Palindromes are those reduced words of free products of groups that coincide with their reverse words. We prove that a free product of groups $G$ has infinite palindromic width, provided that $G$ is not the free product of two cyclic groups of order two. This means that there is no a uniform bound $k$ such that every element of $G$ is a product of at most $k$ palindromes. Earlier the similar fact established for non-abelian free groups.
In this paper we consider the palindromic width of free nilpotent groups. In particular, we prove that the palindromic width of a finitely generated free nilpotent group is finite. We also prove that the palindromic width of a free abelian-by-nilpotent group is finite.
We investigate the palindromic width of finitely generated solvable groups. We prove that every finitely generated $3$-step solvable group has finite palindromic width. More generally, we show the finiteness of palindromic width for finitely generated abelian-by-nilpotent-by-nilpotent groups. For arbitrary solvable groups of step $\geq 3$, we prove that if $G$ is a finitely generated solvable group that is an extension of an abelian group by a group satisfying the maximal condition for normal subgroups, then the palindromic width of $G$ is finite. We also prove that the palindromic width of $\…
We show that the wreath product $G \wr \mathbb{Z}^n$ of any finitely generated group $G$ with $\mathbb{Z}^n$ has finite palindromic width. We also show that $C \wr A$ has finite palindromic width if $C$ has finite commutator width and $A$ is a finitely generated infinite abelian group. Further we prove that if $H$ is a non-abelian group with finite palindromic width and $G$ any finitely generated group, then every element of the subgroup $G' \wr H$ can be expressed as a product of uniformly boundedly many palindromes. From this we obtain that $P \wr H$ has finite palindromic width if $P$ is a …
A group has finite palindromic width if there exists $n$ such that every element can be expressed as a product of $n$ or fewer palindromic words. We show that if $G$ has finite palindromic width with respect to some generating set, then so does $G \wr \mathbb{Z}^{r}$. We also give a new, self-contained, proof that finitely generated metabelian groups have finite palindromic width. Finally, we show that solvable groups satisfying the maximal condition on normal subgroups (max-n) have finite palindromic width.
In arXiv:1303.1129, the authors provided a bound for the palindromic width of free abelian-by-nilpotent group $AN_n$ of rank $n$ and free nilpotent group ${\rm N}_{n,r}$ of rank $n$ and step $r$. In the present paper we study palindromic widths of groups $\widetilde{AN}_n$ and $\widetilde{\rm N}_{n,r}$. We denote by $\widetilde{G}_n = G_n / \langle \langle x_1^2, \ldots, x_n^2 \rangle \rangle$ the quotient of group $G_n = \langle x_1, \ldots, x_n \rangle$, which is free in some variety by the normal subgroup generated by $x_1^2, \ldots, x_n^2$. We prove that the palindromic width of the quotie…
We prove that the nilpotent product of a set of groups $A_{1},\dots, A_{s}$ has finite palindromic width if and only if the palindromic widths of $A_{i}, i=1,\dots, s,$ are finite. We give a new proof that the commutator width of $F_n \wr K$ is infinite, where $F_n$ is a free group of rank $n \geq 2$ and $K$ a finite group. This result, combining with a result of Fink \cite{f1} gives examples of groups with infinite commutator width but finite palindromic width with respect to some generating set.
Let G be a group and S a subset of G that generates G. For each x in G define the length l_S(x) of x relative to S to be the minimal k such that x is a product of k elements of S. The supremum of the values l_S(x), x \in G, is called the width of G with respect to S. Here we focus on a free group F. The width of F relative to the set of all primitive (respectively palindromic) elements is called the primitive (respectively palindromic) width of F. We prove that for a free group F_n of finite rank n, both widths are infinite. A result of independent interest is that every primitive element of F…
A palindrome is a word that reads the same left-to-right as right-to-left. We show that every simple group has a finite generating set $X$, such that every element of it can be written as a palindrome in the letters of $X$. Moreover, every simple group has palindromic width $pw(G,X)=1$, where $X$ only differs by at most one Nielsen-transformation from any given generating set. On the contrary, we prove that all non-abelian finite simple groups $G$ also have a generating set $S$ with $pw(G,S)>1$. As a by-product of our work we also obtain that every just-infinite group has finite palindromic wi…
We prove that the palindromic width of HNN extension of a group by proper associated subgroups is infinite. We also prove that the palindromic width of the amalgamated free product of two groups via a proper subgroup is infinite (except when the amalgamated subgroup has index two in each of the factors). Combining these results it follows that the palindromic width of the fundamental group of a graph of groups is mostly infinite.
The Gilman-Maskit algorithm for determining the discreteness or non-discreteness of a two-generator subgroup of $\mathrm{PSL}_2\mathbb{R}$ terminates with a pair of generators that are Farey words. The Farey words are primitive words that are indexed by rational numbers and infinity. The E-words, primitive words with palindromic product forms, are also indexed by rational numbers and infinity. We show a modification of the Gilman-Maskit algorithm so that the stopping generators are E-words.
