A prefix monoid is a finitely generated submonoid of a finitely presented group generated by the prefixes of its defining relators. Important results of Guba (1997), and of Ivanov, Margolis and Meakin (2001), show how the word problem for certain one-relator monoids, and inverse monoids, can be reduced to solving the membership problem in prefix monoids of certain one-relator groups. Motivated by this, in this paper we study the class of prefix monoids of finitely presented groups. We obtain a complete description of this class of monoids. All monoids in this family are finitely generated, recursively presented and group-embeddable. Our results show that not every finitely generated recursively presented group-embeddable monoid is a prefix monoid, but for every such monoid if we take a free product with a suitably chosen free monoid of finite rank, then we do obtain a prefix monoid. Conversely we prove that every prefix monoid arises in this way. Also, we show that the groups that arise as groups of units of prefix monoids are precisely the finitely generated recursively presented groups, while the groups that arise as Schützenberger groups of prefix monoids are exactly the recursively enumerable subgroups of finitely presented groups. We obtain an analogous result classifying the Schützenberger groups of monoids of right units of special inverse monoids. We also give some examples of right cancellative monoids arising as monoids of right units of finitely presented special inverse monoids, and show that not all right cancellative recursively presented monoids belong to this class.
In this paper we prove several results regarding decidability of the membership problem for certain submonoids in amalgamated free products and HNN extensions of groups. These general results are then applied to solve the prefix membership problem for a number of classes of one-relator groups which are low in the Magnus-Moldavanski\uı hierarchy. Since the prefix membership problem for one-relator groups is intimately related to the word problem for one-relator special inverse monoids in the $E$-unitary case (as discovered in 2001 by Ivanov, Margolis and Meakin), these results yield solutions o…
We prove the following results: (1) There is a one-relator inverse monoid $\mathrm{Inv}\langle A\:|\:w=1 \rangle$ with undecidable word problem; and (2) There are one-relator groups with undecidable submonoid membership problem. The first of these results answers a problem originally posed by Margolis, Meakin and Stephen in 1987.
A monoid $S$ is right coherent if every finitely generated subact of every finitely presented right $S$-act is finitely presented. This is a finiteness condition, and we investigate whether or not it is preserved under some standard algebraic and semigroup theoretic constructions: subsemigroups, homomorphic images, direct products, Rees matrix semigroups, including Brandt semigroups, and Bruck--Reilly extensions. We also investigate the relationship with the property of being weakly right noetherian, which requires all right ideals of $S$ to be finitely generated.
In this paper, a connection between rewriting systems and embedding of monoids in groups is found. We show that if a group with a positive presentation has a complete rewriting system $\Re$ that satisfies the condition that each rule in $\Re$ with positive left-hand side has a positive right-hand side, then the monoid presented by the subset of positive rules from $\Re$ embeds in the group. As an example, we give a simple proof that right angled Artin monoids embed in the corresponding right angled Artin groups. This is a special case of the well-known result of Paris \cite{paris} that Artin m…
This paper shows how to construct coherent presentations (presentations by generators, relations and relations among relations) of monoids admitting a right-noetherian Garside family. Thereby, it resolves the question of finding a unifying generalisation of the following two distinct extensions of construction of coherent presentations for spherical Artin-Tits monoids: to general Artin-Tits monoids, and to Garside monoids. The result is applied to some monoids which are neither Artin-Tits nor Garside.
We derive functional relationships between spherical generating functions of graph monoids, right-angled Artin groups and right-angled Coxeter groups. We use these relationships to express the spherical generating function of a right-angled Artin group in terms of the clique polynomial of its defining graph. We also describe algorithms for computing the geodesic generating functions of these structures.
We develop an elementary theory of divisibility on the monoid $M(n,R)^\times$ consisting of all square matrices of size $n\ge 1$ of non-zero determinants with coefficients in a principal ideal domain $R$. In particular, we show that any finite subset of the monoid has the least left common multiple up to a right unit factor. When $R$ is residue finite, we consider a signed generating series, called the skew growth function, of least common multiples of finite right equivalence classes of irreducible elements. As an elementary application of the divisibility theory, we show that the skew-growth…
A semigroup $S$ is said to be right pseudo-finite if the universal right congruence can be generated by a finite set $U\subseteq S\times S$, and there is a bound on the length of derivations for an arbitrary pair $(s,t)\in S\times S$ as a consequence of those in $U$. This article explores the existence and nature of a minimal ideal in a right pseudo-finite semigroup. Continuing the theme started in an earlier work by Dandan et al., we show that in several natural classes of monoids, right pseudo-finiteness implies the existence of a completely simple minimal ideal. This is the case for orthodo…
We study C*-algebras generated by left regular representations of right LCM one-relator monoids and Artin-Tits monoids of finite type. We obtain structural results concerning nuclearity, ideal structure and pure infiniteness. Moreover, we compute K-theory. Based on our K-theory results, we develop a new way of computing K-theory for certain group C*-algebras and crossed products.
