We prove that with probability tending to 1, a 1-relator group with at least 3 generators and relator of length n is residually finite, virtually residually (finite p)-group for all sufficiently large p, and coherent. The proof uses both combinatorial group theory and non-trivial results about Brownian motions, bridges and excursions in R^k.
This communication records some observations made in the course of studying one-relator groups from the point of view of residual solvability. As a contribution to clas- sification efforts we single out some relator types that render the corresponding one-relator groups residually solvable.
A relative one-relator presentation has the form P = < X,H ; R > where X is a set, H is a group, and R is a group word on X and H. We show that if the group word on X obtained from R by deleting all the terms from H has what we call the unique max-min property, then the group defined by P is residually finite if and only if H is residually finite (Theorem 1). We apply this to obtain new results concerning the residual finiteness of (ordinary) one-relator groups (Theorem 4). We also obtain results concerning the conjugacy problem for one-relator groups (Theorem 5), and results concerning the re…
This is a survey of two papers joint with A. Borisov and a paper joint with I. Spakulova. It is based on my lectures at the conference "Groups St. Andrews 2009", Bath (August 2009). We prove that almost all 1-related groups with at least 3 generators are virtually residually (finite p-)groups for almost all primes p, and coherent. The proof involves methods from combinatorial group theory (the congruence extension property of certain subgroups of free groups) algebraic geometry (dynamics of polynomial maps over finite and p-adic fields) and probability theory (convex hulls of Brownian bridges)…
A group obtained from a nontrivial group by adding one generator and one relator which is a proper power of a word in which the exponent-sum of the additional generator is one contains the free square of the initial group and almost always (with one obvious exception) contains a non-abelian free subgroup. If the initial group is involution-free or the relator is at least third power, then the obtained group is SQ-universal and relatively hyperbolic with respect to the initial group.
The general {\bf surface group conjecture} asks whether a one-relator group where every subgroup of finite index is again one-relator and every subgroup of infinite index is free (property IF) is a surface group. We resolve several related conjectures given in [FKMRR]. First we obtain the Surface Group Conjecture B for cyclically pinched and conjugacy pinched one-relator groups. That is: if $G$ is a cyclically pinched one-relator group or conjugacy pinched one-relator group satisfying property IF then $G$ is free, a surface group or a solvable Baumslag-Solitar Group. Further combining results …
The main result of this paper is a complete classification of the outer automorphism groups of two-generator, one-relator groups with torsion. To this classification we apply recent algorithmic results of Dahmani--Guirardel, which yields an algorithm to compute the isomorphism class of the outer automorphism group of a given two-generator, one-relator group with torsion.
We prove that if a group possesses a deficiency 1 presentation where one of the relators is a commutator then it is the integers times the integers, is large, or is as far as possible from being residually finite. Then we use this to show that a mapping torus of an endomorphism of a finitely generated free group is large if it contains the integers times the integers as a subgroup of infinite index, as well as showing that such a group is large if it contains a Baumslag-Solitar group of infinite index and has a finite index subgroup with first Betti number at least 2. We give applications to f…
We show (using results of Wise and of Woodhouse) that a tubular group is always virtually special (meaning that it has a finite index subgroup embedding in a RAAG) if the underlying graph is a tree. We also adapt Gardam and Woodhouse's argument on tubular groups which double cover 1-relator groups to show there exist 1-relator groups which are CAT(0) but not residually finite.
Adding two generators and one arbitrary relator to a nontrivial torsion-free group, we always obtain an SQ-universal group. In the course of the proof of this theorem, we obtain some other results of independent interest. For instance, adding one generator and one relator in which the exponent sum of the additional generator is one to a free product of two nontrivial torsion-free groups, we also obtain an SQ-universal group. Key words: relative presentations, one-relator groups, SQ-universality, equations over groups.
We use Fox calculus to assign a marked polytope to a `nice' group presentation with two generators and one relator. Relating the marked vertices to Novikov-Sikorav homology we show that they determine the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant of the group. Furthermore we show that in many cases the marked polytope is an invariant of the underlying group and that in those cases the marked polytope also determines the minimal complexity of all the associated HNN-splittings.
