23 pages, 4 figures. Version 2 incorporates referee's suggestions including new Section 7 discussing relationships between our constructions, previous examples, and surface subgroups. To appear in Int. Math. Res. Not
Let I(p,v) be Bourdon's building, the unique simply-connected 2-complex such that all 2-cells are regular right-angled hyperbolic p-gons and the link at each vertex is the complete bipartite graph K(v,v). We investigate and mostly determine the set of triples (p,v,g) for which there exists a uniform lattice Γ in Aut(I(p,v)) such that Γ\I(p,v) is a compact orientable surface of genus g. Surprisingly, the existence of Γ depends upon the value of v. The remaining cases lead to open questions in tessellations of surfaces and in number theory. Our construction of Γ, together with a theorem of Haglund, implies that for p>=6, every uniform lattice in Aut(I) contains a surface subgroup. We use elementary group theory, combinatorics, algebraic topology, and number theory.
This paper is a continuation of our previous work with Margalit where we studied group actions on projection complexes. In that paper, we demonstrated sufficient conditions so that the normal closure of a family of subgroups of vertex stabilizers is a free product of certain conjugates of these subgroups. In this paper, we study both the quotient of the projection complex by this normal subgroup and the action of the quotient group on the quotient of the projection complex. We show that under certain conditions that the quotient complex is $δ$-hyperbolic. Additionally, under certain circumstan…
For any orientable finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifold, this paper proves that the profinite isomorphism type of the fundamental group uniquely determines the isomorphism type of the first integral cohomology, as marked with the Thurston norm and the fibered classes; moreover, up to finite ambiguity, the profinite isomorphism type determines the isomorphism type of the fundamental group, among the class of finitely generated 3-manifold groups.
In this article, we construct partial periodic quotients of groups which have a non-elementary acylindrical action on a hyperbolic space. In particular, we provide infinite quotients of mapping class groups where a fixed power of every pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism is identified with a periodic or reducible element.
Let G be a non-elementary torsion-free hyperbolic group. We prove that the exponential growth rate of the periodic quotient G/G^n tends to the one of G as n odd approaches infinity. Moreover we provide an estimate at which the convergence is taking place.
This paper describes some generalizations of the results presented in the book "Geometry of defining Relations in Groups" , of A.Yu.Ol'shanskii to the case of non-cyclic torsion-free hyperbolic groups. In particular, it is proved that for every non-cyclic torsion-free hyperbolic group, there exists a non-Abelian torsion-free quotient group in which all proper subgroups are cyclic, and the intersection of any two of them is not trivial.
We show that every non-elementary group $G$ acting properly and cocompactly by isometries on a proper geodesic Gromov hyperbolic space $X$ is growth tight. In other words, the exponential growth rate of $G$ for the geometric (pseudo)-distance induced by $X$ is greater than the exponential growth rate of any of its quotients by an infinite normal subgroup. This result generalizes from a unified framework previous works of Arzhantseva-Lysenok and Sambusetti, and provides an answer to a question of the latter.
We construct several series of explicit presentations of infinite hyperbolic groups enjoying Kazhdan's property (T). Some of them are significantly shorter than the previously known shortest examples. Moreover, we show that some of those hyperbolic Kazhdan groups possess finite simple quotient groups of arbitrarily large rank; they constitute the first known specimens combining those properties. All the hyperbolic groups we consider are non-positively curved k-fold generalized triangle groups, i.e. groups that possess a simplicial action on a CAT(0) triangle complex, which is sharply transitiv…
We study random quotients of a fixed non-elementary hyperbolic group in the Gromov density model. Let $G=\langle S\;\vert\; T\rangle $ be a finite presentation of a non-elementary hyperbolic group, and let $Ann_{l,ω}(G)$ be the set of elements of norm between $l-ω(l)$ and $l$ in $G$. A random quotient at density $d$ and length $ω$-near $l$ is defined by killing a uniformly randomly chosen set of $\vert S_{l}(G)\vert ^{d}$ words in $Ann_{l,ω(l)}(G)$, where $ω(l) =o_{l}(l)$. We prove that for any d>1/3, such a quotient has Property (T) with probability tending to $1$ as $l$ tends to infinity. Th…
Let $G$ be either a non-elementary (word) hyperbolic group or a large group (both in the sense of Gromov). In this paper we describe several approaches for constructing continuous families of periodic quotients of $G$ with various properties. The first three methods work for any non-elementary hyperbolic group, producing three different continua of periodic quotients of $G$. They are based on the results and techniques, that were developed by Ivanov and Olshanskii in order to show that there exists an integer $n$ such that $G/G^n$ is an infinite group of exponent $n$. The fourth approach start…
We determine the minimal volume of arithmetic hyperbolic orientable n-dimensional orbifolds (compact and non-compact) for every odd dimension n>3. Combined with the previously known results it solves the minimal volume problem for arithmetic hyperbolic n-orbifolds in all dimensions.
