Let G be a word-hyperbolic group, obtained as a graph of free groups amalgamated along cyclic subgroups. If H_2(G;Q) is nonzero, then G contains a closed hyperbolic surface subgroup. Moreover, the unit ball of the Gromov-Thurston norm on H_2(G;R) is a finite-sided rational polyhedron.
We show that a finite group which admits a faithful, smooth, orientation-preserving action on a homology 4-sphere, and in particular on the 4-sphere, is isomorphic to a subgroup of the orthogonal group SO(5), by explicitly determining the various groups which can occur (up to an indetermination of index two in the case of solvable groups). As a consequence we obtain also a characterization of the finite groups which are isomorphic to subgroups of the orthogonal groups SO(5) and O(5).
We investigate the homology of finite index subgroups G_i of a given finitely presented group G. Specifically, we examine d_p(G_i), which is the dimension of the first homology of G_i, with mod p coefficients. We say that a collection of finite index subgroups {G_i} has linear growth of mod p homology if the infimum of d_p(G_i)/[G:G_i] is positive. We show that if this holds and each G_i is normal in its predecessor and has index a power of p, then one of the following possibilities must be true: G is large (that is, some finite index subgroup admits a surjective homomorphism onto a non-abelia…
We establish new strong lower bounds on the (subnormal) subgroup growth of a large class of groups. This includes the fundamental groups of all finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds and all (free non-abelian)-by-cyclic groups. The lower bound is nearly exponential, which should be compared with the fastest possible subgroup growth of any finitely generated group. This is achieved by free non-abelian groups and is slightly faster than exponential. As a consequence, we obtain good estimates on the number of covering spaces of a hyperbolic 3-manifold with given covering degree. We also obtain slig…
We study asymptotic behavior of the dimensions of the homology groups of subgroups of finite index in finitely generated subgroups of pro-$p$ extension of centralizers of free pro-$p$ groups. We also prove group theoretic structure properties of such pro-$p$ groups that are of independent interest.
We prove a representation stability result for the second homology groups of Torelli subgroups of mapping class groups and automorphism groups of free groups. This strengthens the results of Boldsen-Hauge Dollerup and Day-Putman. We also prove a new representation stability result for the homology of certain congruence subgroups, partially improving upon the work of Putman-Sam. These results follow from a general theorem on syzygies of certain modules with finite polynomial degree.
We describe the (co)homology of a certain family of normal subgroups of right-angled Artin groups that contain the commutator subgroup, as modules over the quotient group. We do so in terms of (skew) commutative algebra of squarefree monomial ideals.
Let IA_n be the Torelli subgroup of Aut(F_n). We give an explicit finite set of generators for H_2(IA_n) as a GL_n(Z)-module. Corollaries include a version of surjective representation stability for H_2(IA_n), the vanishing of the GL_n(Z)-coinvariants of H_2(IA_n), and the vanishing of the second rational homology group of the level l congruence subgroup of Aut(F_n). Our generating set is derived from a new group presentation for IA_n which is infinite but which has a simple recursive form.
We investigate the rank gradient and growth of torsion in homology in residually finite groups. As a tool, we introduce a new complexity notion for generating sets, using measured groupoids and combinatorial cost. As an application we prove the vanishing of the above invariants for Farber sequences of subgroups of right angled groups. A group is right angled if it can be generated by a sequence of elements of infinite order such that any two consecutive elements commute. Most non-uniform lattices in higher rank simple Lie groups are right angled. We provide the first examples of uniform (co-co…
This paper is about application of various homological methods to classical problems in the theory of group rings. It is shown that the third homology of groups plays a key role in Narain Gupta's three normal subgroup problem. For a free group $F$ and its normal subgroups $R,\,S,\,T,$ and the corresponding ideals in the integral group ring $\mathbb Z[F]$, ${\bf r}=(R-1)\mathbb Z[F],\ {\bf s}=(S-1)\mathbb Z[F],\ {\bf t}=(T-1)\mathbb Z[F],$ a complete description of the normal subgroup $F\cap (1+{\bf rst})$ is given, provided $R\subseteq T$ and the third and the fourth homology groups of $R/R\ca…
Let G be a finite group and p a prime dividing its order. We define new collections of p-subgroups of G. We study the homotopy relations among them and with the standard collections of p-subgroups. We determine their ampleness and sharpness properties.
We prove that if F is a finitely generated free group and f:F -> F is an automorphism with polynomial growth of degree d, then there exists a characteristic subgroup S < F of finite index such that the induced automorphism of the abelianisation of S also grows polynomially of degree d. The proof is geometric in nature and makes use of improved relative train track representatives.