Relying on the theory of agrarian invariants introduced in previous work, we solve a conjecture of Friedl-Tillmann: we show that the marked polytopes they constructed for two-generator one-relator groups with nice presentations are independent of the presentations used. We also show that, when the groups are additionally torsion-free, the agrarian polytope encodes the splitting complexity of the group. This generalises theorems of Friedl-Tillmann and Friedl-Lück-Tillmann.
We use Klyachko's methods to prove that the natural map G to G-hat, where G is a torsion-free group and G-hat is obtained by adding a new generator t and a new relator w, is surjective only if w is conjugate to gt or gt^{-1} for some g in G. This solves a special case of the surjectivity problem for group extensions, raised by Cohen [Whitehead torsion, group extensions, and Zeeman's conjecture in high dimensions, Topology, 16 (1977) 79--88].
A criterion for the HNN-extension of a finite p-group to be residually a finite p-group is obtained and based on this criterion the sufficient condition for residuality a finite p-group of HNN-extension with arbitrary base group is proved. Then these results are applied to give for groups from two classes of one-relator groups the necessary and sufficient condition to be residually a finite p-group.
The description of the automorphism group of group $<a, b; [a^m,b^n]=1>$ ($m,n>1$) in terms of generators and defining relations is given. This result is applied to prove that any normal automorphism of every such group is inner.
The Surface Group Conjectures are statements about recognising surface groups among one-relator groups, using either the structure of their finite-index subgroups, or all subgroups. We resolve these conjectures in the two generator case. More generally, we prove that every two-generator one-relator group with every infinite-index subgroup free is itself either free or a surface group.
We provide an explicit presentation of an infinite hyperbolic Kazhdan group with $4$ generators and $16$ relators of length at most $73$. That group acts properly and cocompactly on a hyperbolic triangle building of type $(3,4,4)$. We also point out a variation of the construction that yields examples of lattices in $\tilde A_2$-buildings admitting non-Desarguesian residues of arbitrary prime power order.
Let H be a group obtained from a group G by adding one generator and one relator which is a proper power of a unimodular word. The main aim of this paper is to prove that G is a malnormal subgroup of H. This implies that if G is a nontrivial group, then the group H has a trivial center.
In this paper, we prove that two-generator one-relator groups with depth less than or equal to 3 can be effectively embedded into a tower of HNN-extensions in which each group has the effective standard normal form. We give an example to show how to deal with some general cases for one-relator groups. By using the Magnus method and Composition-Diamond Lemma, we reprove the G. Higman, B. H. Neumann and H. Neumann's embedding theorem.
A cyclic presentation of a group is a presentation with an equal number of generators and relators that admits a particular cyclic symmetry. We characterise the orientable, non-orientable, and redundant cyclic presentations and obtain concise refinements of these presentations. We show that the Tits alternative holds for the class of groups defined by redundant cyclic presentations and that if the number of generators of the cyclic presentation is greater than two then the corresponding group is large. Generalizing and extending earlier results of the authors we describe the star graphs of ori…
We consider largeness of groups given by a presentation of deficiency 1, where the group is respectively free-by-cyclic, LERF or 1-relator. We give the first examples of (finitely generated free)-by-(infinite cyclic) word hyperbolic groups which are large, show that a LERF deficiency 1 group with first Betti number at least 2 is large or the integers times the integers, and show that 2-generator 1-relator groups where the relator has height 1 obey the dichotomy that either the group is large or all its finite images are metacyclic.
In [BB] Benjamin Baumslag proved that being fully residually free is equivalent to being residually free and commutative transitive (CT). Gaglione and Spellman [GS] and Remeslennikov [Re] showed that this is also equivalent to being universally free, that is, having the same universal theory as the class of nonabelian free groups. This result is one of the cornerstones of the proof of the Tarksi problems. In this paper we extend the class of groups for which Benjamin Baumslag's theorem is true, that is we consider classes of groups $\X$ for which being fully residually $\X$ is equivalent to be…
We show that, as n goes to infinity, the free group on n generators, modulo n+u random relations, converges to a random group that we give explicitly. This random group is a non-abelian version of the random abelian groups that feature in the Cohen-Lenstra heuristics. For each n, these random groups belong to the few relator model in the Gromov model of random groups.
