Zhang's Question on Howson and Strongly Howson Groups

Precise statement

A group is Howson if the intersection of any two finitely generated subgroups is finitely generated, and strongly Howson if the rank of that intersection is bounded in terms of the two ranks. Zhang asked whether the two coincide for finitely generated groups. They do not.

The source statement is reproduced for indexing with attribution. Mathematical correctness requires domain-expert or mechanical review. VibeMath has not independently audited statement fidelity, correctness, priority, or novelty.

What AI did

ChatGPT

The disclosure credits ChatGPT with constructing the example in Section 2, which is the separating example the paper turns on, while stating the proofs are the authors'.

Provider: OpenAI · Prompt public: unknown · Independence: unknown

Verification boundary

unreviewed

arXiv preprint; not yet peer-reviewed.

Correctness: unknown · statement fidelity: unaudited · peer review: none

Timeline

1. 2026-05-29

   arXiv:2605.30840 - Finitely generated Howson groups which are not strongly Howson

   VibeMathed reports this item as resolved. VibeMath preserves that report as a source assertion and has not independently authored a plain-language mathematical explanation.

Known method families

construction (source-reported)

Source-reported tools: construction.

Independent: unknown · difference confidence: 0

What remains uncertain

VibeMath has not independently audited the mathematical statement, proof, or novelty claim.

• VibeMath has not independently verified the mathematical claim.
• AI-attempt independence and training-data exposure are unknown unless explicitly documented.
• VibeMath has not independently audited the mathematical statement, proof, or novelty claim.