In this article we calculate the minimal faithful permutation degree for all of the irreducible Coxeter groups. We also exhibit new examples of finite groups that possess a quotient whose minimal degree is strictly greater than that of the group.
We construct and study polyhedral product models for classifying spaces of right-angled Artin and Coxeter groups, general graph product groups and their commutator subgroups. By way of application, we give a criterion of freeness for the commutator subgroup of a graph product group, and provide an explicit minimal set of generators for the commutator subgroup of a right-angled Coxeter group.
To a Coxeter group $W$ one associates a quandle $X_W$ from which one constructs a group $\mathrm{Ad}(X_W)$. This group turns out to be an intermediate object between $W$ and the associated Artin group. By using a result of Akita, we prove that $\mathrm{Ad}(X_W)$ is given by a pullback involving $W$, and by using this pullback, we show that the classifying space of $\mathrm{Ad}(X_W)$ is given by a space called a polyhedral product whenever $W$ is right-angled. Two applications of this description of the classifying space are given.
We give a criterion of the existence of a presentation with a single relation for the commutator subgroup $RC_{\mathscr{K}}'$ of a right-angled Coxeter group $RC_{\mathscr{K}}$. Namely, we prove that $RC_{\mathscr{K}}'$ is a one-relator group if and only if $\mathscr{K}$ is either a $p$-cycle with $p\geqslant4$ or has the form ($p$-cycle)$*Δ^q$ with $p\geqslant4$ and $g\geqslant0$, where $Δ^q$ is a $q$-simplex.
We show that any split extension of a right-angled Coxeter group $W_Γ$ by a generating automorphism of finite order acts faithfully and geometrically on a $\mathrm{CAT}(0)$ metric space.
We prove that numerous negatively curved simply connected locally compact polyhedral complexes, admitting a discrete cocompact group of automorphisms, have automorphism groups which are locally compact, uncountable, non linear and virtually simple. Examples include hyperbolic buildings, Cayley graphs of word hyperbolic Coxeter systems, and generalizations of cubical complexes, that we call even polyhedral complexes. We use tools introduced by Tits in the case of automorphism groups of trees, and Davis-Moussong's geometric realisation of Coxeter systems.
This article presents a machinery based on polyhedral products that produces faithful representations of graph products of finite groups and direct products of finite groups into automorphisms of free groups $\rm Aut(F_n)$ and outer automorphisms of free groups $\rm Out(F_n)$, respectively, as well as faithful representations of products of finite groups into the linear groups $\rm SL(n,\mathbb Z)$ and $\rm GL(n,\mathbb Z)$. These faithful representations are realized as monodromy representations.
For Poincare series of binary polyhedral groups and Coxeter polynomials there are obtained statements close to the Euclid algorithm and orthogonal polynomials theory: generalized Ebeling formula, decompositions into ramified continued fractions, Christoffel-Darboux identity, combinatorial formula. Known results about the factorization of the Alexander-Conway polynomial permit to connect Poincare series and Coxeter polynomials with the Burau representation and Milnor invariants of string links. One uses reconstractions of A'Campo links and Coxeter links. There is formulated a conjecture connect…
Let W be an irreducible, finitely generated Coxeter group. The geometric representation provides an discrete embedding in the orthogonal group of the so-called Tits form. One can look at the representation modulo the kernel of this form; we give a new proof of the following result of Vinberg: if W is non-affine, then this representation remains faithful. Our proof uses relative Kazhdan Property (T). The following corollary was only known to hold when the Tits form is non-degenerate: the reduced C*-algebra of W is simple with a unique normalized trace. Some other corollaries are pointed out.
Let $(W,S)$ be a Coxeter system, let $G$ be a group of symmetries of $(W,S)$ and let $f : W \to \GL (V)$ be the linear representation associated with a root basis $(V, \langle .,. \rangle, Π)$.We assume that $G \subset \GL (V)$, and that $G$ leaves invariant $Π$ and $\langle .,. \rangle$. We show that $W^G$ is a Coxeter group, we construct a subset $\tilde Π\subset V^G$ so that $(V^G, \langle .,. \rangle, \tilde Π)$ is a root basis of $W^G$, and we show that the induced representation $f^G : W^G \to \GL(V^G)$ is the linear representation associated with $(V^G, \langle .,. \rangle, \tilde Π)$.I…
The strong symmetric genus of a finite group G is the smallest genus of a closed orientable topological surface on which G acts faithfully as a group of orientation preserving automorphisms. In this paper we complete the calculation of the strong symmetric genus for each finite Coxeter group excluding the group E8.
