English

Primitivity rank for random elements in free groups

Group Theory 2021-09-30 v3 Geometric Topology

Abstract

For a free group FrF_r of finite rank r2r\ge 2 and a nontrivial element wFrw\in F_r the \emph{primitivity rank} π(w)\pi(w) is the smallest rank of a subgroup HFrH\le F_r such that wHw\in H and that ww is not primitive in HH (if no such HH exists, one puts π(w)=\pi(w)=\infty). The set of all subgroups of FrF_r of rank π(w)\pi(w) containing ww as a non-primitive element is denoted Crit(w)Crit(w). These notions were introduced by Puder in \cite{Pu14}. We prove that there exists an exponentially generic subset VFrV\subseteq F_r such that for every wVw\in V we have π(w)=r\pi(w)=r and Crit(w)={Fr}Crit(w)=\{F_r\}.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2109.09400,
  title  = {Primitivity rank for random elements in free groups},
  author = {Ilya Kapovich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.09400},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Updated with a reference to a paper of Cashen and Hoffmann and a discussion of their results

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:07:53.055Z