Time-Complexity of the Word Problem for Semigroups and the Higman Embedding Theorem

Abstract

The following algebraic characterization of the computational complexity of the word problem for finitely generated semigroups is proved, in the form of a refinement of the Higman Embedding Theorem: Let S be a finitely generated semigroup whose word problem has nondeterministic time complexity T (where T is a function on the positive integers which is superadditive, i.e. T(n+m) ≥T(n)+T(m)). Then S can be embedded in a finitely presented semigroup H in which the derivation distance between any two equivalent words x and y (and hence the isoperimetric function) is O (T(∣x∣+∣y∣)2). Moreover, there is a conjunctive linear-time reduction from the word problem of H to the word problem of S, so the word problems of S and H have the same nondeterministic time complexity (and also the same deterministic time complexity). Thus, a finitely generated semigroup S has a word problem in NTIME(T) (or in DTIME(To)) iff S is embeddable into a finitely presented semigroup H whose word problem is in NTIME(T) (respectively in DTIME(To)). In the other direction, if a finitely generated semigroup S is embeddable in a finitely presented semigroup H with isoperimetric function ≤ D (where D(n) ≥ n), then the word problem of S has nondeterministic time complexity O(D). The word problem of a finitely generated semigroup S is in NP (or more generally, in NTIME((T) O(1) )) iff S can be embedded in a finitely presented semigroup H with polynomial (respectively (T) O(1) ) isoperimetric function. An algorithmic problem L is in NP (or more generally, in NTIME((T) O(1) )) iff L is reducible (via a linear-time one-to-one reduction) to the word problem of a finitely presented semigroup with polynomial (respectively (T) O(1) ) isoperimetric function. In essence, this shows: (1) Finding embeddings into finitely presented semigroups or groups is an algebraic analogue of nondeterministic algorithm design; (2) the isoperimetric function is an algebraic analogue of nondeterministic time complexity.