In any Coxeter group, the conjugates of elements in the standard minimal generating set are called reflections and the minimal number of reflections needed to factor a particular element is called its reflection length. In this article we prove that the reflection length function on an affine Coxeter group has a uniform upper bound. More precisely we prove that the reflection length function on an affine Coxeter group that naturally acts faithfully and cocompactly on $\R^n$ is bounded above by $2n$ and we also show that this bound is optimal. Conjecturally, spherical and affine Coxeter groups …
The star operation, originally introduced by Kazhdan and Lusztig, was later specialized by Ernst to the so-called weak star reduction on the set of fully commutative elements of a Coxeter group. In this paper, we classify the star and weak star irreducible fully commutative elements in Coxeter groups of affine types $\widetilde{B}_{n+1}$ and $\widetilde{D}_{n+2}$. Focusing then on the case of type $\widetilde{D}_{n+2}$, we use the classification of star irreducible elements to provide a new proof of the faithfulness of a diagrammatic representation of the corresponding generalized Temperley-Li…
The imaginary cone of a Kac-Moody Lie algebra is the convex hull of zero and the positive imaginary roots. This paper studies the imaginary cone for a class of root systems of general Coxeter groups W. It is shown that the imaginary cone of a reflection subgroup of W is contained in that of W, and that for irreducible infinite W of finite rank, the closed imaginary cone is the only non-zero, closed, pointed W-stable cone contained in the pointed cone spanned by the simple roots. For W of finite rank, various natural notions of faces of the imaginary cone are shown to coincide, the face lattice…
We classify the elements of $W(\tilde{A}_n)$ by giving a canonical reduced expression for each, using basic tools among which affine length. We give some direct consequences for such a canonical form: a description of left multiplication by a simple reflection, a study of the right descent set, and a proof that the affine length is preserved along the tower of affine Coxeter groups of type $\tilde A$, which implies in particular that the corresponding tower of affine Hecke algebras is a faithful tower.
A Gelfand model for a finite group $G$ is a complex linear representation of $G$ that contains each of its irreducible representations with multiplicity one. For a finite group $G$ with a faithful representation $V$, one constructs a representation which we call the polynomial model for $G$ associated to $V$. Araujo and others have proved that the polynomial models for certain irreducible Weyl groups associated to their canonical representations are Gelfand models. In this paper, we give an easier and uniform treatment for the study of the polynomial model for a general finite Coxeter group as…
We develop an explicit covering theory for complexes of groups, parallel to that developed for graphs of groups by Bass. Given a covering of developable complexes of groups, we construct the induced monomorphism of fundamental groups and isometry of universal covers. We characterize faithful complexes of groups and prove a conjugacy theorem for groups acting freely on polyhedral complexes. We also define an equivalence relation on coverings of complexes of groups, which allows us to construct a bijection between such equivalence classes, and subgroups or overgroups of a fixed lattice $Γ$ in th…
Let $(W,S)$ be a Coxeter system and suppose that $w \in W$ is fully commutative (in the sense of Stembridge) and has a reduced expression beginning (respectively, ending) with $s \in S$. If there exists $t\in S$ such that $s$ and $t$ do not commute and $tw$ (respectively, $wt$) is no longer fully commutative, we say that $w$ is left (respectively, right) weak star reducible by $s$ with respect to $t$. In this paper, we classify the fully commutative elements in Coxeter groups of types $B$ and affine $C$ that are irreducible under weak star reductions. In a sequel to this paper, the classificat…
In this paper, we make the case that Clifford algebra is the natural framework for root systems and reflection groups, as well as related groups such as the conformal and modular groups: The metric that exists on these spaces can always be used to construct the corresponding Clifford algebra. Via the Cartan-Dieudonné theorem all the transformations of interest can be written as products of reflections and thus via `sandwiching' with Clifford algebra multivectors. These multivector groups can be used to perform concrete calculations in different groups, e.g. the various types of polyhedral grou…
The notion of limit roots of a Coxeter group W was recently introduced (see arXiv:1112.5415 and arXiv:1303.6710): they are the accumulation points of directions of roots of a root system for W. In the case where the root system lives in a Lorentzian space W admits a faithful representation as a discrete reflection group of isometries on a hyperbolic space; the accumulation set of any of its orbits is then classically called the limit set of W. In this article we show that the limit roots of a Coxeter group W acting on a Lorentzian space is equal to the limit set of W seen as a discrete reflect…
Let (W,S) be an infinite Coxeter system. To each geometric representation of W is associated a root system. While a root system lives in the positive side of the isotropy cone of its associated bilinear form, an imaginary cone lives in the negative side of the isotropic cone. Precisely on the isotropic cone, between root systems and imaginary cones, lives the set E of limit points of the directions of roots (see arXiv:1112.5415). In this article we study the close relations of the imaginary cone (see arXiv:1210.5206) with the set E, which leads to new fundamental results about the structure of…
Let $(W,S)$ be a Coxeter system with Davis complex $Σ$. The polyhedral automorphism group $G$ of $Σ$ is a locally compact group under the compact-open topology. If $G$ is a discrete group (as characterised by Haglund--Paulin), then the set $\mathcal V_u(G)$ of uniform lattices in $G$ is discrete. Whether the converse is true remains an open problem. Under certain assumptions on $(W,S)$, we show that $\mathcal V_u(G)$ is non-discrete and contains rationals (in lowest form) with denominators divisible by arbitrarily large powers of any prime less than a fixed integer. We explicitly construct our…
The twin group $T_n$ is a Coxeter group generated by $n-1$ involutions and the pure twin group $PT_n$ is the kernel of the natural surjection of $T_n$ onto the symmetric group on $n$ letters. In this paper, we investigate structural aspects of twin and pure twin groups. We prove that the twin group $T_n$ decomposes into a free product with amalgamation for $n>4$. It is shown that the pure twin group $PT_n$ is free for $n=3,4$, and not free for $n\ge 6$. We determine a generating set for $PT_n$, and give an upper bound for its rank. We also construct a natural faithful representation of $T_4$ i…