Indexed languages are a classical notion in formal language theory. As the language equivalent of second-order pushdown automata, they have received considerable attention in higher-order model checking. Unfortunately, counting properties are notoriously difficult to decide for indexed languages: So far, all results about non-regular counting properties show undecidability.

A marked free monoid morphism is a morphism for which the image of each generator starts with a different letter, and immersions are the analogous maps in free groups. We show that the (simultaneous) PCP is decidable for immersions of free groups, and provide an algorithm to compute bases for the sets, called equalisers, on which the immersions take the same values. We also answer a question of Stallings about the rank of the equaliser. Analogous results are proven for marked morphisms of free monoids.

We show that the full set of solutions to systems of equations and inequations in a hyperbolic group, with or without torsion, as shortlex geodesic words, is an EDT0L language whose specification can be computed in $\mathsf{NSPACE}(n^2\log n)$ for the torsion-free case and $\mathsf{NSPACE}(n^4\log n)$ in the torsion case. Our work combines deep geometric results by Rips, Sela, Dahmani and Guirardel on decidability of existential theories of hyperbolic groups, work of computer scientists including Plandowski, Jeż, Diekert and others on $\mathsf{PSPACE}$ algorithms to solve equations in free monoids and groups using compression, and an intricate language-theoretic analysis. The present work gives an essentially optimal formal language description for all solutions in all hyperbolic groups, and an explicit and surprising low space complexity to compute them.