The self-similar structure of the attracting subshift of a primitive substitution is carried over to the limit set of the repelling tree in the boundary of Outer Space of the corresponding irreducible outer automorphism of a free group. Thus, this repelling tree is self-similar (in the sense of graph directed constructions). Its Hausdorff dimension is computed. This reveals the fractal nature of the attracting tree in the boundary of Outer Space of an irreducible outer automorphism of a free group.
The aim of this article is to discuss and clarify the notion of fractality for subgroups of the group of automorphisms of a regular rooted tree. For this purpose we define three types of fractality. We show that they are not equivalent, by giving explicit examples. Furthermore we present some tools that are helpful in order to determine the fractality of a given group.
We work with attracting subshifts generated by substitutions which are also irreducible parageometric automorphisms of free groups. For such a dynamical system, we construct a tree substitution to approximate the repelling real tree of the automorphism. We produce images of this tree inside the Rauzy fractal when the substitution is irreducible Pisot. We describe the contour of this tree and compute an interval exchange transformation of the circle covering the original substitution.
We define fully irreducible automorphisms of generalized Baumslag-Solitar groups in analogy with fully irreducible automorphisms of free groups. We first obtain a characterization of fully irreducible automorphisms analogous to a condition given by Kapovich. Next we discuss the existence of pseudo-periodic conjugacy classes based on the study of Nielsen paths in a train track representative. Finally we give an algorithm which finds out whether an automorphism with a train track representative is pseudo-atoroidal and fully irreducible.
We study the minimally displaced set of irreducible automorphisms of a free group. Our main result is the co-compactness of the minimally displaced set of an irreducible automorphism with exponential growth $ϕ$, under the action of the centraliser $C(ϕ)$. As a corollary, we get that the same holds for the action of $<ϕ>$ on $Min(ϕ)$. Finally, we prove that the minimally displaced set of an irreducible automorphism of growth rate one is consisted of a single point.
We introduce a new class of automorphisms $φ$ of the non-abelian free group $F_N$ of finite rank $N \geq 2$ which contains all iwips (= fully irreducible automorphisms), but also any automorphism induced by a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism of a surface with arbitrary many boundary components. More generally, there may be subgroups of $F_N$ of rank $\geq 2$ on which $φ$ restricts to the identity. We prove some basic facts about such {\em tree-irreducible} automorphisms, and show that, together with Dehn twist automorphisms, they are the natural basic building blocks from which any automorphism of …
Similarly to the action of $Out(F_N)$ on Outer Space, the outer automorphism group of a Generalized Baumslag Solitar group acts on a deformation space endowed with the Lipschitz metric and the action of any fully irreducible automorphism with a train track representative is hyperbolic. Inspired by previous work by Algom-Kfir, we prove that the axis of such an automorphism is strongly contracting.
We prove that the minimally displaced set of a relatively irreducible automorphism of a free splitting, situated in a deformation space, is uniformly locally finite. The minimally displaced set coincides with the train track points for an irreducible automorphism. We develop the theory in a general setting of deformation spaces of free products, having in mind the study of the action of reducible automorphisms of a free group on the simplicial bordification of Outer Space. For instance, a reducible automorphism will have invariant free factors, act on the corresponding stratum of the bordifica…
The main theorem of this document emulates, in the context of Out(F_r) theory, a mapping class group theorem (by H. Masur and J. Smillie) that determines precisely which index lists arise from pseudo-Anosov mapping classes. Since the ideal Whitehead graph gives a finer invariant in the analogous setting of a fully irreducible outer automorphism, we instead focus on determining which of the 21 connected, loop-free, 5-vertex graphs are ideal Whitehead graphs of ageometric, fully irreducible outer automorphisms of the free group of rank 3. Our main theorem accomplishes this by showing that there …
By a theorem of Thurston, in the subgroup of the mapping class group generated by Dehn twists around two curves that fill, every element not conjugate to a power of one of the twist is pseudo-Anosov. We prove an analogue of this theorem for the outer automorphism group of a free group.
