The complexity of equivalence and isomorphism of systems of equations over finite groups

Abstract

We study the computational complexity of the isomorphism and equivalence problems on systems of equations over a fixed finite group. We show that the equivalence problem is in P if the group is Abelian, and coNP-complete if the group is non-Abelian. We prove that if the group is non-Abelian, then the problem of deciding whether two systems of equations over the group are isomorphic is coNP-hard. If the group is Abelian, then the isomorphism problem is G RAPH I SOMORPHISM-hard. Moreover, if we impose the restriction that all equations are of bounded length, then we prove that the isomorphism problem for systems of equations over finite Abelian groups is G RAPH I SOMORPHISM-complete. Finally, we prove that the problem of counting the number of isomorphisms of systems of equations is no harder than deciding whether there exist any isomorphisms at all.