Recently Alonso and Hermiller introduced a homological finiteness condition\break $bi{-}FP_n$ (here called {\it weak} $bi{-}FP_n$) for monoid rings, and Kobayashi and Otto introduced a different property, also called $bi{-}FP_n$ (we adhere to their terminology). From these and other papers we know that: $bi{-}FP_n \Rightarrow$ left and right $FP_n \Rightarrow$ weak $bi{-}FP_n$; the first implication is not reversible in general; the second implication is reversible for group rings. We show that the second implication is reversible in general, even for arbitrary associative algebras (Theorem 1'…
If $f : \tildeΓ \rightarrow Γ$ is a covering map between connected graphs, and $H$ is the subgroup of $π_1(Γ,v)$ used to construct the cover, then it is well known that the group of deck transformations of the cover is isomorphic to $ N(H)/H$, where $N(H)$ is the normalizer of $H$ in $π_1(Γ,v)$. We show that an entirely analogous result holds for immersions between connected graphs, where the subgroup $H$ is replaced by the closed inverse submonoid of the inverse monoid $L(Γ,v)$ used to construct the immersion. We observe a relationship between group actions on graphs and deck transformations …
A group is Markov if it admits a prefix-closed regular language of unique representatives with respect to some generating set, and strongly Markov if it admits such a language of unique minimal-length representatives over every generating set. This paper considers the natural generalizations of these concepts to semigroups and monoids. Two distinct potential generalizations to monoids are shown to be equivalent. Various interesting examples are presented, including an example of a non-Markov monoid that nevertheless admits a regular language of unique representatives over any generating set. I…
We consider blind, deterministic, finite automata equipped with a register which stores an element of a given monoid, and which is modified by right multiplication by monoid elements. We show that, for monoids M drawn from a large class including groups, such an automaton accepts the word problem of a group H if and only if H has a finite index subgroup which embeds in the group of units of M. In the case that M is a group, this answers a question of Elston and Ostheimer.
We study commutation properties of subsets of right-angled Artin groups and trace monoids. We show that if Gamma is any graph not containing a four-cycle without chords, then the group G(Gamma) does not contain four elements whose commutation graph is a four-cycle; a consequence is that G(Gamma) does not have a subgroup isomorphic to a direct product of non-abelian free groups. We also obtain corresponding and more general results for monoids.
A monoid is said to be special if it admits a presentation in which all defining relations are of the form $w = 1$. Groups are familiar examples of special monoids. This article studies the geometric and structural properties of the Cayley graphs of finitely presented special monoids, building on work by Zhang and Gray-Steinberg. It is shown that the right Cayley graph $Γ$ of a special monoid $M$ is a context-free graph, in the sense of Muller & Schupp, if and only if the group of units of $M$ is virtually free. This generalises the geometric aspect of the well-known Muller-Schupp Theorem from…
We show that every finitely generated Artin-Tits group admits a finite Garside family, by introducing the notion of a low element in a Coxeter group and proving that the family of all low elements in a Coxeter system (W, S) with S finite includes S and is finite and closed under suffix and join with respect to the right weak order.