Let $G=(V,E)$ be a graph with the vertex-set $V$ and the edge-set $E$. Let $N(v)$ denote the set of neighbors of the vertex $v$ of $G.$ The graph $G$ is called $ irreducible $ whenever for every $v,w \in V$ if $v \neq w$, then $N(v)\neq N(w).$ In this paper, we present a method for finding automorphism groups of connected bipartite irreducible graphs. Then, by our method, we determine automorphism groups of some classes of connected bipartite irreducible graphs, including a class of graphs which are derived from Grassmann graphs. Let $a_0$ be a fixed positive integer. We show that if $G$ is a …
By using a notion of a geometric Dehn twist in $\sharp_k(S^2 \times S^1)$, we prove that when projections of two $\mathbb{Z}$-splittings to the free factor complex are far enough from each other in the free factor complex, Dehn twist automorphisms corresponding to the $\mathbb{Z}$-splittings generate a free group of rank $2$. Moreover, every element from this free group is either conjugate to a power of one of the Dehn twists or it is a fully irreducible outer automorphism of the free group. We also prove that, when projected to the intersection graph, the same group of Dehn twists produce ato…
We let $φ$ be an ageometric fully irreducible outer automorphism so that its Handel-Mosher axis bundle consists of a single unique axis. We show that the centralizer $Cen(\langleφ\rangle)$ of the cyclic subgroup generated by $φ$ equals the stabilizer $\text{Stab}(Λ^+_φ)$ of the attracting lamination $Λ^+_φ$ and is isomorphic to $\mathbb Z$. We further show, via an analogous result about the commensurator, that the normalizer $N(\langleφ\rangle)$ of $\langle φ\rangle$ is isomorphic to either $\mathbb Z$ or $\mathbb Z_2 * \mathbb Z_2$.
For every free product decomposition $G = G_{1} \ast ...\ast G_{q} \ast F_{r}$, where $F_r$ is a finitely generated free group, of a group $G$ of finite Kurosh rank, we can associate some (relative) outer space $\mathcal{O}$. In this paper, we develop the theory of (stable) laminations for (relative) irreducible with irreducible powers (IWIP) automorphisms. In particular, we examine the action of $Out(G, \mathcal{O}) \leq Out(G)$ (i.e. the automorphisms which preserve the set of conjugacy classes of $G_i$'s) on the set of laminations. We generalise the theory of the attractive laminations asso…
For every atoroidal iwip automorphism $ϕ$ of $F_N$ (i.e. the analogue of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class) it is shown that the algebraic lamination dual to the forward limit tree $T_+(ϕ)$ is obtained as "diagonal closure" of the support of the backward limit current $μ_-(ϕ)$. This diagonal closure is obtained through a finite procedure in analogy to adding diagonal leaves from the complementary components to the stable lamination of a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism. We also give several new characterizations as well as a structure theorem for the dual lamination of $T_+(ϕ)$, in terms of Bestvina-Fe…
Blocks with a single automorphism orbit of irreducible Brauer characters
School of Mathematics and Statistics, Southwest University（西南大学数学与统计学院）；Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics, Hubei University（湖北大学数学与统计学院）；School of Mathematics and Statistics, Central China Normal University（华中师范大学数学与统计学院）
The automorphism group of the vertex operator algebra $V_L^+$ is studied by using its action on isomorphism classes of irreducible $V_L^+$-modules. In particular, the shape of the automorphism group of $V_L^+$ is determined when $L$ is isomorphic to an even unimodular lattice without roots, $\sqrt2R$ for an irreducible root lattice $R$ of type $ADE$ and the Barnes-Wall lattice of rank 16.
In \cite{Ka14} we produced an algorithm for deciding whether or not an element $ϕ\in Out(F_N)$ is an iwip ("fully irreducible") automorphism. At several points that algorithm was rather inefficient as it involved some general enumeration procedures as well as running several abstract processes in parallel. In this paper we refine the algorithm from \cite{Ka14} by eliminating these inefficient features, and also by eliminating any use of mapping class groups algorithms. Our main result is to produce, for any fixed $N\ge 3$, an algorithm which, given a topological representative $f$ of an elemen…
Let $G\subset\GL(\BC^r)$ be a finite complex reflection group. We show that when $G$ is irreducible, apart from the exception $G=\Sgot_6$, as well as for a large class of non-irreducible groups, any automorphism of $G$ is the product of a central automorphism and of an automorphism which preserves the reflections. We show further that an automorphism which preserves the reflections is the product of an element of $N_{\GL(\BC^r)}(G)$ and of a "Galois" automorphism: we show that $\Gal(K/\BQ)$, where $K$ is the field of definition of $G$, injects into the group of outer automorphisms of $G$, and …
A concrete family of automorphisms alpha_n of the free group F_n is exhibited, for any n > 2, and the following properties are proved: alpha_n is irreducible with irreducible powers, has trivial fixed subgroup, and has 2n-1 attractive as well as 2n repelling fixed points at bdry F_n. As a consequence of a recent result of V Guirardel there can not be more fixed points on bdry F_n, so that this family provides the answer to a question posed by G Levitt.
