The subgroup induction property is a property of self-similar groups acting on rooted trees introduced by Grigorchuk and Wilson in 2003 that appears to have strong implications on the structure of the groups possessing it. It was for example used in the proof that the first Grigorchuk group as well as the Gupta-Sidki 3-group are subgroup separable (locally extended residually finite) or to describe their finitely generated subgroups as well as their weakly maximal subgroups. However, until now, there were only two known examples of groups with this property, namely the first Grigorchuk group and the Gupta-Sidki 3-group.
The aim of this article is twofold. First, we investigate various consequences of the subgroup induction property for branch groups, a particularly interesting class of self-similar groups. Notably, we show that finitely generated branch groups with the subgroup induction property must be torsion, just infinite and subgroup separable, and we establish conditions under which all their maximal subgroups are of finite index and all their weakly maximal subgroups are closed in the profinite topology. Then, we show that every torsion GGS group has the subgroup induction property, hence providing the first infinite family of examples of groups with this property.
In this paper we develop a co-induction operation which transforms an invariant random subgroup of a group into an invariant random subgroup of a larger group. We use this operation to construct new continuum size families of non-atomic, weakly mixing invariant random subgroups of certain classes of wreath products, HNN-extensions and free products with amalgamation. By use of small cancellation theory, we also construct a new continuum size family of non-atomic invariant random subgroups of $\mathbb{F}_2$ which are all invariant and weakly mixing with respect to the action of $\text{Aut}(\mat…
Given a finite group G, we address the following question: which multiples of the trivial representation are linear combinations of inductions of trivial representations from proper subgroups of G? By Solomon's induction theorem, all multiples are if G is not quasi-elementary. We complement this by showing that all multiples of p are if G is p-quasi-elementary and not cyclic, and that this is best possible.
We generalise a technical tool, originally developed by Pervova for the study of maximal subgroups in Grigorchuk and GGS groups, to all weakly branch groups satisfying a natural condition, and in particular to all branch groups. We then use this tool to prove that every maximal subgroup of infinite index of a branch group is also a branch group. As a further application of this result, we show that every maximal subgroup of the Basilica group is of finite index.
Let $G$ be a finite $p$-group, where $p$ is an odd prime number, $H$ be a subgroup of $G$ and $θ\in \Irr(H)$ be an irreducible character of $H$. Assume also that $|G:H|=p^2$. Then the character $θ^G$ of $ G$ induced by $θ$ is either a multiple of an irreducible character of $G$, or has at least $\frac{p+1}{2}$ distinct irreducible constituents.
We study cells with respect to the $p$-canonical basis of the Hecke algebra of a crystallographic Coxeter system (see arXiv:1510.01556, arXiv:1901.02323) and their compatibility with standard parabolic subgroups. We show that after induction to the surrounding bigger Coxeter group the cell module of a right $p$-cell in a standard parabolic subgroup decomposes as a direct sum of cell modules. Along the way, we state some new positivity properties of the $p$-canonical basis.
A subgroup $Δ\leq Γ$ is commensurated if $|Δ:Δ\cap γΔγ^{-1}|<\infty$ for all $γ\in Γ$. We show a finitely generated branch group is just infinite if and only if every commensurated subgroup is either finite or of finite index. As a consequence, every commensurated subgroup of the Grigorchuk group is either finite or finite index.
It is known that the norm map N_G for a finite group G acting on a ring R is surjective if and only if for every elementary abelian subgroup E of G the norm map N_E for E is surjective. Equivalently, there exists an element x_G in R with N_G(x_G) = 1 if and only for every elementary abelian subgroup E there exists an element x_E in R such that N_E(x_E) = 1. When the ring R is noncommutative, it is an open problem to find an explicit formula for x_G in terms of the elements x_E. In this paper we present a method to solve this problem for an arbitrary group G and an arbitrary group action on a r…
We give a structural description of the normal subgroups of subgroups of finite index in branch groups in terms of rigid stabilizers. This gives further insight into the structure lattices of branch groups introduced by the second author. We derive a condition concerning abstract commensurability of branch groups acting on the p-ary tree for any prime p.
