S0002-9947-1983-0688973-8
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Transcript of S0002-9947-1983-0688973-8
transactionsoftheamericanmathematicalsocietyVolume276, Number2, April1983EFFICIENT COMPUTATIONIN GROUPSAND SIMPLICIALCOMPLEXESBYJOHN C.STILLWELLAbstract.UsingHNNextensionsoftheBoone-Brittongroup,agroupEisobtainedwhichsimulatesTuringmachinecomputationinlinearspaceandcubictime.SpaceinEismeasuredbythelengthofwords,andtimebythenumberofsubstitutionsof definingrelatorsandconjugationsby generatorsrequiredtoconvertonewordtoanother.ThespaceboundisusedtoderiveaPSPACE-completeproblemforatopologicalmodelofcomputationpreviouslyusedtocharacterizeNP-completenessandRE-completeness.Introduction.Theabilityofmathematicalsystemstosimulatecomputationhasoftenbeenusedtoproveunsolvabilityresults.Thefirst,andmostinstructive,examplewasPost'ssimulationofTuringmachinesbyfinitelypresentedsemigroups[10]. ForeachdeterministicTuringmachineM,PostconstructsasemigroupT(M)ongeneratorsweshallcallqa, sb,whereaandA rangeovercertainfinitesets.Aninstantaneousdescription(IDforshort)ofthestateofcomputationatanymomentcanbewrittenasaword2inthesegenerators,thereisaspecialqa generatorcalledq, andthe definingrelationsofT(M)aresuch that2=q is derivableif andonly iftheID2leadsMtohalt.ThusthehaltingproblemforMisreducedtothewordproblemforT(M),andbychoosinganMwithunsolvablehaltingproblemPostprovedtheunsolvabilityofthewordproblemforsemigroups.ThesimulationofMbyT(M)showsthat"semigroupscancompute".WhatisinterestingfromtheviewpointofcomputationalcomplexityisthatthederivationinT(M)whichreflectsagivencomputationofMhaslengthboundedbyalinearfunctionofthelengthofcomputation.Thus"time"inT(M)(measuredbythenumberofstepsinaderivation)isslowerthanM'stimebynomorethanalinearfunction,sothesimulationisefficientwithrespecttotime(and,afortiori,withrespecttospace)and,inparticular,thesemigroupsT(M)candopolynomialtimecomputation.WenowbrieflyreviewPost'sargument,becausewithalittleelaborationofitonecanalso obtainnondeterministicpolynomialtime(NP)computationinsemigroups.AnID2ofMconsistsofthesequenceofsymbolssb onM'stapeatthegivenmoment,boundedtoleftandrightbyendmarkersi0,andwithasymbolqa,Received bythe editors August15, 1980 and, in revised form, March24,1982.1980 Mathematics Subject Classification.Primary 20F10, 68C25; Secondary 57M20.Keywordsandphrases.Wordproblemforgroups,Turingmachines,two-dimensionalcomplexes,polynomialtimecomputation.1983AmericanMathematicalSociety0002-9947/82/0000-1254/S04.00715License or copyright restrictions may apply to redistribution; see http://www.ams.org/journal-terms-of-use716 i.C. STILLWELLrepresentingM'scurrentinternalstate,insertedtotheleftofthesymbolrepresent-ingthecurrentscannedsquare.AstepofcomputationchangestheIDinaregion2or3symbolstoleftorrightoftheqasymbol,yieldinganM-successor,2',of2.2'canbeobtainedbysubstitutingawordT, containingasymbolqa,forthestatewhichfollowsqa,forasuitablesubword2,of2containingqa. Thusa computationisasequence(2,2',...)ofID's,eachofwhichresultsfromitspredecessorbyoneoftheabovetransformations2,- Tt.Additionaltransformations,whichwealsodenoteby2,- T,areintroducedforthepurposeofsimplifyinganyIDwhichoccursattheendofahaltingcomputation.Theyintroducethespecialsymbolqwhichthen"eatsup"all othersymbolsso that2- q * 2leads M to halt,where- denotesconvertibilitybymeansofthetransformations2,-> T,. Aword2'whichresultsfrom2byoneofthenewtransformations2,- T, willalsobecalledanM-successorof2,andlikewiseanyM-successorofanIDwill becalledanID.PostnowaddstheinversetransformationsandconsidersthesemigroupT=T(M)whichresultswithgenerators{qa},{sb} anddefiningrelations2,=T. Toshowthat2=q in T(M)2leads M to haltitsufficestoshowthatthesetHalt(M)=(ID's2| 2-* q]isclosedunderM-successorsandM-predecessors.If2EHalt(M)and2'isanM-predecessorof2,then2'- 2anditisimmediatethat2'EHalt(M).If2'isanM-successorof2,andif2'containsq,then2'-> qtrivially.If2'doesnotcontainq,then2and2'aresuccessiveID'sinacomputationandwecanusePost'sargumentwhenMisdeterministic.Namely,2'isthentheuniqueM-successorof2andhence2'- qaspartoftheprocess2-> q,so2'EHalt(M).IfMisnondeterministicwehavetoassumethatM"preservesitspast"inasuitableway,sothatif2isanIDwhichcanleadMtoahaltthenanyM-successor2'of2canalsoleadMtoahalt,ineffectbyrecovering2.AnynondeterministicTuringmachineNcanbesimulatedinlineartimebyanMwiththisspecialproperty.Forexample,McanbeginbyduplicatingtheinputofN,replacingeachsymbolsb byadoublesymbolsbsb inasinglesquareoftapeandthereafterbehavingasTVdoes,butonlyontheright-handhalfofeachdoublesymbol(thuspreservingtheinputasthesequenceofleft-handhalves),exceptthatatanytimeMhastheoptionoferasingtherighthalfofeachsquareandstartingafreshby copyingthe inputontothe now blankrighthalves of thesquares.Thus,whetherornotMisdeterministic,T(M)simulatesMinthesensethat2=ginF(M)