Let $F_N$ be a free group of rank $N\ge 2$, let $μ$ be a geodesic current on $F_N$ and let $T$ be an $\mathbb R$-tree with a very small isometric action of $F_N$. We prove that the geometric intersection number $<T, μ>$ is equal to zero if and only if the support of $μ$ is contained in the dual algebraic lamination $L^2(T)$ of $T$. Applying this result, we obtain a generalization of a theorem of Francaviglia regarding length spectrum compactness for currents with full support. As another application, we define the notion of a \emph{filling} element in $F_N$ and prove that filling elements are "nearly generic" in $F_N$. We also apply our results to the notion of \emph{bounded translation equivalence} in free groups.
We prove two rigidity results for automorphism groups of the spaces ML(S) of measured laminations on a closed hyperbolic surface S and PML(S) of projective measured laminations on this surface. The results concern the homeomorphisms of ML(S) that preserve the geometric intersection between laminations and the homeomorphisms of PML(S) that preserve the zero sets of these intersection functions.
One can realize higher laminations as positive configurations of points in the affine building. The duality pairings of Fock and Goncharov give pairings between higher laminations for two Langlands dual groups $G$ and $G^{\vee}$. These pairings are a generalization of the intersection pairing between measured laminations on a topological surface. We give a geometric interpretation of these intersection pairings in the case that $G=SL_n$. In particular, we show that they can be computed as the length of minimal weighted networks in the building. Thus we relate the intersection pairings to the m…
This work is the first step towards a description of the Gromov boundary of the free factor graph of a free product, with applications to subgroup classification for outer automorphisms. We extend the theory of algebraic laminations dual to trees, as developed by Coulbois, Hilion, Lustig and Reynolds, to the context of free products; this also gives us an opportunity to give a unified account of this theory. We first show that any $\mathbb{R}$-tree with dense orbits in the boundary of the corresponding outer space can be reconstructed as a quotient of the boundary of the group by its dual lami…
Given a free group $F_n$, a fully irreducible automorphism $f \in \aut$, and a generic element $x \in F_n$, the elements $f^k(x)$ converge in the appropriate sense to an object called an attracting lamination of $f$. When the action of $f$ on $\frac{F_n}{[F_n, F_n]}$ has finite order, we introduce a homological version of this convergence, in which the attracting object is a convex polytope with rational vertices, together with a measure supported at a point with algebraic coordinates.
Thurston and Calegari-Dunfield showed that the fundamental group of some tautly foliated hyperbolic 3-manifold acts on the circle in a distinctive way that the action preserves some structure of S^1, so-called a circle lamination. Indeed, a large class of Kleinian groups acts on the circle preserving a circle lamination. In this paper, we are concerned with the converse problem that a group acting on the circle with at least two invariant circle laminations is Kleinian. We prove that a subgroup of the orientation preserving circle homeomorphism group is a Fuchsian group whose quotient orbifold…
We study metric properties of maximal framed representations of fundamental groups of surfaces in symplectic groups over real closed fields, interpreted as actions on Bruhat-Tits buildings endowed with adapted Finsler norms. We prove that the translation length can be computed as intersection with a geodesic current, give sufficient conditions guaranteeing that such a current is a multicurve, and, if the current is a measured lamination, construct an isometric embedding of the associated tree in the building. These results are obtained as application of more general results of independent inte…
We study graphs of (generalized) joins and intersections of finitely generated subgroups of a free group. We show how to disprove a lemma of Imrich and Müller on these graphs and how to repair this lemma.
The fundamental group of a finite graph of groups with trivial edge groups is a free product. We are interested in those outer automorphisms of such a free product that permute the conjugacy classes of the vertex groups. We show that in particular cases of interest, such as where vertex groups are themselves finite free products of finite and cyclic groups, given such an outer automorphism, after passing to a positive power, the outer automorphism is represented by a particularly nice kind of relative train track map called a CT. CTs were first introduced by Feighn and Handel for outer automor…
For two oriented simple closed curves on a compact orientable surface with a connected boundary we introduce a simple computation of a value in the first homology group of the surface, which detects in some cases that the geometric intersection number of the curves is greater than zero when their algebraic intersection number is zero. The value, computed from two elements of the fundamental group of the surface corresponding to the curves, is found in the difference between one of the elements and its image of the action of Dehn twist along the other. To give a description of the difference sy…
Let G be a finite group acting freely on a compact oriented surface S by homeomorphisms preserving the orientation. Then, there exists a G-invariant Lagrangian subspace in the first homology group of S.
