The class of co-context-free groups is studied. A co-context-free group is defined as one whose coword problem (the complement of its word problem) is context-free. This class is larger than the subclass of context-free groups, being closed under the taking of finite direct products, restricted standard wreath products with context-free top groups, and passing to finitely generated subgroups and finite index overgroups. No other examples of co-context-free groups are known. It is proved that the only examples amongst polycyclic groups or the Baumslag-Solitar groups are virtually abelian. This is done by proving that languages with certain purely arithmetical properties cannot be context-free; this result may be of independent interest.

We construct infinite finitely presented simple groups that have subgroups isomorphic to Grigorchuk groups. We also prove that up to one possible exception all previously known finitely presented simple groups are torsion locally finite.

Fascinating connections exist between group theory and automata theory, and a wide variety of them are discussed in this text. Automata can be used in group theory to encode complexity, to represent aspects of underlying geometry on a space on which a group acts, and to provide efficient algorithms for practical computation. There are also many applications in geometric group theory. The authors provide background material in each of these related areas, as well as exploring the connections along a number of strands that lead to the forefront of current research in geometric group theory. Examples studied in detail include hyperbolic groups, Euclidean groups, braid groups, Coxeter groups, Artin groups, and automata groups such as the Grigorchuk group. This book will be a convenient reference point for established mathematicians who need to understand background material for applications, and can serve as a textbook for research students in (geometric) group theory.

We investigate co-indexed groups, that is groups whose co-word problem (all words defining nontrivial elements) is an indexed language. We show that all Higman–Thompson groups and a large class of tree automorphism groups defined by finite automata are co-indexed groups. The latter class is closely related to dynamical systems and includes the Grigorchuk 2-group and the Gupta–Sidki 3-group. The co-word problems of all these examples are in fact accepted by nested stack automata with certain additional properties, and we establish various closure properties of this restricted class of co-indexed groups, including closure under free products.

We determine the abstract commensurator Com(F) of Thompson's group F and describe it in terms of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the real line. We show Com(F) is not finitely generated and determine which subgroups of finite index in F are isomorphic to F . We also show that the natural map from the commensurator group to the quasi-isometry group of F is injective. 20E34; 26A30