Let $p\ge 3$ be a prime. A generalised multi-edge spinal group is a subgroup of the automorphism group of a regular $p$-adic rooted tree T that is generated by one rooted automorphism and $p$ families of directed automorphisms, each family sharing a common directed path disjoint from the paths of the other families. This notion generalises the concepts of multi-edge spinal groups, including the widely studied GGS-groups, and the extended Gupta-Sidki groups that were introduced by Pervova. Extending techniques that were developed in these more special cases, we prove: generalised multi-edge spi…
We study those fully irreducible outer automorphisms phi of a finite rank free group F_r which are ``parageometric'', meaning that the attracting fixed point of phi in the boundary of outer space is a geometric R-tree with respect to the action of F_r, but phi itself is not a geometric outer automorphism in that it is not represented by a homemorphism of a surface. Our main result shows that the expansion factor of phi is strictly larger than the expansion factor of the inverse of phi. As corollaries (proved independently by Guirardel), the inverse of a parageometric outer automorphism is neit…
Let $p$ be a prime and let $G$ be a subgroup of a Sylow pro-$p$ subgroup of the group of automorphisms of the $p$-adic tree. We prove that if $G$ is fractal and $|G':\mathrm{st}_G(1)'|=\infty$, then the set $L(G)$ of left Engel elements of $G$ is trivial. This result applies to fractal nonabelian groups with torsion-free abelianization, for example the Basilica group, the Brunner-Sidki-Vieira group, and also to the GGS-group with constant defining vector. We further provide two examples showing that neither of the requirements $|G':\mathrm{st}_G(1)'|=\infty$ and being fractal can be dropped.
We complete the description of automorphism groups of all nonsplit extensions of elementary abelian $2$-groups by $PSL_2(q)$, with $q$ odd, for an irreducible induced action. An application of this result to the theory of $π$-submaximal subgroups is given.
We classify the nonsplit extensions of elementary abelian $p$-groups by $PSL_2(q)$, with odd $p$ dividing $q-1$, for an irreducible induced action, calculate the relevant low-dimensional cohomology groups, and describe the automorphism groups of such extensions.
H. Masur and J. Smillie proved precisely which singularity index lists arise from pseudo-Anosov mapping classes. In search of an analogous theorem for outer automorphisms of free groups, Handel and Mosher ask: Is each connected, simplicial, (2r-1)-vertex graph the ideal Whitehead graph of a fully irreducible outer automorphism in Out(F_r)? We answer this question in the negative by exhibiting, for each r, examples of connected (2r-1)-vertex graphs that are not the ideal Whitehead graph of any fully irreducible outer automorphism in Out(F_r)? In the course of our proof we also develop machinery…
We show that the Hausdorff dimension of the closure of the second Grigorchuk group is 43/128. Furthermore we establish that the second Grigorchuk group is super strongly fractal and that its automorphism group equals its normaliser in the full automorphism group of the tree.
We prove that $d(G) \log |G| = O(n^2 \log q)$ for irreducible subgroups $G$ of GL$(n,q)$, and estimate the associated constants. The result is motivated by attempts to bound the complexity of computing the automorphism groups of various classes of finite groups.
We investigate the action of outer automorphisms of finite groups of Lie type on their irreducible characters. We obtain a definite result for cuspidal characters. As an application we verify the inductive McKay condition for some further infinite families of simple groups at certain primes.
