algorithm for detecting automorphic orbits in free groups, as well as a number of algorithmic improvements of train tracks for free group automorphisms.
Elements of the free group define interesting maps, known as word maps, on groups. It was previously observed by Lubotzky that every subset of a finite simple group that is closed under endomorphisms occurs as the image of some word map. We…
We use Gersten's generalization of Whitehead's algorithm to determine whether a given finitely generated subgroup of a free group $F$ is elliptic in an elementary cyclic splitting of $F$. We provide a similar result for all elementary…
Let $F$ be a finitely generated free group. We present an algorithm such that, given a subgroup $H\leqslant F$, decides whether $H$ is the fixed subgroup of some family of automorphisms, or family of endomorphisms of $F$ and, in the…
We prove that the full automorphism group and the outer automorphism group of the free group of countably infinite rank are coarsely bounded. That is, these groups admit no continuous actions on a metric space with unbounded orbits, and…
We describe the endomorphisms of the direct product of two free groups of finite rank and obtain conditions for which the subgroup of fixed points is finitely generated and we do the same for periodic points. We also describe the…
The classical result by Dyer--Scott about fixed subgroups of finite order automorphisms of $F_n$ being free factors of $F_n$ is no longer true in $Z^m\times F_n$. Within this more general context, we prove a relaxed version in the spirit of…
We investigate the possible structures imposed on a finite group by its possession of an automorphism sending a large fraction of the group elements to their cubes, the philosophy being that this should force the group to be, in some sense,…
We prove that Whitehead's algorithm for solving the automorphism problem in a fixed free group $F_k$ has strongly linear time generic-case complexity. This is done by showing that the ``hard'' part of the algorithm terminates in linear time…