We answer a question of Bartholdi, Siegenthaler and Zalesskii, showing that the congruence subgroup problem for branch groups is independent of the branch action on a tree. We prove that the congruence topology of a branch group is determined by the group; specifically, by its structure graph, an object first introduced by Wilson. We also give a more natural definition of this graph.
Let $G$ be a finitely generated regular branch group acting by automorphisms on a regular rooted tree $T$. It is well-known that stabilizers of infinite rays in $T$ (aka parabolic subgroups) are weakly maximal subgroups in $G$, that is, maximal among subgroups of infinite index. We show that, given a finite subgroup $Q\leq G$, $G$ possesses uncountably many automorphism equivalence classes of weakly maximal subgroups containing $Q$. In particular, for Grigorchuk-Gupta-Sidki type groups this implies that they have uncountably many automorphism equivalence classes of weakly maximal subgroups tha…
We first show that a class of pro-$p$ branch groups including the Grigorchuk group and the Gupta-Sidki groups all have subgroup growth type $n^{\log n}$. We then introduce the notion of orbit growth and use it to construct extensions of the Grigorchuk group and the Gupta-Sidki groups. We compute the subgroup growth type of these extensions and deduce that all functions between $n^{(\log n)^2}$ and $e^n$ occur as the subgroup growth type of a pro-$p$ group, thus, giving almost complete answer to a question raised by Lubotzky and Segal.
We will give an example of a branch group $G$ that has exponential growth but does not contain any non-abelian free subgroups. This answers question 16 from \cite{Bartholdi} positively. The proof demonstrates how to construct a non-trivial word $w_{a,b}(x,y)$ for any $a,b \in G$ such that $w_{a,b}(a,b) = 1$. The group $G$ is not just-infinite. We prove that every normal subgroup of $G$ is finitely generated as an abstract group and every proper quotient soluble. Further, $G$ has infinite virtual first Betti number but is not large.
We state and study the congruence subgroup problem for groups acting on rooted tree, and for branch groups in particular. The problem is reduced to the computation of the congruence kernel, which we split into two parts: the branch kernel and the rigid kernel. In the case of regular branch groups, we prove that the first one is Abelian while the second has finite exponent. We also establish some rigidity results concerning these kernels. We work out explicitly known and new examples of non-trivial congruence kernels, describing in each case the group action. The Hanoi tower group receives part…
This note answers a question of Kechris: if $H<G$ is a normal subgroup of a countable group $G$, $H$ has property MD and $G/H$ is amenable and residually finite then $G$ also has property MD. Under the same hypothesis we prove that for any action $a$ of $G$, if $b$ is a free action of $G/H$, and $b_G$ is the induced action of $G$ then $\CInd_H^G(a|H) \times b_G$ weakly contains $a$. Moreover, if $H<G$ is any subgroup of a countable group $G$, and the action of $G$ on $G/H$ is amenable, then $\CInd_H^G(a|H)$ weakly contains $a$ whenever $a$ is a Gaussian action.
We show how to get explicit induction formulae for finite group representations, and more generally for rational Green functors, by summing a divergent series over Dwyer's subgroup and centralizer decomposition spaces. This results in formulae with rational coefficients. The former space yields a well-known induction formula, the latter yields a new one. As essentially immediate corollaries of the existing literature, we get similar formulae in group cohomology and stable splittings of classifying spaces.