For any discrete, torsion-free subgroup $Γ$ of $\mathrm{Sp}(n,1)$ (resp.\ $\mathrm{F}_4^{-20}$) with no parabolic elements, we prove that $H_{4n-1}(Γ;V)=0$ (resp.\ $H_i(Γ;V)=0$ for $i=13,14,15$) for any $Γ$--module $V$. The main technical advance is a new bound on the $p$--Jacobian of the barycenter map of Besson--Courtois--Gallot. We also apply this estimate to obtain an inequality between the critical exponent and homological dimension of $Γ$, improving on work of M.~Kapovich.
The homology groups of many natural sequences of groups $\{G_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ (e.g. general linear groups, mapping class groups, etc.) stabilize as $n \rightarrow \infty$. Indeed, there is a well-known machine for proving such results that goes back to early work of Quillen. Church and Farb discovered that many sequences of groups whose homology groups do not stabilize in the classical sense actually stabilize in some sense as representations. They called this phenomena representation stability. We prove that the homology groups of congruence subgroups of $GL_n(R)$ (for almost any reasonabl…
Given a finitely-generated group G, and a finite group Γ, Philip Hall defined δ_Γto be the number of factor groups of G that are isomorphic to Γ. We show how to compute the Hall invariants by cohomological and combinatorial methods, when G is finitely-presented, and Γbelongs to a certain class of metabelian groups. Key to this approach is the stratification of the character variety by the jumping loci of the cohomology of G, with coefficients in rank 1 local systems over a suitably chosen field \K. Counting relevant torsion points on these "characteristic" subvarieties gives δ_Γ(G). In the pro…
For a given free group $F$ of arbitrary rank (possibly infinite), and its subgroup $G$, we address the question whether a lower central subgroup of $G$ can contain a lower central subgroup of $F$. We show that the answer is no if $G$ does not normally generate $F$. The question comes from a study of Hirzebruch-type invariants from iterated $p$-covers for 3-dimensional homology cylinders.
We consider the question of which right-angled Artin groups contain closed hyperbolic surface subgroups. It is known that a right-angled Artin group $A(K)$ has such a subgroup if its defining graph $K$ contains an $n$-hole (i.e. an induced cycle of length $n$) with $n\geq 5$. We construct another eight "forbidden" graphs and show that every graph $K$ on $\le 8$ vertices either contains one of our examples, or contains a hole of length $\ge 5$, or has the property that $A(K)$ does not contain hyperbolic closed surface subgroups. We also provide several sufficient conditions for a \RAAG to conta…
We describe two methods for computing the low-dimensional integral homology of the Mathieu simple groups and use them to make computations such as $H_5(M_{23},\ZZ)=\ZZ_7$ and $H_3(M_{24},\ZZ)=\ZZ_{12}$. One method works via Sylow subgroups. The other method uses a Wythoff polytope and perturbation techniques to produce an explicit free $\ZZ M_n$-resolution. Both methods apply in principle to arbitrary finite groups.
In this paper, we give some necessary and sufficient conditions for a normal subgroup of an amalgamated product of groups to be finitely generated. We apply these conditions together with Stallings' fibering theorem to prove that an irreducible multilink in a homology 3-sphere fibers if and only if each of its multilink splice components fibers.
A beautifully simple free generating set for the commutator subgroup of a free group was constructed by Tomaszewski. We give a new geometric proof of his theorem, and show how to give a similar free generating set for the commutator subgroup of a surface group. We also give a simple representation-theoretic description of the structure of the abelianizations of these commutator subgroups and calculate their homology.
A collection C of subgroups of a finite group G can give rise to three different standard formulas for the cohomology of G in terms of either: the subgroups in C; or their centralizers; or their normalizers. We give a short but systematic study of the relationship among such formulas for nine standard collections C of p-subgroups, obtaining some new formulas in the process. To do this, we exhibit some sufficient conditions on the poset C which imply comparison results.
For Artin groups of dihedral type, we compute the Bredon homology groups of the classifying space for the family of virtually cyclic subgroups with coefficients in the K-theory of a group ring.
We construct examples of finite covers of punctured surfaces where the first rational homology is not spanned by lifts of simple closed curves. More generally, for any set $\mathcal{O} \subset F_n$ which is contained in the union of finitely many $Aut(F_n)$-orbits, we construct finite-index normal subgroups of $F_n$ whose first rational homology is not spanned by powers of elements of $\mathcal{O}$. These examples answer questions of Farb-Hensel, Kent, Looijenga, and Marche. We also show that the quotient of $Out(F_n)$ by the subgroup generated by kth powers of transvections often contains inf…
We study the growth of torsion in the abelianizations of finite index subgroups in finitely generated metabelian groups. This complements earlier work of Kar, Kropholler and the author which covered the finitely presented amenable groups.
