Permutive one-way cellular automata and the finiteness problem for automaton groups

Abstract : The decidability of the finiteness problem for automaton groups is a well-studied open question on Mealy automata. We connect this question of algebraic nature to the periodicity problem of one-way cellular automata, a dynamical question known to be undecidable in the general case. We provide a first undecidability result on the dynamics of one-way permutive cellular automata, arguing in favor of the undecidability of the finiteness problem for reset Mealy automata.