We construct a family of groups which generalize the Hanoi towers group and study the congruence subgroup problem for the groups in this family. We show that unlike the Hanoi towers group, the groups in this generalization are just infinite and have trivial rigid kernel. We also put strict bounds on the branch kernel. Additionally, we show that these groups have subgroups of finite index with non-trivial rigid kernel. The only previously known group where this kernel is non-trivial is the Hanoi towers group and so this adds infinitely many new examples. Finally, we show that the topological cl…
We address a question of Grigorchuk by providing both a system of recursive formulas and an asymptotic result for the portrait growth of the first Grigorchuk group. The results are obtained through analysis of some features of the branching subgroup structure of the group. More generally, we provide recursive formulas for the portrait growth of any finitely generated, contracting, regular branch group, based on the coset decomposition of the groups that are higher in the branching subgroup structure in terms of the lower subgroups. Using the same general approach we fully describe the portrait…
A Grigorchuk-Gupta-Sidki (GGS-)group is a subgroup of the automorphism group of the $p$-adic tree for an odd prime $p$, generated by one rooted automorphism and one directed automorphism. Pervova proved that all torsion GGS-groups do not have maximal subgroups of infinite index. Here we extend the result to non-torsion GGS-groups, which include the weakly regular branch, but not branch, GGS-group.
We consider a generalisation of the Basilica group to all odd primes: the $p$-Basilica groups acting on the $p$-adic tree. We show that the $p$-Basilica groups have the $p$-congruence subgroup property but not the congruence subgroup property nor the weak congruence subgroup property. This provides the first examples of weakly branch groups with such properties. In addition, the $p$-Basilica groups give the first examples of weakly branch, but not branch, groups which are super strongly fractal. We compute the orders of the congruence quotients of these groups, which enable us to determine the…
We show that a nonempty family of $n$-generated subgroups of a pro-$p$ group has a maximal element. This suggests that 'Noetherian Induction' can be used to discover new features of finitely generated subgroups of pro-$p$ groups. To demonstrate this, we show that in various pro-$p$ groups $Γ$ (e.g. free pro-$p$ groups, nonsolvable Demushkin groups) the commensurator of a finitely generated subgroup $H \neq 1$ is the greatest subgroup of $Γ$ containing $H$ as an open subgroup. We also show that an ascending sequence of $n$-generated subgroups of a limit group must terminate (this extends the an…
Let $G$ be an arbitrary finite group. The McKay conjecture asserts that $G$ and the normaliser $N_G (P)$ of a Sylow $p$-subgroup $P$ in $G$ have the same number of characters of degree not divisible by $p$ (that is, of $p'$-degree). We propose a new refinement of the McKay conjecture, which suggests that one may choose a correspondence between the characters of $p'$-degree of $G$ and $N_G (P)$ to be compatible with induction and restriction in a certain sense. This refinement implies, in particular, a conjecture of Isaacs and Navarro. We also state a corresponding refinement of the Broué abeli…
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 …
Brady proved that there are hyperbolic groups with finitely presented subgroups that are not of type $FP_3$ (and hence not hyperbolic). We reprove Brady's theorem by presenting a new construction. Our construction uses Bestvina-Brady Morse theory, but does not involve branched coverings.
This is a long introduction to the theory of "branch groups": groups acting on rooted trees which exhibit some self-similarity features in their lattice of subgroups.
A generalization of the double commutator lemma for normal subgroups is shown for invariant random subgroups of a countable group acting faithfully on a Hausdorff space. As an application, we classify ergodic invariant random subgroups of topological full groups of Cantor minimal $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$-systems. Another corollary is that for an ergodic invariant random subgroup of a branch group, a.e. subgroup $H$ must contain derived subgroups of certain rigid stabilizers. Such results can be applied towards classification of invariant random subgroups of Grigorchuk groups.
