Work
Publications
Finitely generated positive cones in $F_n \times \mathbb{Z}$
Abstract
We construct, for every even $n \ge 2$, a positive cone on $F_n \times \mathbb{Z}$ that is finitely generated as a semigroup, extending the previously known construction for $n = 2$. Malicet, Mann, Rivas and Triestino proved that $F_n \times \mathbb{Z}$ admits an isolated left-order if and only if $n$ is even. Since every finitely generated positive cone determines an isolated left-order, for $n \ge 2$, the group $F_n \times \mathbb{Z}$ admits a finitely generated positive cone if and only if $n$ is even.
- Preprint — August 2026
Regular left-orders on groups
joint with Yago Antolín and Cristóbal Rivas
Abstract
A regular left-order on finitely generated group $G$ is a total, left-multiplication invariant order on $G$ whose corresponding positive cone is the image of a regular language over the generating set of the group under the evaluation map. We show that admitting regular left-orders is stable under extensions and wreath products and give a classification of the groups whose left-orders are all regular left-orders. In addition, we prove that solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups $B(1,n)$ admits a regular left-order if and only if $n\geq -1$. Finally, Hermiller and Sunic showed that no free product admits a regular left-order, however we show that if $A$ and $B$ are groups with regular left-orders, then $(A*B) \times \mathbb{Z}$ admits a regular left-order.
- Preprint — accepted in the Journal of Combinatorial Algebra, November 2022
- Talk video; slides — November 2020
Formal language convexity in left-orderable groups
Abstract
We propose a criterion for the regularity of a formal language representation when passing to subgroups. We use this criterion to show that the regularity of a positive cone language in a left-orderable group passes to its finite index subgroups, and to show that there exists no left order on a finitely generated acylindrically hyperbolic group such that the corresponding positive cone is represented by a quasi-geodesic regular language. We also answer one of Navas’ question by giving an example of an infinite family of groups which admit a positive cone that is generated by exactly $k$ generators, for every $k \geq 3$. As a special case of our construction, we obtain a finitely generated positive cone for $F_2 \times \mathbb{Z}$.
- Preprint — accepted in the International Journal of Algebra and Computation, May 2020
- Talk video; Slides — UPV, Bilbao, February 2020; Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh, March 2020
- Poster — YGGT, Bilbao, July 2019
- Lightning talk slides — Of Coarse!, Ventotene, September 2019
PhD thesis
A toolbox for left-orders of low complexity
Completed at ICMAT–UAM under the supervision of Yago Antolín, and defended with a cum laude distinction (maximal grade). Funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and “la Caixa” cofund fellowship (INPhINIT grant).
- ArXiv; video of defense practice; slides — October 2025
Code
Mathlib4 — (December 2025-Present)
Group Presentations — definition + starter API
Description
Group Presentations API in mathlib4: the definition of
Group.Presentationand starter API. LikeGroup.Generators, this is foundational geometric group theory needed by the AnnalsChallenge formalizations.PRs:
- PR #41936 [Merged by Bors] - feat(GroupTheory/Presentation): define group presentations — Hang Lu Su
Group Generators — definition + starter API
Description
Group Generators API in mathlib4: the definition of
Group.Generatorsand some auxiliary lemmas. This was part of my work for the AnnalsChallenge project.PRs:
- PR #42437 [Merged by Bors] - feat(GroupTheory/Generators): define a group generators as a structure — Hang Lu Su
Finitely Presented Group (definition + starter API, lead contributor)
Description
Lead contributor to the Finitely Presented Groups API. I first proposed this project at ItaLean2025 and it grew into a concrete mathlib project under the guidance of Riccardo Brasca, Kevin Buzzard and Thomas Browning. After I merged the definition of finitely presented groups into mathlib, participants of the Lean meetup I organize (MadLean) were given statements from the planned API to prove and submit themselves. Everyone involved was a first-time mathlib contributor! Along the way I mentored 5 new contributors through their first pull requests.
