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Adam Piggott

Publications and source records attributed to Adam Piggott.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

New constructions of free products and geodetic Cayley graphs

A connected graph is called \emph{geodetic} if there is a unique shortest path between each pair of vertices. We introduce a systematic method for constructing new presentations of free products that give rise to previously unknown geodetic Cayley graphs. Our approach adapts subdivision techniques of Parthasarathy and Srinivasan (J. Combin. Theory Ser. B, 1982), which preserve geodecity at the graph level, to the setting of group presentations and rewriting systems. Specifically, given a group $G$ with geodetic Cayley graph with respect to generating set $\Sigma$ and an integer $n$, our construction produces a rewriting system presenting the free product of $G$ with a free group of rank $n|\Sigma|$ with geodetic Cayley graph with respect to a new generating set. This framework provides new infinite families of geodetic Cayley graphs and extends the toolkit for investigating long-standing conjectures on geodetic groups.

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arXiv2024

Finite groups with geodetic Cayley graphs

A connected undirected graph is called \emph{geodetic} if for every pair of vertices there is a unique shortest path connecting them. It has been conjectured that for finite groups, the only geodetic Cayley graphs are odd cycles and complete graphs. In this article we present a series of theoretical results which contribute to a computer search verifying this conjecture for all groups of size up to 1024. The conjecture is also verified for several infinite families of groups including dihedral and some families of nilpotent groups. Two key results which enable the computer search to reach as far as it does are: if the center of a group has even order, then the conjecture holds (this eliminates all $2$-groups from our computer search); if a Cayley graph is geodetic then there are bounds relating the size of the group, generating set and center (which significantly cuts down the number of generating sets which must be searched).

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arXiv2023

Graphs and groups with unique geodesics

A connected graph is called \emph{geodetic} if there is a unique geodesic between each pair of vertices. In this paper we prove that if a finitely generated group admits a Cayley graph which is geodetic, then the group must be virtually free. Before now, it was open whether finitely generated and geodetic implied hyperbolic. In fact we prove something more general: if a quasi-transitive locally finite connected undirected graph is geodetic then it is quasi-isometric to a tree. Our main tool is to define a \emph{boundary} of a graph and understand how the local behaviour influences it when the graph is geodetic. Our results unify, and represent significant progress on, research initiated by Ore, Shapiro, and Madlener and Otto.

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arXiv2022

On $k$-geodetic graphs and groups

We call a graph $k$-geodetic, for some $k\geq 1$, if it is connected and between any two vertices there are at most $k$ geodesics. It is shown that any hyperbolic group with a $k$-geodetic Cayley graph is virtually-free. Furthermore, in such a group the centraliser of any infinite order element is an infinite cyclic group. These results were known previously only in the case that $k=1$. A key tool used to develop the theorem is a new graph theoretic result concerning ``ladder-like structures'' in a $k$-geodetic graph.

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arXiv2021

The isomorphism problem for plain groups is in $\Sigma_3^{\mathsf{P}}$

Testing isomorphism of infinite groups is a classical topic, but from the complexity theory viewpoint, few results are known. S{\'e}nizergues and the fifth author (ICALP2018) proved that the isomorphism problem for virtually free groups is decidable in $\mathsf{PSPACE}$ when the input is given in terms of so-called virtually free presentations. Here we consider the isomorphism problem for the class of \emph{plain groups}, that is, groups that are isomorphic to a free product of finitely many finite groups and finitely many copies of the infinite cyclic group. Every plain group is naturally and efficiently presented via an inverse-closed finite convergent length-reducing rewriting system. We prove that the isomorphism problem for plain groups given in this form lies in the polynomial time hierarchy, more precisely, in $\Sigma_3^{\mathsf{P}}$. This result is achieved by combining new geometric and algebraic characterisations of groups presented by inverse-closed finite convergent length-reducing rewriting systems developed in recent work of the second and third authors (2021) with classical finite group isomorphism results of Babai and Szemer\'edi (1984).

