Szego Seminar: "Equations over Groups"

Ben Castor, Washington University in Saint Louis

Abstract: An equation e(t) over the group G is an element of the free product of G*<t>, where the second factor is assumed to be infinite cyclic. If the equation is solvable over the group, then there is a group H and an element h in H so that G≤H and e(h) is the identity. It is a fact that not every equation is solvable over every group. We will use Van Kampen Diagrams to prove that a class of singular equations with order-two coefficients is solvable over any group.

Host: Christopher Felder