English

Solving the membership problem for certain subgroups of $SL_2(\mathbb{Z})$

Group Theory 2023-06-13 v2 Number Theory

Abstract

For positive integers uu and vv, let Lu=[10u1]L_u=\begin{bmatrix}1 & 0 \\u&1\end{bmatrix} and Rv=[1v01]R_v=\begin{bmatrix}1 & v \\ 0 & 1\end{bmatrix}. Let Gu,vG_{u,v} be the group generated by LuL_u and RvR_v. In a previous paper, the authors determined a characterization of matrices M=[acbd]M=\begin{bmatrix}a & c \\b&d\end{bmatrix} in Gu,vG_{u,v} when u,v3u,v\geq 3 in terms of the short continued fraction representation of b/db/d. We extend this result to the case where u+v>4u+v> 4. Additionally, we compute [Gu,v ⁣:Gu,v][\mathscr{G}_{u,v}\colon G_{u,v}] for u,v1u,v\geq 1, extending a result of Chorna, Geller, and Shpilrain.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2110.02188,
  title  = {Solving the membership problem for certain subgroups of $SL_2(\mathbb{Z})$},
  author = {Sandie Han and Ariane M. Masuda and Satyanand Singh and Johann Thiel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.02188},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

New version extends results to cases when $u=1$ and index computations/proofs are included

R2 v1 2026-06-24T06:38:34.933Z