The conjugacy growth function counts the number of distinct conjugacy classes in a ball of radius $n$. We give a lower bound for the conjugacy growth of certain branch groups, among them the Grigorchuk group. This bound is a function of intermediate growth. We further proof that certain branch groups have the property that every element can be expressed as a product of uniformly boundedly many conjugates of the generators. We call this property bounded conjugacy width. We also show how bounded conjugacy width relates to other algebraic properties of groups and apply these results to study the …
This paper investigate bounds of the commutator width \cite {Mur} of a wreath product of two groups. The commutator width of direct limit of wreath product of cyclic groups are found. For given a permutational wreath product sequence of cyclic groups we investigate its commutator width and some properties of its commutator subgroup. It was proven that the commutator width of an arbitrary element of the wreath product of cyclic groups $C_{p_i}, \, p_i\in \mathbb{N} $ equals to 1. As a corollary, it is shown that the commutator width of Sylows $p$-subgroups of symmetric and alternating groups $p…
The size of minimal generating set for commutator of Sylow 2-subgroup of alternating group was found. Given a permutational wreath product of finite cyclic groups sequence we prove that the commutator width of such groups is 1 and we research some properties of its commutator subgroup. It was shown that $(Syl_2 A_{2^k})^2 = Syl'_2 (A_{2^k}), \, k>2$. A new approach to presentation of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group ${A_{2^{k}}}$ was applied. As a result the short proof that the commutator width of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group ${A_{2^{k}}}$, permutation group ${S_{2^{k}}}$ and …
For a finite group generated by involutions, the involution width is defined to be the minimal $k\in\mathbb{N}$ such that any group element can be written as a product of at most $k$ involutions. We show that the involution width of every non-abelian finite simple group is at most $4$. This result is sharp, as there are families with involution width precisely 4.
Given a permutational wreath product sequence of cyclic groups of prime order we research a commutator width of such groups and some properties of its commutator subgroup. Commutator width of Sylow 2-subgroups of alternating group $A_{2^{k}}$, permutation group $S_{2^k}$ and $C_p \wr B$ were founded. The result of research was extended on subgroups $(Syl_2 {A_{2^k}})'$, $p>2$. The paper presents a construction of commutator subgroup of Sylow 2-subgroups of symmetric and alternating groups. Also minimal generic sets of Sylow 2-subgroups of $A_{2^k}$ were founded. Elements presentation of $(Syl_…
Let $p$ be a fixed prime. For a finite group generated by elements of order $p$, the $p$-width is defined to be the minimal $k\in\mathbb{N}$ such that any group element can be written as a product of at most $k$ elements of order $p$. Let $A_{n}$ denote the alternating group of even permutations on $n$ letters. We show that the $p$-width of $A_{n}$ $(n\geq p)$ is at most $3$. This result is sharp, as there are families of alternating groups with $p$-width precisely 3, for each prime $p$.
Let $G$ be a non-elementary hyperbolic group. Let $w$ be a group word such that the set $w[G]$ of all its values in $G$ does not coincide with $G$ or 1. We show that the width of verbal subgroup $w(G)=<w[G]>$ is infinite. That is, there is no such $l\in\mathbb Z$ that any $g\in w(G)$ can be represented as a product of $\le l$ values of $w$ and their inverses.
Let $G$ be the first Grigorchuk group. We show that the commutator width of $G$ is $2$: every element $g\in [G,G]$ is a product of two commutators, and also of six conjugates of $a$. Furthermore, we show that every finitely generated subgroup $H\leq G$ has finite commutator width, which however can be arbitrarily large, and that $G$ contains a subgroup of infinite commutator width. The proofs were assisted by the computer algebra system GAP.
Twin-width is a recently introduced graph parameter with applications in algorithmics, combinatorics, and finite model theory. For graphs of bounded degree, finiteness of twin-width is preserved by quasi-isometry. Thus, through Cayley graphs, it defines a group invariant. We prove that groups which are abelian, hyperbolic, ordered, solvable, or with polynomial growth, have finite twin-width. Twin-width can be characterised by excluding patterns in the self-action by product of the group elements. Based on this characterisation, we propose a strengthening called uniform twin-width, which is sta…
In this paper we measure how efficiently a finite simple group $G$ is generated by its elements of order $p$, where $p$ is a fixed prime. This measure, known as the $p$-width of $G$, is the minimal $k\in \mathbb{N}$ such that any $g\in G$ can be written as a product of at most $k$ elements of order $p$. Using primarily character theoretic methods, we sharply bound the $p$-width of some low rank families of Lie type groups, as well as the simple alternating and sporadic groups.