A group theoretic version of Dehn surgery is studied. Starting with an arbitrary relatively hyperbolic group $G$ we define a peripheral filling procedure, which produces quotients of $G$ by imitating the effect of the Dehn filling of a complete finite volume hyperbolic 3--manifold $M$ on the fundamental group $π_1(M)$. The main result of the paper is an algebraic counterpart of Thurston's hyperbolic Dehn surgery theorem. We also show that peripheral subgroups of $G$ 'almost' have the Congruence Extension Property and the group $G$ is approximated (in an algebraic sense) by its quotients obtain…
We prove that in various natural models of a random quotient of a group, depending on a density parameter, for each hyperbolic group there is some critical density under which a random quotient is still hyperbolic with high probability, whereas above this critical value a random quotient is very probably trivial. We give explicit characterizations of these critical densities for the various models.
Let $G = \langle A,B \rangle$ be a non-elementary two generator subgroup of the isometry group of $\mathbb{H}^2$, the hyperbolic plane. If $G$ is discrete and free and geometrically finite, its quotient is a pair of pants and in prior work we produced a formula for the number of essential self intersections (ESIs) of any primitive geodesic on the quotient. An ESI is a point where the geodesic has a self-intersection on a seam. Self-intersections of geodesics on arbitrary hyperbolic surfaces have recently been studied by Basmajian and Chas. Here we extend our results to two generator subgroups …
We prove that for a one-ended hyperbolic graph $X$, the size of the quotient $X/G$ by a group $G$ acting freely and cocompactly bounds from below the number of simplices in an Eilenberg-MacLane space for $G$. We apply this theorem to show that one-ended hyperbolic cubulated groups (or more generally, one-ended hyperbolic groups with globally stable cylinders à la Rips-Sela) cannot contain isomorphic finite-index subgroups of different indices.
Using quantum representations of mapping class groups we prove that profinite completions of Burnside-type surface group quotients are not virtually prosolvable, in general. Further, we construct infinitely many finite simple characteristic quotients of surface groups.
A well-known question asks whether any two non-isometric finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds are distinguished from each other by the finite quotients of their fundamental groups. At present, this has been proved only when one of the manifolds is a once-punctured torus bundle over the circle. We give substantial computational evidence in support of a positive answer, by showing that no two manifolds in the SnapPea census of 72 942 finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds have the same finite quotients.
Let S be a closed surface of genus at least 2. We show that a finitely generated group G which is an extension of the fundamental group H of S is word hyperbolic if and only the orbit map of the quotient group G/H on the complex of curves is a quasi-isometric embedding.This in turn is equivalent to G/H being convex cocompact in the sense of Farb and Mosher.
We prove that for a relatively hyperbolic group G there is a sequence of relatively hyperbolic proper quotients such that their growth rates converge to the growth rate of G. Under natural assumptions, the same conclusion holds for the critical exponent of a cusp-uniform action of G on a hyperbolic metric space. As a corollary, we obtain that the critical exponent of a torsion-free geometrically finite Kleinian group can be arbitrarily approximated by those of quotient groups. This resolves a question of Dal'bo-Peigné-Picaud-Sambusetti. Our approach is based on the study of Patterson-Sullivan …
Three versions of the Freiheitssatz are proved in the context of one-relator quotients of limit groups, where the latter are equipped with 1-acylindrical splittings over cyclic subgroups. These are natural extensions of previously published corresponding statements for one-relator quotients of orientable surface groups. Two of the proofs are new even in that restricted context.
Let G be a graph of hyperbolic groups with 2-ended edge groups. We show that G is hierarchically hyperbolic if and only if G has no distorted infinite cyclic subgroup. More precisely, we show that G is hierarchically hyperbolic if and only if G does not contain certain quotients of Baumslag-Solitar groups. As a consequence, we obtain several new results about this class, such as quadratic isoperimetric inequality and finite asymptotic dimension.
Let O(f,Z) be the integral orthogonal group of an integral quadratic form f of signature (n,1). Let R(f,Z) be the subgroup of O(f,Z) generated by all hyperbolic reflections. Vinberg proved that if n > 29 then the reflective quotient O(f,Z)/R(f,Z) is infinite. In this note we generalize Vinberg's theorem and prove that if n > 91 then O(f,Z)/R(f,Z) contains a non-abelian free group (and thus it is not amenable).
In this paper we study abelian and metabelian quotients of braid groups on oriented surfaces with boundary components. We provide group presentations and we prove rigidity results for these quotients arising from exact sequences related to (generalised) Fadell-Neuwirth fibrations.
A product-quotient surface is the minimal resolution of the singularities of the quotient of a product of two curves by the action of a finite group acting separately on the two factors. We classify all minimal product-quotient surfaces of general type with geometric genus 0: they form 72 families. We show that there is exactly one product-quotient surface of general type with big canonical class which is not minimal, and describe its (-1) curves. For all these surfaces the Bloch conjecture holds.
Let K be a fine hyperbolic graph and G be a group acting on K with finite quotient. We prove that G is exact provided that all vertex stabilizers are exact. In particular, a relatively hyperbolic group is exact if all its peripheral groups are exact. We prove this by showing that the group G acts amenably on a compact topological space. We include some applications to the theories of group von Neumann algebras and of measurable orbit equivalence relations.
The following is an extended version of a talk given at the Kinosaki Symposium on Algebraic Geometry in October 2011. The aim is to give an overview of product-quotient surfaces, the results that have been proven so far in collaboration with several different authors as well as pointing out some of the the problems that are still open.