In this paper we study some combinatorial aspects of the singular Artin monoids. Firstly, we show that a singular Artin monoid $SA$ can be presented as a semidirect product of a graph monoid with its associated Artin group $A$. Such a decomposition implies that a singular Artin monoid embeds in a group. Secondly, we give a solution to the word problem for the FC type singular Artin monoids. Afterwards, we show that FC type singular Artin monoids have the FRZ property. Briefly speaking, this property says that the centralizer in $SA$ of any non-zero power of a standard singular generator $τ_s$ …
This article examines the three-way relationship between right coherency of a monoid $S$, solutions of equations over $S$-acts, and injectivity properties of $S$-acts. A monoid $S$ is right coherent if every finitely generated subact of every finitely presented (right) $S$-act itself has a finite presentation. Purity properties of an $S$-act $A$ may either be expressed in terms of solutions in $A$ of certain consistent sets of equations over $A$, or in terms of injectivity properties. For example, an $S$-act $A$ is absolutely pure (almost pure) if every finite consistent set of equations over …
Given a finitely presented monoid and a homotopy base for the monoid, and given an arbitrary Schutzenberger group of the monoid, the main result of this paper gives a homotopy base, and presentation, for the Schutzenberger group. In the case that the R-class R' of the Schutzenberger group G(H) has only finitely many H-classes, and there is an element s of the multiplicative right pointwise stabilizer of H, such that under the left action of the monoid on its R-classes the intersection of the orbit of the R-class of s with the inverse orbit of R' is finite, then finiteness of the presentation a…
We study braid diagrams with a minimal number of crossings. Such braid diagrams correspond to geodesic words for the braid groups with standard Artin generators. We prove that a diagram of a homogeneous braid is minimal if and only if it is homogeneous. We conjecture that monoids of homogeneous braids are Artin-Tits monoids and prove that monoids of alternating braids are right-angled Artin monoids. Using this, we give a lower bound on the growth rate of the braid groups.
We will study the presentations of fundamental groups of the complement of complexified real affine line arrangements that do not contain two parallel lines. By Yoshinaga's minimal presentation, we can give positive homogeneous presentations of the fundamental groups. We consider the associated monoids defined by the presentations. It turns out that, in some cases, left (resp. right) \emph{least common multiple} does not always exist. Hence, the monoids are neither \emph{Garside} nor \emph{Artin}. Nevertheless, we will show that they carry certain particular elements similar to the \emph{funda…
In this paper we discuss connections between the following properties: (RFM) residual finiteness of a monoid M; (RFSG) residual finiteness of Schutzenberger groups of M; and (RFRL) residual finiteness of the natural actions of M on its Green's R- and L-classes. The general question is whether (RFM) implies (RFSG) and/or (RFRL), and vice versa. We consider these questions in all the possible combinations of the following situations: M is an arbitrary monoid; M is an arbitrary regular monoid; every J-class of M has finitely many R- and L-classes; M has finitely many left and right ideals. In eac…
An immersion $f : {\mathcal D} \rightarrow \mathcal C$ between $Δ$-complexes is a $Δ$-map that induces injections from star sets of $\mathcal D$ to star sets of $\mathcal C$. We study immersions between finite-dimensional connected $Δ$-complexes by replacing the fundamental group of the base space by an appropriate inverse monoid. We show how conjugacy classes of the closed inverse submonoids of this inverse monoid may be used to classify connected immersions into the complex. This extends earlier results of Margolis and Meakin for immersions between graphs and of Meakin and Szakács on immersi…
We study the rational permutation braids, that is the elements of an Artin-Tits group of spherical type which can be written $x^{-1} y$ where $x$ and $y$ are prefixes of the Garside element of the braid monoid. We give a geometric characterization of these braids in type $A_n$ and $B_n$ and then show that in spherical types different from $D_n$ the simple elements of the dual braid monoid (for arbitrary choice of Coxeter element) embedded in the braid group are rational permutation braids (we conjecture this to hold also in type $D_n$).This property implies positivity properties of the polynom…
We introduce and study a strong "thin triangle"' condition for directed graphs, which generalises the usual notion of hyperbolicity for a metric space. We prove that finitely generated left cancellative monoids whose right Cayley graphs satisfy this condition must be finitely presented with polynomial Dehn functions, and hence word problems in NP. Under the additional assumption of right cancellativity (or in some cases the weaker condition of bounded indegree), they also admit algorithms for more fundamentally semigroup-theoretic decision problems such as Green's relations L, R, J, D and the …
Let $M$ be a positive homogeneously presented monoid ${\langle L \mid R\,\rangle}_{mo}$. If $M$ satisfies the cancellation condition and carries certain particular elements similar to the \emph{fundamental elements} in Artin monoids, then the solvability of the conjugacy problem for $M$ implies that in the corresponding group ${\langle L \mid R\,\rangle}$. In addition to these conditions, if $M$ satisfies the LCM condition (i.e. any two elements $α$ and $β$ in $M$ admit the left (resp.~right) least common multiple), then the solution to the conjugacy problem for $M$ is known. We will give two …
We prove an instance of the so-called Addition Theorem for the algebraic entropy of actions of cancellative right amenable monoids $S$ on discrete abelian groups $A$ by endomorphisms, under the hypothesis that $S$ is locally monotileable (that is, $S$ admits a right Følner sequence $(F_n)_{n\in\mathbb N}$ such that $F_n$ is a monotile of $F_{n+1}$ for every $n\in\mathbb N$). We study in details the class of locally monotileable groups, also in relation with already existing notions of monotileability for groups, introduced by Weiss and developed further by other authors recently.