Fixing a subgroup $Γ$ in a group $G$, the commensurability growth function assigns to each $n$ the cardinality of the set of subgroups $Δ$ of $G$ with $[Γ: Γ\cap Δ][Δ: Γ\cap Δ] = n$. For pairs $Γ\leq A$, where $A$ is the automorphism group of a $p$-regular tree and $Γ$ is finitely generated, we show that this function can take on finite, countable, or uncountable cardinals. For almost all known branch groups $Γ$ (the first Grigorchuk group, the twisted twin Grigorchuk group, Pervova groups, Gupta-Sidki groups, etc.) acting on $p$-regular trees, this function is precisely $\aleph_0$ for any $n …
We compute the structure of the Lie algebras associated to two examples of branch groups, and show that one has finite width while the other, the ``Gupta-Sidki group'', has unbounded width. This answers a question by Sidki. More precisely, the Lie algebra of the Gupta-Sidki group has Gelfand-Kirillov dimension $\log3/\log(1+\sqrt2)$. We then draw a general result relating the growth of a branch group, of its Lie algebra, of its graded group ring, and of a natural homogeneous space we call "parabolic space", namely the quotient of the group by the stabilizer of an infinite ray. The growth of th…
We construct a new family of groups that is non-contracting and weakly regular branch over the derived subgroup. This gives the first example of an infinite family of groups acting on a $d$-adic tree, with $d \geq 2$, with these properties.
Let $p$ be any prime. Let $P_n$ be a Sylow $p$-subgroup of the symmetric group $S_n$. Let $ϕ$ and $ψ$ be linear characters of $P_n$ and let $N$ be the normaliser of $P_n$ in $S_n$. In this article we show that the inductions of $ϕ$ and $ψ$ to $S_n$ are equal if, and only if, $ϕ$ and $ψ$ are $N$--conjugate. This is an analogue for symmetric groups of a result of Navarro for $p$-solvable groups.
Gromov asked whether every one-ended word-hyperbolic group contains a hyperbolic surface group. We prove that every one-ended double of a free group has a hyperbolic surface subgroup if (1) the free group has rank two, or (2) every generator is used the same number of times in the amalgamating words. To prove this, we formulate a stronger statement on Whitehead graphs and prove its specialization by combinatorial induction for (1) and the characterization of perfect matching polytopes by Edmonds for (2).
We consider groups of automorphisms of locally finite trees, and give conditions on its subgroups that imply that they are not elementary amenable. This covers all known examples of groups that are not elementary amenable and act on the trees: groups of intermediate growths and Basilica group, by giving a more straightforward proof. Moreover, we deduce that all finitely generated branch groups are not elementary amenable, which was conjectured by Grigorchuk.
We prove that a permutation group in which different finite sets have different stabilizers cannot satisfy any group law. For locally compact topological groups with this property we show that almost all finite subsets of the group generate free subgroups. We derive consequences of these theorems on Thompson's group $F$, weakly branch groups, automorphism groups of regular trees and profinite groups with alternating composition factors of unbounded degree.
A subalgebra pair of semisimple complex algebras B < A with inclusion matrix M is depth two if MM^t M < nM for some positive integer n and all corresponding entries. If A and B are the group algebras of finite group-subgroup pair H < G, the induction-restriction table equals M and S = MM^t satisfies S^2 < nS iff the subgroup H is depth three in G; similarly depth n > 3 by successive right multiplications of this inequality with alternately M and M^t. We show that a Frobenius complement in a Frobenius group is a nontrivial class of examples of depth three subgroups. Depth-3 towers of Hopf algeb…
We investigate invariant random subgroups in groups acting on rooted trees. Let $\mathrm{Alt}_f(T)$ be the group of finitary even automorphisms of the $d$-ary rooted tree $T$. We prove that a nontrivial ergodic IRS of $\mathrm{Alt}_f(T)$ that acts without fixed points on the boundary of $T$ contains a level stabilizer, in particular it is the random conjugate of a finite index subgroup. Applying the technique to branch groups we prove that an ergodic IRS in a finitary regular branch group contains the derived subgroup of a generalized rigid level stabilizer. We also prove that every weakly bra…
