On finitely generated submonoids of virtually free groups

Abstract: We prove that it is decidable whether or not a finitely generated submonoid of a virtually free group is graded, introduce a new geometric characterization as quasi-geodesic monoids, and show that their word problem is rational (as a relation). We also solve the isomorphism problem for this class of monoids, generalizing earlier results for submonoids of free monoids. We also prove that the classes of graded monoids, regular monoids and Kleene monoids coincide for submonoids of free groups.