We study groupoids and semigroup C*-algebras arising from graphs of monoids, in the setting of right LCM monoids. First, we establish a general criterion when a graph of monoids gives rise to a submonoid of the fundamental group which is right LCM. Moreover, we carry out a detailed analysis of structural properties of semigroup C*-algebras arising from graphs of monoids, including closed invariant subspaces and topological freeness of the groupoids as well as ideal structure, nuclearity and K-theory of the semigroup C*-algebras. As an application, we construct families of pairwise non-conjugat…
In the paper we introduce a notion of the Bruck-Reilly $λ$-polycyclic extension of a monoid $S$ with a homomorphism $θ$ which is an analogue of the Bruck-Reilly extension of a monoid $S$. We describe idempotens of the semigroup $\left(\mathscr{P}_λ(θ,S),*\right)$ and Green's relations on $\left(\mathscr{P}_λ(θ,S),*\right)$. It is proved that $\left(\mathscr{P}_λ(θ,S),*\right)$ is a $0$-simple semigroup for any semigroup $S$. We find necessary and sufficient conditions on a monoid $S$ and a homomorphism $θ$ under which the semigroup $\left(\mathscr{P}_λ(θ,S),*\right)$ is regular, inverse, $0$-b…
We give a topological proof that a free inverse monoid on one or more generators is neither of type left-$FP_2$ nor right-$FP_2$. This strengthens a classical result of Schein that such monoids are not finitely presented as monoids.
We exhibit faithful representations of the hypoplactic, stalactic, taiga, sylvester, Baxter and right patience sorting monoids of each finite rank as monoids of upper triangular matrices over any semiring from a large class including the tropical semiring and fields of characteristic $0$. By analysing the image of these representations, we show that the variety generated by a single hypoplactic (respectively, stalactic or taiga) monoid of rank at least $2$ coincides with the variety generated by the natural numbers together with a fixed finite monoid $\mathcal{H}$ (respectively, $\mathcal{F}$)…
The notion of a generalized scale emerged in recent joint work with Afsar-Brownlowe-Larsen on equilibrium states on C*-algebras of right LCM monoids, where it features as the key datum for the dynamics under investigation. This work provides the structure theory for such monoidal homomorphisms. We establish uniqueness of the generalized scale and characterize its existence in terms of a simplicial graph arising from a new notion of irreducibility inside right LCM monoids. In addition, the method yields an explicit construction of the generalized scale if existent. We discuss applications for g…
We prove that an inverse-free equation is valid in the variety LG of lattice-ordered groups (l-groups) if and only if it is valid in the variety DLM of distributive lattice-ordered monoids (distributive l-monoids). This contrasts with the fact that, as proved by Repnitskii, there exist inverse-free equations that are valid in all Abelian l-groups but not in all commutative distributive l-monoids, and, as we prove here, there exist inverse-free equations that hold in all totally ordered groups but not in all totally ordered monoids. We also prove that DLM has the finite model property and a dec…
For a monoid $M$, we denote by $\mathbb G(M)$ the group of units, $\mathbb E(M)$ the submonoid generated by the idempotents, and $\mathbb G_L(M)$ and $\mathbb G_R(M)$ the submonoids consisting of all left or right units. Writing $\mathcal M$ for the (monoidal) category of monoids, $\mathbb G$, $\mathbb E$, $\mathbb G_L$ and $\mathbb G_R$ are all (monoidal) functors $\mathcal M\to\mathcal M$. There are other natural functors associated to submonoids generated by combinations of idempotents and one- or two-sided units. The above functors generate a monoid with composition as its operation. We sh…