It is a consequence of the classical Jordan bound for finite subgroups of linear groups that in each dimension n there are only finitely many finite simple groups which admit a faithful, linear action on the n-sphere. In the present paper we prove an analogue for smooth actions on arbitrary homology n-spheres: in each dimension n there are only finitely many finite simple groups which admit a faithful, smooth action on some homology sphere of dimension n, and in particular on the n-sphere. We discuss also the finite simple groups which admit an action on a homology sphere of dimension 3, 4 or …
We develop a theory of equivariant group presentations and relate them to the second homology group of a group. Our main application says that the second homology group of the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group is finitely generated as an $Sp(2g,\mathbb{Z})$-module.
Quillen's plus construction is a topological construction that kills the maximal perfect subgroup of the fundamental group of a space without changing the integral homology of the space. In this paper we show that there is a topological construction that, while leaving the integral homology of a space unaltered, kills even the intersection of the transfinite lower central series of its fundamental group. Moreover, we show that this is the maximal subgroup that can be factored out of the fundamental group without changing the integral homology of a space.
We develop an analogue of the Birman exact sequence for the Torelli subgroup of Aut(F_n). This builds on earlier work of the authors who studied an analogue of the Birman exact sequence for the entire group Aut(F_n). These results play an important role in the authors' recent work on the second homology group of the Torelli group.
This is a survey on old and new results as well as an introduction to various related basic notions and concepts, based on two talks given at the International Workshop on Geometry and Analysis in Kemerovo (Sobolev Institute of Mathematics, Kemerovo State University) and at the University of Krasnojarsk in June 2011. We discuss finite groups acting on low-dimensional spheres, comparing with the finite subgroups of the corresponding orthogonal groups, and also finite simple groups acting on spheres and homology spheres of arbitrary dimension.
Let $\operatorname{Aut}(H_1(N_g;\mathbb Z_2),\cdot )$ be the group of automorphisms on the first homology group with $\mathbb Z_2$ coefficient of a closed non-orientable surface $N_g$ preserving the mod $2$ intersection form. In this paper, we obtain a finite presentation for $\operatorname{Aut}(H_1(N_g;\mathbb Z_2),\cdot )$. As applications we calculate the first homology group and the second homology group of $\operatorname{Aut}(H_1(N_g;\mathbb Z_2),\cdot )$.
A Garside group is a group admitting a finite lattice generating set D. Using techniques developed by Bestvina for Artin groups of finite type, we construct K(π,1)s for Garside groups. This construction shows that the (co)homology of any Garside group G is easily computed given the lattice D, and there is a simple sufficient condition that implies G is a duality group. The universal covers of these K(π,1)s enjoy Bestvina's weak non-positive curvature condition. Under a certain tameness condition, this implies that every solvable subgroup of G is virtually abelian.
We prove that groups that are mod-p-homology equivalent are isomorphic modulo any term of their derived p-series, in precise analogy to Stallings' 1963 result for the lower-central p-series. Similarly spaces that are mod-p-homology equivalent have fundamental groups that are isomorphic modulo any term of their p-derived series. Various authors have related the ranks of the successive quotients of the lower central p-series and of the derived p-series of the fundamental group of a 3-manifold M to the volume of M, to whether certain subgroups of the fundamental group of M are free, whether finit…
We define an integer-valued invariant of special cube complexes called the genus, and prove that having genus one characterizes special cube complexes with abelian fundamental group. Using the genus, we obtain a new proof that the fundamental group of a special cube complex is either free abelian or surjects onto a non-cyclic free group. We also investigate automorphisms of special cube complexes, and give a new geometric proof that the Torelli subgroup for a right-angled Artin group is torsion-free.
We report on the computation of torsion in certain homology theories of congruence subgroups of SL(4,Z). Among these are the usual group cohomology, the Tate-Farrell cohomology, and the homology of the sharbly complex. All of these theories yield Hecke modules. We conjecture that the Hecke eigenclasses in these theories have attached Galois representations. The interpretation of our computations at the torsion primes 2,3,5 is explained. We provide evidence for our conjecture in the 15 cases of odd torsion that we found in levels up to 31.
We explicitly compute the homology groups with coefficients in a field of characteristic zero of cocyclic subgroups or even Artin groups of FC-type. We also give some partial results in the case when the coefficients are taken in a field of prime characteristic.
We introduce the notion of a symmetric group parametrized by elements of a group. We show that this group is an extension of a certain subgroup of the wreath product $G \wr S_n$ by $\mathrm{H}_2(G, \mathbb{Z})$. We also discuss the motivation behind this construction.
