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Tree Schreier generators are freely independent
Statement
Let be a free group, let , and let a Schreier system come from a rooted spanning tree in the Schreier graph. Then the nontrivial Schreier generators determined by that tree are freely independent.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: A free group , a subgroup , and a Schreier system coming from a rooted spanning tree.
Schreier systems correspond to rooted spanning trees in the Schreier graph (Rooted spanning trees and Schreier systems correspond).
For a Schreier representative and a basis letter , the generator is read by following the tree path from to , then the single edge from to , then the reverse tree path from back to (Schreier generators in the right-coset convention).
In the reduced-word model of a free group, a nonempty reduced word is not the identity (Reduced words form the free group on an alphabet).
Proof
Let be the rooted spanning tree corresponding to the given Schreier system by [L1]. If the positive edge from to lay in , then the unique tree path from to would be the tree path to followed by that edge, so its label would be and [L2] would give . Therefore every nontrivial Schreier generator corresponds to a unique positive edge outside .
Take a nonempty reduced word in the nontrivial tree Schreier generators and their inverses. Replace each letter by its based loop from [L2] and concatenate those loops. Cancel adjacent inverse tree segments whenever they appear. Tree segments can disappear this way, but an edge outside can disappear only by meeting its own reverse immediately, which would mean that two consecutive Schreier generators were inverse letters, contrary to the reducedness of the word. So after all cancellations there remains a closed path whose label is a nonempty reduced word on .
By [L3], the nonempty reduced word from step 2.1 is not the identity in the ambient free group. Hence the original reduced word in the tree Schreier generators is nontrivial in . Therefore those generators are freely independent.
Depends on
Used by
Dependency tree · two levels
14 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- C. Löh, Geometric Group Theory: An Introduction (2015 course version) (standard reference, not scraped)
- Roger C. Lyndon and Paul E. Schupp, Combinatorial Group Theory (standard reference, not scraped)