ON MAGNUS' FREIHEITSSATZ AND FREE POLYNOMIAL ALGEBRAS

The Freiheitssatz of Magnus for one-relator groups is one of the cornerstones of combinatorial group theory. In this short note which is mostly expository we discuss the relationship between the Freiheitssatz and corresponding results in free power series rings over fields. These are related to results of Schneerson not readily available in English. This relationship uses a faithful representation of free groups due to Magnus. Using this method in free polynomial algebras provides a proof of the Freiheitssatz for one-relation monoids. We show how the classical Freiheitssatz depends on a condition on certain ideals in power series rings in noncommuting variables over fields. A proof of this result over fields would provide a completely different proof of the classical Freiheitssatz.