Related papers: On the Hanna Neumann Conjecture

The Hanna Neumann conjecture states that if F is a free group, then for all finitely generated subgroups H,K <= F, rank(H intersect K) - 1 <= [ rank(H)-1 ] [ rank(K)-1 ] In this paper, we show that if one of the subgroups, say H, has a…

The Hanna Neumann conjecture gives a bound on the intersection of finitely generated subgroups of free groups. We explore a natural extension of this result, which turns out to be true only in the finite index case, and provide…

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 famous Hanna Neumann Conjecture (now the Friedman-Mineyev theorem) gives an upper bound for the ranks of the intersection of arbitrary subgroups $H$ and $K$ of a non-abelian free group. It is an interesting question to `quantify' this…

Let $H, K$ be two finitely generated subgroups of a free group, let $\langle H, K \rangle$ denote the subgroup generated by $H, K$, called the join of $H, K$, and let neither of $H$, $K$ have finite index in $\langle H, K \rangle$. We prove…

We give a very short proof that a subgroup of a free group that is positively generated cannot be part of a counterexample to the Generalized Hanna Neumann Conjecture.

We develop a theory of polymatroids on Stallings core graphs, which provides a new technique for proving lower bounds on stable invariants of words and subgroups in free groups $F$, and for upper bounds on their probability for mapping,…

We construct an efficient model for graphs of finitely generated subgroups of free groups. Using this we give a very short proof of Dicks's reformulation of the strengthened Hanna Neumann Conjecture as the Amalgamated Graph Conjecture. In…

This note contains a (short) proof of the following generalisation of the Friedman--Mineyev theorem (earlier known as the Hanna Neumann conjecture): if $A$ and $B$ are nontrivial free subgroups of a virtually free group containing a free…

Let H and K be subgroups of a free group of ranks h and k \geq h. We prove the following strong form of Burns' inequality: rank(H \cap K) - 1 \leq 2(h-1)(k-1) - (h-1)(rank(H \vee K) -1). A corollary of this, also obtained by L. Louder and…

The Friedman--Mineyev theorem, earlier known as the (strengthened) Hanna Neumann conjecture, gives a sharp estimate for the rank of the intersection of two subgroups in a free group. We obtain an analogue of this inequality for any two…

Let (G_i | i in I) be a family of groups, let F be a free group, and let G = F *(*I G_i), the free product of F and all the G_i. Let FF denote the set of all finitely generated subgroups H of G which have the property that, for each g in G…

Let $F_n$ be a free group of finite rank $n \geq 2$. We prove that if $H$ is a subgroup of $F_n$ with $\textrm{rk}(H)=2$ and $R$ is a retract of $F_n$, then $H \cap R$ is a retract of $H$. However, for every $m \geq 3$ and every $1 \leq k…

The equaliser of a set of homomorphisms $S: F(a, b)\rightarrow F(\Delta)$ has rank at most two if $S$ contains an injective map, and is not finitely generated otherwise. This proves a strong form of Stallings' Equaliser Conjecture for the…

We show that the number of conjugacy classes of intersections $A\cap B^g$, for fixed finitely generated subgroups $A, B<F$ of a free group, is bounded above in terms of the ranks of $A$ and $B$; this confirms an intuition of Walter Neumann.…

We prove new separability results about free groups. Namely, if $H_1, \ldots , H_k$ are infinite index, finitely generated subgroups of a non-abelian free group $F$, then there exists a homomorphism onto some alternating group $f:F…

A subgroup $H$ of a free group $F$ is called inert in $F$ if for every $G < F$ the rank of the intersection of $H$ with $G$ is no grater than the rank of $G$. In this paper we expand the known families of inert subgroups. We show that the…

Let f: G=* G(i) -> B=* B(i) be a group homomorphism between free products of groups. Suppose that G(i)f=B(i) of all i. Let H be a subgroup of G such that Hf=B. Then H decomposes into a free product H=*H(i) with H(i)f=B(i). Furthermore, H(i)…

The Hanna Neumann Conjecture (HNC) for a free group $G$ predicts that $\overline{\chi}(U\cap V)\leq \overline{\chi} (U)\overline{\chi}(V)$ for all finitely generated subgroups $U$ and $V$, where $\overline{\chi}(H) = \max\{-\chi(H),0\}$…

We prove that the reduced Kurosh rank of the intersection of two subgroups $H$ and $K$ of a free product of right-orderable groups is bounded above by the product of the reduced Kurosh ranks of $H$ and $K$. In particular, taking the…