We present novel constructions concerning the homology of finitely generated groups. Each construction draws on ideas of Gilbert Baumslag. There is a finitely presented acyclic group $U$ such that $U$ has no proper subgroups of finite index and every finitely presented group can be embedded in $U$. There is no algorithm that can determine whether or not a finitely presentable subgroup of a residually finite, biautomatic group is perfect. For every recursively presented abelian group $A$ there exists a pair of groups $i:P_A\hookrightarrow G_A$ such that $i$ induces an isomorphism of profinite c…
For certain contractible G-CW-complexes and F a family of subgroups of G, we construct a spectral sequence converging to the F-Bredon cohomology of G with E1-terms given by the F-Bredon cohomology of the stabilizer subgroups. As applications, we obtain several corollaries concerning the cohomological and geometric dimensions of the classifying space for the family F. We also introduce a hierarchically defined class of groups which contains all countable elementary amenable groups and countable linear groups of characteristic zero, and show that if a group G is in this class, then G has finite …
Let $n\ge 3$, and let $\mathrm{Out}(W_n)$ be the outer automorphism group of a free Coxeter group $W_n$ of rank $n$. We study the growth of the dimension of the homology groups (with coefficients in any field $\mathbb{K}$) along Farber sequences of finite-index subgroups of $\mathrm{Out}(W_n)$. We show that, in all degrees up to $\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor-1$, these Betti numbers grow sublinearly in the index of the subgroup. When $\mathbb{K}=\mathbb{Q}$, through Lück's approximation theorem, this implies that all $\ell^2$-Betti numbers of $\mathrm{Out}(W_n)$ vanish up to degree $\lfloor\frac{n…
We show that for every finitely presented pro-$p$ nilpotent-by-abelian-by-finite group $G$ there is an upper bound on $\dim_{\mathbb{Q}_p} (H_1(M, \mathbb{Z}_p) \otimes_{\mathbb{Z}_p} \mathbb{Q}_p )$, as $M$ runs through all pro-$p$ subgroups of finite index in $G$.
Let G be a compact semisimple linear Lie group. We study the action of Aut(F_r) on the space H_*(G^r;\QQ). We compute the image of this representation and prove that it only depends on the rank of the Lie algebra of G. We show that the kernel of this representation is always the Torrelli subgroup IA_r of Aut(F_r).
Let $X$ be a smooth manifold belonging to one of these three collections: acyclic manifolds (compact or not, possibly with boundary), compact connected manifolds (possibly with boundary) with nonzero Euler characteristic, integral homology spheres. We prove that $Diff(X)$ is Jordan. This means that there exists a constant $C$ such that any finite subgroup $G$ of $Diff(X)$ has an abelian subgroup whose index in $G$ is at most $C$. Using a result of Randall and Petrie we deduce that the automorphism groups of connected, non necessarily compact, smooth real affine varieties with nonzero Euler cha…
We prove new vanishing results on the growth of higher torsion homologies for suitable arithmetic lattices, Artin groups and mapping class groups. The growth is understood along Farber sequences, in particular, along residual chains. For principal congruence subgroups, we also obtain strong asymptotic bounds for the torsion growth. As a central tool, we introduce a quantitative homotopical method called effective rebuilding. This constructs small classifying spaces of finite index subgroups, at the same time controlling the complexity of the homotopy. The method easily applies to free abelian …
We investigate the structure of subdirect products of groups, particularly their finiteness properties. We pay special attention to the subdirect products of free groups, surface groups and HNN extensions. We prove that a finitely presented subdirect product of free and surface groups virtually contains a term of the lower central series of the direct product or else fails to intersect one of the direct summands. This leads to a characterization of the finitely presented subgroups of the direct product of 3 free or surface groups, and to a solution to the conjugacy problem for arbitrary finite…
Let $R$ be a commutative ring that is free of rank $k$ as an abelian group, $p$ a prime, and $SL(n,R)$ the special linear group. We show that the Lie algebra associated to the filtration of $SL(n,R)$ by $p$-congruence subgroups is isomorphic to the tensor product $\mathfrak{sl}_n(R\otimes_{\Z}\Z/p)\otimes_{\F_p}t\F_p[t]$, the Lie algebra of polynomials with zero constant term and coefficients $n\times n$ traceless matrices with entries polynomials in $k$ variables over $\F_p$. We use the Lie algebra structure along with the Lyndon-Hochschild-Serre spectral sequence to compute the $d^2$ homolog…
We compute the equivariant $KO$-homology of the classifying space for proper actions of $\textrm{SL}_3(\mathbb{Z})$ and $\textrm{GL}_3(\mathbb{Z})$. We also compute the Bredon homology and equivariant $K$-homology of the classifying spaces for proper actions of $\textrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{Z}[\frac{1}{p}])$ and $\textrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z}[\frac{1}{p}])$ for each prime $p$. Finally, we prove the Unstable Gromov-Lawson-Rosenberg Conjecture for a large class of groups whose maximal finite subgroups are odd order and have periodic cohomology.