We find a family of groups generated by a pair of parabolic elements in which every relator must admit a long subword of a specific form. In particular, this collection contains groups in which the number of syllables of any relator is arbitrarily large. This suggests that the existing methods for finding non-free groups with rational parabolic generators may be inadequate in this case, as they depend on the presence of relators with few syllables. Our results rely on two variants of the ping-pong lemma that we develop, applicable to groups that are possibly non-free. These variants aim to isolate the group elements responsible for the failure of the classical ping-pong lemma.
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…
We generalise a key result of one-relator group theory, namely Magnus's Freiheitssatz, to partially commutative groups, under sufficiently strong conditions on the relator. The main theorem shows that under our conditions, on an element $r$ of a partially commutative group $\mathbb{G}$, certain Magnus subgroups embed in the quotient $G=\mathbb{G}/N(r)$; that if $r=s^n$ has root $s$ in $\mathbb{G}$ then the order of $s$ in $G$ is $n$, and under slightly stronger conditions that the word problem of $G$ is decidable. We also give conditions under which the question of which Magnus subgroups of $\…
For cyclically presented groups $G = G_n(w)$ with positive length four relators $w = x_0x_jx_kx_l$ in the free group with basis $x_0, x_1, \ldots, x_{n-1}$, we classify finiteness and, modulo two unresolved cases, we classify asphericity for the underlying presentations. We show that the fixed point subgroup of the shift $x_i \mapsto x_{i+1}$ is always finite and we relate finiteness of $G$ and asphericity to the dynamics of the shift action by the cyclic group of order $n$ on the nonidentity elements of $G$.
We prove a freeness theorem for low-rank subgroups of one-relator groups. Let $F$ be a free group, and let $w\in F$ be a non-primitive element. The primitivity rank of $w$, $π(w)$, is the smallest rank of a subgroup of $F$ containing $w$ as an imprimitive element. Then any subgroup of the one-relator group $G=F/\langle\langle w\rangle\rangle$ generated by fewer than $π(w)$ elements is free. In particular, if $π(w)>2$ then $G$ doesn't contain any Baumslag--Solitar groups. The hypothesis that $π(w)>2$ implies that the presentation complex $X$ of the one-relator group $G$ has negative immersions:…
The standard $(n, k, d)$ model of random groups is a model where the relators are chosen randomly from the set of cyclically reduced words of length $k$ on an $n$-element generating set. Gromov's density model of random groups considers the case where $n$ is fixed, and $k$ tends to infinity. We instead fix $k$, and let $n$ tend to infinity. We prove that for all $k \geq 2$ at density $d > 1/2$ a random group in this model is trivial or cyclic of order two, whilst for $d < \frac{1}{2}$ such a random group is infinite and hyperbolic. In addition we show that for $d<\frac{1}{k}$ such a random gro…
A one-relator group is a group $G_r$ that admits a presentation $\langle S \mid r \rangle$ with a single relation $r$. One-relator groups form a rich classically studied class of groups in Geometric Group Theory. If $r \in F(S)'$, the commutator subgroup of $F(S)$, we introduce the simplicial volume of $\| G_r \|$. We relate this invariant to the stable commutator length $\textrm{scl}_S(r)$ of the element $r \in F(S)$. We show that often (though not always) the linear relationship $\| G_r \| = 4 \cdot \textrm{scl}_S(r) - 2$ holds and that every rational number modulo $1$ is the simplicial volu…
We will say that a group G possesses the Magnus property if for any two elements u,v in G with the same normal closure, u is conjugate to v or v^{-1}. We prove that some one-relator groups, including the fundamental groups of closed nonorientable surfaces of genus g>3 possess this property. The analogous result for orientable surfaces of any finite genus was obtained by the first author [Geometric methods in group theory, Contemp. Math, 372 (2005) 59-69].
Let $p$ be a prime number and let ${K}$ be a field containing a root of 1 of order $p$. If the absolute Galois group $G_{K}$ satisfies $\dim H^1(G_{K},\mathbb{F}_p)<\infty$ and $\dim H^2(G_{K},\mathbb{F}_p)=1$, we show that L.~Positselski's and T.~Weigel's Koszulity conjectures are true for ${K}$. Also, under the above hypothesis we show that the $\mathbb{F}_p$-cohomology algebra of $G_{K}$ is the quadratic dual of the graded algebra $\mathrm{gr}_\bullet\mathbb{F}_p[G_{K}]$, induced by the powers of the augmentation ideal of the group algebra $\mathbb{F}_p[G_{K}]$, and these two algebras decom…
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 …
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…
On Special Inverse Monoids with the Strong $F$-Inverse Property
University of Novi Sad（诺维萨德大学）；Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana（卢布尔雅那大学数学物理学院）；Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics（数学、物理与力学研究所）
We study endomorphisms of a free group of finite rank by means of their action on specific sets of elements. In particular, we prove that every endomorphism of the free group of rank 2 which preserves an automorphic orbit (i.e., acts ``like an automorphism" on one particular orbit), is itself an automorphism. Then, we consider elements of a different nature, defined by means of homological properties of the corresponding one-relator group. These elements (``generalized primitive elements"), interesting in their own right, can also be used for distinguishing automorphisms among arbitrary endomo…
We give examples of CAT(0), biautomatic, free-by-cyclic, one-relator groups which have finite-rank free subgroups of huge (Ackermannian) distortion. This leads to elementary examples of groups whose Dehn functions are similarly extravagant. This behaviour originates in manifestations of Hercules-versus-the-hydra battles in string-rewriting.
