Conjugator Lengths and Isoperimetric functions

Abstract

We show that for any recognizing $S$-machine $\text{S}$ with superadditive time function $f$, there exists a finitely presented group whose conjugator length function is quadratic and whose Dehn function grows like the square of $f$. This result is dual to that of a previous paper of the authors, which constructed a family of groups with cubic Dehn function that have various conjugator length functions. We thereby give the first known example of a finitely presented group whose conjugator length function is recursive, but whose Word and Conjugacy Problems are both undecidable. This answers an analogue of a question of Rips. Moreover, given a finitely presented group $G$ with decidable Word Problem, we obtain a finitely presented group with decidable Conjugacy Problem whose Dehn function grows faster than that of $G$. Finally, combining this result with its dual, for a wide array of pairs of functions $(f,g)$ we furnish an example of a finitely presented group with Dehn function equivalent to $f$ and conjugator length function equivalent to $g$. This shows that the two invariants are very strongly independent and making significant progress on a question of Bridson, Riley, and Sale.

93 pages, 22 figures