Deciding finiteness of matrix groups in positive characteristic

Abstract

We present a new algorithm to decide finiteness of matrix groups defined over a field of positive characteristic. Together with previous work for groups in zero characteristic, this provides the first complete solution of the finiteness problem for finitely generated matrix groups over an arbitrary field. We also give an algorithm to compute the order of a finite matrix group over a function field of positive characteristic. Our MAGMA implementations of these algorithms are publicly available.