We show that the free-by-cyclic groups of the form F(2)-by-Z act properly cocompactly on CAT(0) square complexes. We also show using generalised Baumslag-Solitar groups that all known groups defined by a 2-generator 1-relator presentation are either SQ-universal or are cyclic or isomorphic to BS(1,j). Finally we consider free-by-cyclic groups which are not relatively hyperbolic with respect to any collection of subgroups.
We prove that ``almost generically'' for a one-relator group Delzant's $T$-invariant (which measures the smallest size of a finite presentation for a group) is comparable in magnitude with the length of the defining relator. The proof relies on our previous results regarding isomorphism rigidity of generic one-relator groups and on the methods of the theory of Kolmogorov-Chaitin complexity. We also give a precise asymptotic estimate (when $k$ is fixed and $n$ goes to infinity) for the number $I_{k,n}$ of isomorphism classes of $k$-generator one-relator groups with a cyclically reduced defining…
In the theory of one-relator groups, Magnus subgroups, which are free subgroups obtained by omitting a generator that occurs in the given relator, play an essential structural role. In a previous article, the author proved that if two distinct Magnus subgroups M and N of a one-relator group, with free bases S and T are given, then the intersection of M and N is either the free subgroup P generated by the intersection of S and T or the free product of P with an infinite cyclic group. The main result of this article is that if M and N are Magnus subgroups (not necessarily distinct) of a one-rela…
It is well-known that random groups with at least as many relators as generators have vanishing first betti number with high probability. In this paper we extend this question and study maps from few-relators random groups to infinite virtually abelian groups.
We determine the L^2-Betti numbers of all one-relator groups and all surface-plus-one-relation groups (surface-plus-one-relation groups were introduced by Hempel who called them one-relator surface groups). In particular we show that for all such groups G, the L^2-Betti numbers b_n^{(2)}(G) are 0 for all n>1. We also obtain some information about the L^2-cohomology of left-orderable groups, and deduce the non-L^2 result that, in any left-orderable group of homological dimension one, all two-generator subgroups are free.
It is a well-known fact that every group $G$ has a presentation of the form $G = F/R$, where $F$ is a free group and $R$ the kernel of the natural epimorphism from $F$ onto $G$. Driven by the desire to obtain a similar presentation of the group of automorphisms $Aut(G)$, we can consider the subgroup $Stab(R) \subseteq Aut(F)$ of those automorphisms of $F$ that stabilize $R$, and try to figure out if the natural homomorphism $Stab(R) \to Aut(G)$ is onto, and if it is, to determine its kernel. Both parts of this task are usually quite hard. The former part received considerable attention in the …
Let $q$ be a prime. Let $G$ be a residually finite group satisfying an identity. Suppose that for every $x \in G$ there exists a $q$-power $m=m(x)$ such that the element $x^m$ is a bounded Engel element. We prove that $G$ is locally virtually nilpotent. Further, let $d,n$ be positive integers and $w$ a non-commutator word. Assume that $G$ is a $d$-generator residually finite group in which all $w$-values are $n$-Engel. We show that the verbal subgroup $w(G)$ has $\{d,n,w\}$-bounded nilpotency class.
Direct powers of perfect groups admit more concise presentations than one might naively suppose. If $H_1G=H_2G=0$, then $G^n$ has a presentation with $O(\log n)$ generators and $O(\log n)^3$ relators. If, in addition, there is an element $g\in G$ that has infinite order in every non-trivial quotient of $G$, then $G^n$ has a presentation with $d(G) +1$ generators and $O(\log n)$ relators. The bounds that we obtain on the deficiency of $G^n$ are not monotone in $n$; this points to potential counterexamples for the Relation Gap Problem.
We present a theoretical algorithm which, given any finite presentation of a group as input, will terminate with answer yes if and only if the group is large. We then implement a practical version of this algorithm using Magma and apply it to a range of presentations. Our main focus is on 2-generator 1-relator presentations where we have a complete picture of largeness if the relator has exponent sum zero in one generator and word length at most 12, as well as when the relator is in the commutator subgroup and has word length at most 18. Indeed all but a tiny number of presentations define lar…
A Magnus subgroup of a one-relator group is the free subgroup freely generated by a proper subset of the generators. Two such subgroups can intersect in the obvious way or in a larger, exceptional way. The condition of non-exceptional intersection of Magnus subgroups of a one-relator group is applied to give criteria for the resulting cyclically presented groups to contain nonabelian free subgroups.
