On the Grigorchuk–Kurchanov conjecture

Abstract.

 Let denote the free group of rank 2g. An automorphism φ? Aut(F _{2 g} ) is generating if N _a φ (N _b ) = F _{2 g} , where N _a is the normal closure of and N _b is defined analogously. We present a characterization of generating automorphisms in Aut(F ₂) and observe that there exists a unique (up to equivalence) epimorphism F ₂→Z×Z: this is a particular case of the Grigorchuk–Kurchanov conjecture.

This leads to further investigations for splitting homomorphisms for the pairs (F _{2 g} , F _g) and (G _g, F _g) where G _g denotes the fundamental group of a closed orientable surface of genus g and a reformulation of the Poincaré and Grigorchuk–Kurchanov conjectures is derived.