Let us consider the group $G = < x,y \mid x^m = y^n>$ with $m$ and $n$ nonzero integers. In this paper, we study the variety of epresentations $R(G)$ and the character variety $X(G)$ in $SL(2,\C)$ of the group $G$,obtaining by elementary methods an explicit primary decomposition of the ideal corresponding to $X(G)$ in the coordinates $X=t_x$, $Y=t_y$ and $Z=t_{xy}$. As an easy consequence, a formula for computing the number of irreducible components of $X(G)$ as a function of $m$ and $n$ is given. We provide a combinatorial description of $X(G)$ and we prove that in most cases it is possible t…
A group G is almost cyclic if there is an element x in G, such that for all g in G, there is an element y in G and an integer n with ygy^{-1} = x^n (that is, every element is conjugate to some power of x). W. Ziller asked whether there are finitely-presented almost cyclic groups which are not cyclic in connection with work on closed geodesics. V. Guba constructed an infinite (non-cyclic) finitely generated almost cyclic group. The principal results of this paper are: Solvable almost cyclic groups are cyclic, and one-relator almost cyclic groups are cyclic.
We study density of parabolic elements in a finitely generated relatively hyperbolic group $G$ with respect to a word metric. We prove this density to be zero (apart from degenerate cases) and the limit defining the density to converge exponentially fast; this has recently been proven independently by W. Yang. As a corollary, we obtain the analogous result for the set of commuting pairs of elements in $G^2$, showing that the degree of commutativity of $G$ is equal to zero.
Given a universal elementary Chevalley-Demazure group $E_Φ^{sc}(R)$ for which its (standard) parabolic subgroups are finitely generated, we consider the problem of classifying which parabolics $P(R) \subset E_Φ^{sc}(R)$ are finitely presented. We show that, under mild assumptions, this is equivalent to the finite presentability of a suitable retract of $P$ which contains the Levi factor. If the base ring $R$ is a Dedekind domain of arithmetic type, we combine our results with well-known theorems due to Borel-Serre, Abels, Behr and Bux to give a partial classification of finitely presentable $S…
Howie and Duncan observed that a word in a free product with length at least two and which is not a proper power can be decomposed as a product of two cyclic subwords each of which is uniquely positioned. Using this property, they proved various important results about one-relator product of groups. In this paper, we show that similar results hold in a more general setting where we allow elements of order two.
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.
We give a complete survey of a construction by Boone and Collins for embedding any finitely presented group into one with $8$ generators and $26$ relations. We show that this embedding preserves the set of orders of torsion elements, and in particular torsion-freeness. We combine this with the independent results of Belegradek and Chiodo to prove that there is an $8$-generator $26$-relator universal finitely presented torsion-free group (one into which all finitely presented torsion-free groups embed).
Let G be a complete Kac-Moody group over a finite field. It is known that G possesses a BN-pair structure, all of whose parabolic subgroups are open in G. We show that, conversely, every open subgroup of G is contained with finite index in some parabolic subgroup; moreover there are only finitely many such parabolic subgroups. The proof uses some new results on parabolic closures in Coxeter groups. In particular, we give conditions ensuring that the parabolic closure of the product of two elements in a Coxeter group contains the respective parabolic closures of those elements.
Let $A\neq A_1, A_2, I_{2m}$ be an irreducible Artin--Tits group of spherical type. We show that periodic elements of $A$ and the elements preserving some parabolic subgroup of $A$ act elliptically on the additional length graph $\mathcal{C}_{AL}(A)$, an hyperbolic, infinite diameter graph associated to $A$ constructed by Calvez and Wiest to show that $A/Z(A)$ is acylindrically hyperbolic. We use these results to find an element $g\in A$ such that $\langle P,g \rangle\cong P* \langle g \rangle$ for every proper standard parabolic subgroup $P$ of $A$. The length of $g$ is uniformly bounded with…
We derive presentations of the interval groups related to all quasi-Coxeter elements in the Coxeter group of type $D_n$. Type $D_n$ is the only infinite family of finite Coxeter groups that admits proper quasi-Coxeter elements. The presentations we obtain are over a set of generators in bijection with what we call a Carter generating set, and the relations are those defined by the related Carter diagram together with a twisted or a cycle commutator relator, depending on whether the quasi-Coxeter element is a Coxeter element or not. The proof is based on the description of two combinatorial tec…
Given an Artin group $A$ and a parabolic subgroup $P$, we study if every two elements of $P$ that are conjugate in $A$, are also conjugate in $P$. We provide an algorithm to solve this decision problem if $A$ satisfies three properties that are conjectured to be true for every Artin group. We partially solve the problem if $A$ has $FC$-type, and we totally solve it if $A$ is isomorphic to a free product of spherical Artin groups. In particular, we show that in this latter case, every element of $A$ is contained in a unique minimal (by inclusion) parabolic subgroup.