We use the theory of group actions on profinite trees to prove that the fundamental group of a finite, 1-acylindrical graph of free groups with finitely generated edge groups is conjugacy separable. This has several applications: we prove that positive, $C'(1/6)$ one-relator groups are conjugacy separable; we provide a conjugacy separable version of the Rips construction; we use this latter to provide an example of two finitely presented, residually finite groups that have isomorphic profinite completions, such that one is conjugacy separable and the other does not even have solvable conjugacy…
For a connected graph L, let G(L) be a group with generators the vertex set of L, subject only to the relations that the ends of each edge commute. Now let H(L) be the kernel of the homomorphism from G(L) to the integers that takes each vertex to 1. M. Bestvina and N. Brady have shown that finiteness properties of H(L) are intimately related to the topology of the clique complex of L. We give a presentation for H(L), with generators the edges of L, and an infinite family of relators for each 1-cycle in L. In the case when the clique complex for L is simply-connected, we give a finite presentat…
We consider groups defined by non-empty balanced presentations with the property that each relator is of the form R(x,y), where x and y are distinct generators and R(.,.) is determined by some fixed cyclically reduced word R(a,b) that involves both a and b. To every such presentation we associate a directed graph whose vertices correspond to the generators and whose arcs correspond to the relators. Under the hypothesis that the girth of the underlying undirected graph is at least 4, we show that the resulting groups are non-trivial and cannot be finite of rank 3 or higher. Without the hypothes…
We apply the method of Arzhantseva-Ol'shanskii to prove that for an exponentially generic (in the sense of Ol'shanskii) class of one-relator groups the isomorphism problem is solvable in at most exponential time. This is obtained as a corollary of our more general result that for any fixed integers $m>1, n>0$ there is an exponentially generic class of $m$-generator $n$-relator groups where every group has only one Nielsen equivalence class of $m$-tuples generating non-free subgroups. This means that a group $G$ in this class has has only one non-free $m$-generated subgroup, namely $G$ itself. …
We prove that Whitehead's algorithm for solving the automorphism problem in a fixed free group $F_k$ has strongly linear time generic-case complexity. This is done by showing that the ``hard'' part of the algorithm terminates in linear time on an exponentially generic set of input pairs. We then apply these results to one-relator groups. We obtain a Mostow-type isomorphism rigidity result for random one-relator groups: If two such groups are isomorphic then their Cayley graphs on the \emph{given generating sets} are isometric. Although no nontrivial examples were previously known, we prove tha…
We study the Diophantine problem, i.e. the decision problem of solving systems of equations, for some families of one-relator groups, and provide some background for why this problem is of interest. The method used is primarily the Reidemeister--Schreier method, together with general recent results by Dahmani & Guirardel and Ciobanu, Holt & Rees on the decidability of the Diophantine problem in general classes of groups. First, we give a sample of the methods of the article by proving that the one-relator group with defining relation $a^mb^n = 1$ is virtually a direct product of hyperbolic gro…
Let ${\cal C}$ be a nonempty class of finite groups closed under taking subgroups, homomorphic images and extensions. A subgroup $H$ of an abstract residually ${\cal C}$ group $R$ is said to be conjugacy ${\cal C}$-distinguished if whenever $y\in R$, then $y$ has a conjugate in $H$ if and only if the same holds for the images of $y$ and $H$ in every quotient group $R/N\in {\cal C}$ of $R$. We prove that in a group having a normal free subgroup $Φ$ such that $R/Φ$ is in ${\cal C}$, every finitely generated subgroup is conjugacy ${\cal C}$-distinguished. We also prove that finitely generated sub…
We construct a sequence of balanced finite presentations of the trivial group with two generators and two relators with the following property: The minimal number of relations required to demonstrate that a generator represents the trivial element grows faster than the tower of exponentials of any fixed height of the length of the finite presentation.