PRs:
- PR #34580 [Merged by Bors] - feat(Algebra/Group/Subgroup/Ker): kernel of a homomorphism composed with an isomorphism — Hang Lu Su
- PR #34621 [Merged by Bors] - feat(GroupTheory/FreeGroup/Basic): deprecate
FreeGroup Empty ≃ UnitusingEquiv.ofUnique, addMulsuggestion usingMulEquiv.ofUniqueand addFreeGroup α ≃* Multiplicative ℤ— Hang Lu Su- PR #34624 [Merged by Bors] - feat(GroupTheory/FreeGroup/Basic): surjection between types induces surjection between free groups on those types — Hang Lu Su
- PR #35029 [Merged by Bors] - feat: the normal closure of an empty set is the trivial subgroup — Hang Lu Su
- PR #35033 [Merged by Bors] - feat: a group is finitely generated if and only if there exists a surjective homomorphism from a
FreeGroupon an arbitrary finite typeαto the group — Hang Lu Su- PR #36858 [Merged by Bors] - feat(GroupTheory/FreeGroup/Basic): injection/bijection between types induces injection/bijection between free groups — Jorge Luis Mayoral Peréz
- PR #36873 [Merged by Bors] - feat(FinitelyPresentedGroup): Add
Multiplicative ℤinstance — Hang Lu Su- PR #36996 [Merged by Bors] - feat(GroupTheory/FinitelyPresentedGroup): add finitely presented groups, minimal API version — Hang Lu Su
- PR #38109 [Merged by Bors] - feat: add finitely presented instance for free groups — Pablo Castellanos
- PR #38114 [Merged by Bors] - feat(FinitelyPresentedGroup): add finite groups instance — Javier Gómez Gonzalez
- PR #38311 [Merged by Bors] - feat(FinitelyPresentedGroup): Additivize everything and add ℤ instance — Hang Lu Su
- PR #38866 [Merged by Bors] - feat(PresentedGroup): free-product of presentations is isomorphic to the presentation of the union (over the disjoint union of generators) — Jorge Luis Mayoral Peréz
- PR #38971 [Merged by Bors] - chore(FinitelyPresentedGroup): Use dot notation by default whenever possible and typo fix — Hang Lu Su
- PR #40200 feat(FinitelyPresentedGroup): add definitional equivalence with generating set given by
S : Set G— Alessio Ferrarini- PR #40332 [Merged by Bors] - feat(FinitelyPresentedGroup): free product of finitely presented is finitely presented — Jorge Luis Mayoral Peréz
- PR #40726 [Merged by Bors] - feat(FinitelyPresentedGroup): comap of finitely generated normal subgroup — Javier Gómez Gonzalez
- PR #40845 [Merged by Bors] - feat(FinitelyPresentedGroup): quotient of a finitely group by a subgroup which is finitely generated under normal closure is finitely presented — Miguel Laredo
Computational group theory
Infinite families of groups with positive cones of rank $k \geq 3$ — 2018 and 2025
Description
GAP simulations used to conjecture and prove infinite families of positive cones of every rank $k \geq 3$, fully answering the Main Problem of A remarkable family of left orderable groups: central extensions of Hecke groups by A. Navas (2011), and to exhibit finitely generated positive cones for $F_{2n} \times \mathbb{Z}$, extending Ping-pong configurations and circular orders on free groups by Malicet, Mann, Rivas and Triestino (2019).
Heisenberg Group Sphere Count — Fall 2016
Description
This algorithms generate the sphere counts for the three-dimensional Heisenberg group over the integers (nilpotent of step 2), and gives the sphere count in terms of its Malcev coordinates.
Completion of the Free Group Algebra — 2015
Description
Algorithm for the division-ring completion of $\mathbb{Q}[F_2]$ via finite recursive data — the computation behind the Computation in the Completion of the Free Group Algebra talk (see the Talks page).
Assorted programming projects
Recurse Center — Summer 2017
Description
Assorted projects built during a batch at the Recurse Center.
- Goofycoin — a toy blockchain, following the Bitcoin book
- Basic raytracer
- SAT-solver plugin — converts Metamath expressions into SAT-solver format
- Minimal chat server — socket-based, in Python
Expository writing
Expository papers
Introduction to $\ell^2$-Betti numbers — Spring 2016
Description
The goal of this presentation is to set up the framework for $\ell^2$ - Betti Numbers from the point of view of von Neumann Algebras.
Overview of the classification of tripartite entanglement under SLOCC — Summer 2014, warning: extreme juvenilia!
Description
The goal of this document is to give the undergraduate reader an overview of tripartite quantum entanglement under SLOCC, with no background assumed.
Research notes
These are my research notes from old projects which did not turn into other material, in case it is of use to someone starting out a similar project. Warning: by the nature of these documents, some statements or ideas in there may be completely wrong.
Growth in the Heisenberg Group — Fall 2016
Keywords
Keywords: growth in groups, nilpotent groups, Malcev normal form, Carnot groups, Gromov, growth in the polynomial range, rational growth, Duchin, Shapiro, geodesics, Cayley graph, CC metric, complexity, polynomial-time algorithm.
Last updated: 2026-09-01