A Characterization of Wreath Products Where Knapsack Is Decidable

The knapsack problem for groups was introduced by Miasnikov, Nikolaev, and Ushakov. It is defined for each finitely generated group G and takes as input group elements g_1,…,g_n,g ∈ G and asks whether there are x_1,…,x_n ≥ 0 with g_1^{x_1}⋯ g_n^{x_n} = g. We study the knapsack problem for wreath products G≀H of groups G and H. Our main result is a characterization of those wreath products G≀H for which the knapsack problem is decidable. The characterization is in terms of decidability properties of the indiviual factors G and H. To this end, we introduce two decision problems, the intersection knapsack problem and its restriction, the positive intersection knapsack problem. Moreover, we apply our main result to H₃(ℤ), the discrete Heisenberg group, and to Baumslag-Solitar groups BS(1,q) for q ≥ 1. First, we show that the knapsack problem is undecidable for G≀H₃(ℤ) for any G ≠ 1. This implies that for G ≠ 1 and for infinite and virtually nilpotent groups H, the knapsack problem for G≀H is decidable if and only if H is virtually abelian and solvability of systems of exponent equations is decidable for G. Second, we show that the knapsack problem is decidable for G≀BS(1,q) if and only if solvability of systems of exponent equations is decidable for G.