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arXiv2021

On groups presented by inverse-closed finite convergent length-reducing rewriting systems

We show that groups presented by inverse-closed finite convergent length-reducing rewriting systems are characterised by a striking geometric property: their Cayley graphs are geodetic and side-lengths of non-degenerate triangles are uniformly bounded. This leads to a new algebraic result: the group is plain (isomorphic to the free product of finitely many finite groups and copies of $\mathbb Z$) if and only if a certain relation on the set of non-trivial finite-order elements of the group is transitive on a bounded set. We use this to prove that deciding if a group presented by an inverse-closed finite convergent length-reducing rewriting system is not plain is in $\mathsf{NP}$. A "yes" answer would disprove a longstanding conjecture of Madlener and Otto from 1987. We also prove that the isomorphism problem for plain groups presented by inverse-closed finite convergent length-reducing rewriting systems is in $\mathsf{PSPACE}$.

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arXiv2020

Rewriting systems, plain groups, and geodetic graphs

We prove that a group is presented by finite convergent length-reducing rewriting systems where each rule has left-hand side of length 3 if and only if the group is plain. Our proof goes via a new result concerning properties of embedded circuits in geodetic graphs, which may be of independent interest in graph theory.

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arXiv2018

Gilman's Conjecture

We prove a conjecture made by Gilman in 1984 that the groups presented by finite, monadic, confluent rewriting systems are precisely the free products of free and finite groups.

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arXiv2014

Recognizing Right-Angled Coxeter Groups Using Involutions

We consider the question of determining whether a given group (especially one generated by involutions) is a right-angled Coxeter group. We describe a group invariant, the involution graph, and we characterize the involution graphs of right-angled Coxeter groups. We use this characterization to describe a process for constructing candidate right-angled Coxeter presentations for a given group or proving that one cannot exist. We provide some first applications. In addition, we provide an elementary proof of rigidity of the defining graph for a right-angled Coxeter group. We also recover a result stating that if the defining graph contains no SILs, then Aut^0(W) is a right-angled Coxeter group.

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arXiv2008

The automorphism group of the free group of rank two is a CAT(0) group

We prove that the automorphism group of the braid group on four strands acts faithfully and geometrically on a CAT(0) 2-complex. This implies that the automorphism group of the free group of rank two acts faithfully and geometrically on a CAT(0) 2-complex, in contrast to the situation for rank three and above.

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arXiv2007

Rigidity of graph products of abelian groups

We show that if $G$ is a group and $G$ has a graph-product decomposition with finitely-generated abelian vertex groups, then $G$ has two canonical decompositions as a graph product of groups: a unique decomposition in which each vertex group is a directly-indecomposable cyclic group, and a unique decomposition in which each vertex group is a finitely-generated abelian group and the graph satisfies the $T_0$ property. Our results build on results by Droms, Laurence and Radcliffe.

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arXiv2007

On the automorphisms of a graph product of abelian groups

We study the automorphisms of a graph product of finitely-generated abelian groups W. More precisely, we study a natural subgroup Aut* W of Aut W, with Aut* W = Aut W whenever vertex groups are finite and in a number of other cases. We prove a number of structure results, including a semi-direct product decomposition of Aut* W in which one of the factors is Inn W. We also give a number of applications, some of which are geometric in nature.

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arXiv2005

Palindromic primitives and palindromic bases in the free group of rank two

The present paper records more details of the relationship between primitive elements and palindromes in F_2, the free group of rank two. We characterise the conjugacy classes of primitive elements which contain palindromes as those which contain cyclically reduced words of odd length. We identify large palindromic subwords of certain primitives in conjugacy classes which contain cyclically reduced words of even length. We show that under obvious conditions on exponent sums, pairs of palindromic primitives form palindromic bases for F_2. Further, we note that each cyclically reduced primitive element is either a palindrome, or the concatenation of two palindromes.

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arXiv2005

Algorithmic constructions and primitive elements in the free group of rank 2

The centrepiece of this paper is a normal form for primitive elements which facilitates the use of induction arguments to prove properties of primitive elements. The normal form arises from an elementary algorithm for constructing a primitive element p in F(x, y) with a given exponent sum pair (X, Y), if such an element p exists. Several results concerning the primitive elements of F(x, y) are recast as applications of the algorithm and the normal form.

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arXiv2004

Detecting the growth of free group automorphisms by their action on the homology of subgroups of finite index

We prove that if F is a finitely generated free group and f:F -> F is an automorphism with polynomial growth of degree d, then there exists a characteristic subgroup S < F of finite index such that the induced automorphism of the abelianisation of S also grows polynomially of degree d. The proof is geometric in nature and makes use of improved relative train track representatives.

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