We define a notion of depth for an inclusion of multimatrix algebras B < A based on a comparison of powers of the induction-restriction table M (and its transpose matrix). This notion of depth coincides with the depth from [Kadison, 2008]. In particular depth 2 extensions coincides with normal extensions as introduced by Rieffel in 1979. For a group extension H < G a necessary depth n condition is given in terms of the core of H in G. We prove that the subgroup depth of symmetric groups S_n < S_{n+1} is 2n-1. An appendix by S. Danz and B. Kuelshammer determines the subgroup depth of alternatin…
Let $(X,ω)$ be an integral symplectic manifold and let $(L,\nabla)$ be a quantum line bundle, with connection, over $X$ having $ω$ as curvature. With this data one can define an induced symplectic manifold $(\widetilde {X},ω_{\widetilde {X}})$ where $dim \widetilde {X} = 2 + dim X$. It is then shown that prequantization on $X$ becomes classical Poisson bracket on $\widetilde {X}$. We consider the possibility that if $X$ is the coadjoint orbit of a Lie group $K$ then $\widetilde {X}$ is the coadjoint orbit of some larger Lie group $G$. We show that this is the case if $G$ is a non-compact simpl…
Let F be a finite group with a Sylow 2-subgroup S that is normal and abelian. Using hyperelementary induction and cartesian squares, we prove that Cappell's unitary nilpotent groups UNil_*(Z[F];Z[F],Z[F]) have an induced isomorphism to the quotient of UNil_*(Z[S];Z[S],Z[S]) by the action of the group F/S. In particular, any finite group F of odd order has the same UNil-groups as the trivial group. The broader scope is the study of the L-theory of virtually cyclic groups, based on the Farrell--Jones isomorphism conjecture. We obtain partial information on these UNil when S is a finite abelian 2…
Let $q$ be a power of a prime $p$ and let $U(q)$ be a Sylow $p$-subgroup of a finite Chevalley group $G(q)$ defined over the field with $q$ elements. We first give a parametrization of the set $\text{Irr}(U(q))$ of irreducible characters of $U(q)$ when $G(q)$ is of type $\mathrm{G}_2$. This is uniform for primes $p \ge 5$, while the bad primes $p=2$ and $p=3$ have to be considered separately. We then use this result and the contribution of several authors to show a general result, namely that if $G(q)$ is any finite Chevalley group with $p$ a bad prime, then there exists a character $χ\in \tex…
Let $G$ be an amenable group. We define and study an algebra $\mathcal{A}_{sn}(G)$, which is related to invariant means on the subnormal subgroups of $G$. For a just infinite amenable group $G$, we show that $\mathcal{A}_{sn}(G)$ is nilpotent if and only if $G$ is not a branch group, and in the case that it is nilpotent we determine the index of nilpotence. We next study $\operatorname{rad} \ell^1(G)^{**}$ for an amenable branch group $G$, and show that it always contains nilpotent left ideals of arbitrarily large index, as well as non-nilpotent elements. This provides infinitely many finitely…
Let $Γ$ be a finitely generated group and $X$ be a minimal compact $Γ$-space. We assume that the $Γ$-action is micro-supported, i.e. for every non-empty open subset $U \subseteq X$, there is an element of $Γ$ acting non-trivially on $U$ and trivially on the complement $X \setminus U$. We show that, under suitable assumptions, the existence of certain commensurated subgroups in $Γ$ yields strong restrictions on the dynamics of the $Γ$-action: the space $X$ has compressible open subsets, and it is an almost $Γ$-boundary. Those properties yield in turn restrictions on the structure of $Γ$: $Γ$ is…
We further develop the theory of $W\!$-graph ideals, first introduced by the authors in reference [6]. We discuss $W\!$-graph subideals, and induction and restriction of $W\!$-graph ideals for parabolic subgroups. We introduce $W\!$-graph biideals: those $W\!$-graph ideals that yield $(W\times W^{\mathrm o})$-graphs, where $W^{\mathrm o}$ is the group opposite to $W$. We determine all $W\!$-graph ideals and biideals in finite Coxeter groups of rank 2.
We obtain a complete classification of the continuous unitary representations of oligomorphic permutation groups (those include the infinite permutation group $S_\infty$, the automorphism group of the countable dense linear order, the homeomorphism group of the Cantor space, etc.). Our main result is that all irreducible representations of such groups are obtained by induction from representations of finite quotients of open subgroups and moreover, every representation is a sum of irreducibles. As an application, we prove that many oligomorphic groups have property (T). We also show that the G…