We study the subgroup structure, Hecke algebras, quasi-regular representations, and asymptotic properties of some fractal groups of branch type. We introduce parabolic subgroups, show that they are weakly maximal, and that the corresponding quasi-regular representations are irreducible. These (infinite-dimensional) representations are approximated by finite-dimensional quasi-regular representations. The Hecke algebras associated to these parabolic subgroups are commutative, so the decomposition in irreducible components of the finite quasi-regular representations is given by the double cosets …
Given a countable group $G$ splitting as a free product $G=G_1\ast\dots\ast G_k\ast F_N$, we establish classification results for subgroups of the group $Out(G,\mathcal{F})$ of all outer automorphisms of $G$ that preserve the conjugacy classes of each $G_i$. We show that every finitely generated subgroup $H\subseteq Out(G,\mathcal{F})$ either contains a relatively fully irreducible automorphism, or else it virtually preserves the conjugacy class of a proper free factor relative to the decomposition (the finite generation hypothesis on $H$ can be dropped for $G=F_N$, or more generally when $G$ …
We extend the Howlett-Isaacs theorem on the solvability of groups of central type taking into account actions by automorphisms. Then we study certain induced characters whose constituents have all the same degree.
We prove that a "random" free group outer automorphism is an ageometric fully irreducible outer automorphism whose ideal Whitehead graph is a union of triangles. In particular, we show that its attracting (and repelling) tree is a nongeometric $\mathbb R$-tree all of whose branch points are trivalent
This is the second of two papers in which we investigate the properties of displacement functions of automorphisms of free groups (more generally, free products) on the Culler-Vogtmann Outer space $CV_n$ and its simplicial bordification. We develop a theory for both reducible and irreducible autormorphisms. As we reach the bordification of $CV_n$ we have to deal with general deformation spaces, for this reason we developed the theory in such generality. In first paper~\cite{FMpartI} we studied general properties of the displacement functions, such as well-orderability of the spectrum and the t…
For a group $G$ of finite Kurosh rank and for some arbiratily free product decomposition of $G$, $G = H_1 \ast H_2 \ast ... \ast H_r \ast F_q$, where $F_q$ is a finitely generated free group, we can associate some (relative) outer space $\mathcal{O}(G, \{H_1,..., H_r \})$. We define the relative boundary $\partial (G, \{ H_1, ..., H_r \}) = \partial(G, \mathcal{O}) $ corresponding to the free product decomposition, as the set of infinite reduced words (with respect to free product length). By denoting $Out(G, \{ H_1, ..., H_r \})$ the subgroup of $Out(G)$ which is consisted of the outer automo…
Let $G$ be a non-compact semisimple Lie group with finite centre and finitely many components. We show that any finitely generated group $Γ$ which is quasi-isometric to an irreducible lattice in $G$ has the $R_\infty$-property, namely, that there are infinitely $ϕ$-twisted conjugacy classes for every automorphism $ϕ$ of $Γ$. Also, we show that any lattice in $G$ has the $R_\infty$-property, extending our earlier result for irreducible lattices.
For a fully irreducible automorphism ϕof the free group F_k we compute the asymptotics of the intersection number n \mapsto i(T,T'ϕ^n) for trees T,T' in Outer space. We also obtain qualitative information about the geometry of the Guirardel core for the trees T and T'ϕ^n for n large.
We show that the group of type-preserving automorphisms of any irreducible semi-regular thick right-angled building is abstractly simple. When the building is locally finite, this gives a large family of compactly generated (abstractly) simple locally compact groups. Specializing to appropriate cases, we obtain examples of such simple groups that are locally indecomposable, but have locally normal subgroups decomposing non-trivially as direct products.
We introduce a group naturally acting on aperiodic necklaces of length $n$ with two colours using the 1--1 correspondences between aperiodic necklaces and irreducible polynomials over the field $\F_2$ of two elements. We notice that this group is isomorphic to the quotient group of non-degenerate circulant matrices of size $n$ over that field modulo a natural cyclic subgroup. Our groups turn out to be isomorphic to the sandpile groups for a special sequence of directed graphs.
A fully irreducible outer automorphism phi of the free group F_n of rank n has an expansion factor which often differs from the expansion factor of the inverse of phi. Nevertheless, we prove that the ratio between the logarithms of the expansion factors of phi and its inverse is bounded above by a constant depending only on the rank n. We also prove a more general theorem applying to an arbitrary outer automorphism of F_n and its inverse, and their entire spectrum of expansion factors.
We show that the level sets of automorphisms of free groups with respect to the Lipschitz metric are connected as subsets of Culler-Vogtmann space. In fact we prove our result in a more general setting of deformation spaces. As applications, we give metric solutions of the conjugacy problem for irreducible automorphisms and the detection of reducibility. We additionally prove technical results that may be of independent interest --- such as the fact that the set of displacements is well ordered.
