Asymptotic Nielsen-reduction conjecture for non-minimal free-group elements

About 20 years old · traced to

Let FF be a free group. For each positive integer nn, let UnU_n be the set of all non-minimal elements in FF of length nn, and let NUn⊂UnNU_n\subset U_n be the subset consisting of elements that have length-reducing Nielsen automorphisms. Asymptotic Nielsen-reduction conjecture.

lim⁡n→∞∣NUn∣∣Un∣=1.\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{|NU_n|}{|U_n|}=1.

The claim formalizes the experimental observation that, with probability tending to one as length grows, a non-minimal element admits a length-reducing Nielsen automorphism. The source reports numerical evidence for free groups of ranks 33, 44, and 55, but gives no proof or resolution.

References

Primary source

R. M. Haralick, A. D. Miasnikov and A. G. Myasnikov, “Heuristics for The Whitehead Minimization Problem”, arXiv:math/0604204 (2006).

Progress summary

Never refreshed

Nothing recorded yet. Refresh searches the literature and the public web for attempts on this problem, and writes the first summary here.

Solutions 0

No solutions have been posted yet.