Relative order and spectrum in free and related groups

We consider a natural generalization of the concept of order of an element in a group: an element g ¿ G is said to have order k in a subgroup H (resp., in a coset Hu) of a group G if k is the first strictly positive integer such that gk ¿ H (resp., gk ¿ Hu). We study this notion and its algorithmic properties in the realm of free groups and some related families. Both positive and negative (algorithmic) results emerge in this setting. On the positive side, among other results, we prove that the order of elements, the set of orders (called spectrum), and the set of preorders (i.e., the set of elements of a given order) w.r.t. finitely generated subgroups are always computable in free and free times free-abelian groups. On the negative side, we provide examples of groups and subgroups having essentially any subset of natural numbers as relative spectrum; in particular, non-recursive and even non-recursively enumerable sets of natural numbers. Also, we take advantage of Mikhailova’s construction to see that the spectrum membership problem is unsolvable for direct products of nonabelian free groups.
The first named author was partially supported by MINECO grant PID2019-107444GA-I00 and the Basque Government grant IT974-16. The second named author acknowledges partial support from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación, through grant MTM2017-82740-P (AEI/ FEDER, UE), and also from the Graduate School of Mathematics through the María de Maeztu Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0445). The third named author was partially supported by (Polish) Narodowe Centrum Nauki, grant UMO-2018/31/G/ST1/02681.
Peer Reviewed
Postprint (author's final draft)