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group of classical type over an algebraically closed field $k$. Let $P$ be a parabolic subgroup of $G$ and let $\p = \Lie P$ be the Lie algebra of $P$ with Levi decomposition $\p = ł\oplus \u$, where $\u$ is the Lie algebra of the unipotent radical of $P$ and $ł$ is a Levi complement. Thanks to a fundamental theorem of R. W. Richardson, $P$ acts on $\u$ with an open dense orbit; this orbit is called the {\em Richardson orbit} and its elements are called {\em Richardson elements}. Recently, the first author gave constructions of Richardson elements in the case $k =…
The aim of this note is to show that the cycle decomposition of elements of the symmetric group admits a quite natural formulation in the framework of dual Coxeter theory, yielding a generalization of it to the family of so-called parabolic quasi-Coxeter elements of Coxeter groups (in the symmetric group every element is a parabolic quasi-Coxeter element). We show that such an element admits an analogue of the cycle decomposition. Elements which are not in this family still admit a generalized cycle decomposition, but it is not unique in general.
In this note, we provide a short and self-contained proof that the braid group on n strands acts transitively on the set of reduced factorizations of a Coxeter element in a Coxeter group of finite rank n into products of reflections. We moreover use the same argument to also show that all factorizations of an element in a parabolic subgroup of W lie as well in this parabolic subgroup.
In which it is proven that, for each parabolic quasi-Coxeter element in a finite real reflection group, the orbits of the Hurwitz action on its reflection factorizations are distinguished by the two obvious invariants
We show that, in an Artin-Tits group of spherical type, the intersection of two parabolic subgroups is a parabolic subgroup. Moreover, we show that the set of parabolic subgroups forms a lattice with respect to inclusion. This extends to all Artin-Tits groups of spherical type a result that was previously known for braid groups. To obtain the above results, we show that every element in an Artin-Tits group of spherical type admits a unique minimal parabolic subgroup containing it. Also, the subgroup associated to an element coincides with the subgroup associated to any of its powers or roots. …
We show that for a parabolic quasi-Coxeter element in an affine Coxeter group the Hurwitz action on its set of reduced factorizations into a product of reflections is transitive. We call an element of the Coxeter group parabolic quasi-Coxeter element if it has a reduced factorization into a product of reflections that generate a parabolic subgroup.
The Andrews-Curtis conjecture states that every balanced presentation of the trivial group can be reduced to the standard one by a sequence of the elementary Nielsen transformations and conjugations. In this paper we describe all balanced presentations of the trivial group on two generators and with the total length of relators <= 12. We show that all these presentations satisfy the Andrews-Curtis conjecture.
The normalizer $N_W(W_J)$ of a standard parabolic subgroup $W_J$ of a finite Coxeter group $W$ splits over the parabolic subgroup with complement $N_J$ consisting of certain minimal length coset representatives of $W_J$ in $W$. In this note we show that (with the exception of a small number of cases arising from a situation in Coxeter groups of type $D_n$) the centralizer $C_W(w)$ of an element $w \in W$ is in a similar way a semidirect product of the centralizer of $w$ in a suitable small parabolic subgroup $W_J$ with complement isomorphic to the normalizer complement $N_J$.
Let $G$ be a simple algebraic group of adjoint type over the field $\mathbb{C}$ of complex numbers, $B$ be a Borel subgroup of $G$ containing a maximal torus $T$ of $G.$ Let $w$ be an element of the Weyl group $W$ and $X(w)$ be the Schubert variety in $G/B$ corresponding to $w$. In this article we show that given any parabolic subgroup $P$ of $G$ containing $B$ properly, there is an element $w\in W$ such that $P$ is the connected component, containing the identity element of the group of all algebraic automorphisms of $X(w).$
We determine the nature of the fixed point sets of groups of order p, acting on complexes of distinguished p-subgroups (those p-subgroups containing p-central elements in their centers). The case when G has parabolic characteristic p is analyzed in detail.
Reductive (or semisimple) algebraic groups, Lie groups and Lie algebras have a rich geometry determined by their parabolic subgroups and subalgebras, which carry the structure of a building in the sense of J. Tits. We present herein an elementary approach to the geometry of parabolic subalgebras, over an arbitrary field of characteristic zero, which does not rely upon the structure theory of semisimple Lie algebras. Indeed we derive such structure theory, from root systems to the Bruhat decomposition, from the properties of parabolic subalgebras. As well as constructing the Tits building of a …
