A natural topology on the space of left orderings of an arbitrary semi-group is introduced. It is proved that this space is compact and that for free abelian groups it is homeomorphic to the Cantor set. An application of this result is a new proof of the existence of universal Grobner bases.
For any left orderable group G, we recall from work of McCleary that isolated points in the space of left orderings correspond to basic elements in the free lattice ordered group over G. We then establish a new connection between the kernels of certain maps in the free lattice ordered group over G, and the topology on the space of left orderings of G. This connection yields a simple proof that no left orderable group has countably infinitely many left orderings. When we take G to be the free group of rank n, this connection sheds new light on the space of left orderings of the free group: by a…
This expository paper explores the interaction of group ordering with topological questions, especially in dimensions 2 and 3. Among the topics considered are surfaces, braid groups, 3-manifolds and their structures such as foliations and mappings between them. A final section explores currently ongoing research regarding spaces of homeomorphisms and their orderability properties. This is not meant to be a comprehensive survey, but rather just a taste of the rich relationship between topology and the theory of ordered groups.
Let G be a group and let O_G denote the set of left orderings on G. Then O_G can be topologized in a natural way, and we shall study this topology to answer three conjectures. In particular we shall show that O_G can never be countably infinite. Furthermore in the case G is a countable nonabelian free group, we shall show that O_G is homeomorphic to the Cantor set and that the positive cone of a left order on G is not finitely generated. Generalizations to locally indicable groups will also be considered.
We describe all possible ways of bi-ordering Thompson group F: its space of bi-orderings is made up of eight isolated points and four canonical copies of the Cantor set.
This is a draft of a book submitted for publication by the AMS. Its theme is the remarkable interplay, accelerating in the last few decades, between topology and the theory of orderable groups, with applications in both directions. It begins with an introduction to orderable groups and their algebraic properties. Many of the algebraic results are proved by topological methods, via consideration of the space of orderings. After a discussion Hölder's theorem and some dynamical aspects of orderable groups, we provide explicit orderings of important groups in topology: free groups and most surface…
We study the space of left-orderings on groups with finitely many Conradian orderings. We show that, within this class of groups, having an isolated left-ordering is equivalent to having finitely many left-orderings.
Every left-invariant ordering of a group is either discrete, meaning there is a least element greater than the identity, or dense. Corresponding to this dichotomy, the spaces of left, Conradian, and bi-orderings of a group are naturally partitioned into two subsets. This note investigates the structure of this partition, specifically the set of dense orderings of a group and its closure within the space of orderings. We show that for bi-orderable groups this closure will always contain the space of Conradian orderings---and often much more. In particular, the closure of the set of dense orderi…
We show that the restriction of the Dehornoy ordering to an appropriate free subgroup of the three-strand braid group defines a left ordering of the free group on k generators, k>1, that has no convex subgroups.
We show that if a nontrivial group admits a locally invariant ordering, then it admits uncountably many locally invariant orderings. For the case of a left-orderable group, we provide an explicit construction of uncountable families of locally invariant orderings; for a general group we provide an existence theorem that applies compactness to yield uncountably many locally invariant orderings. Along the way, we define and investigate the space of locally invariant orderings of a group, the natural group actions on this space, and their relationship to the space of left-orderings.
This paper investigates conditions under which a given automorphism of a residually torsion-free nilpotent group respects some ordering of the group. For free groups and surface groups, this has relevance to ordering the fundamental groups of three-dimensional manifolds which fibre over the circle.
We classify $C$-orderable groups admitting only finitely many $C$-orderings. We show that if a $C$-orderable group has infinitely many $C$-orderings, then it actually has uncountably many $C$-orderings, and none of these is isolated in the space of $C$-orderings. As a relevant example, we carefully study the case of Baumslag-Solitar's group B(1,2). We show that B(1,2) has four $C$-orderings, each of which is bi-invariant, but its space of left-orderings is homeomorphic to the Cantor set.
We show that no left-ordering on a free product of (left-orderable) groups is isolated. In particular, we show that the space of left-orderings of free product of finitely generated groups is homeomorphic to the Cantor set. With the same techniques, we also give a new and constructive proof of the fact that the natural conjugation action of the free group (on two or more generators) on its space of left-orderings has a dense orbit.
Let G be a left orderable group and LO(G) the space of all left orderings. We investigate the circumstances under which a left ordering < of G can correspond to an isolated point in LO(G), in particular we extend known results to cover the case of uncountable groups. With minor technical restrictions on the group G, we also find that no dense left ordering is isolated in LO(G), and that the closure of the set of all dense left orderings of G yields a dense G-delta set within a Cantor set of left orderings in LO(G). Lastly, we show that certain conditions on a discrete left ordering of G can gu…
For a group $G$, we construct a quasi morphism from its left orderings and the map from the space of left orderings to the second bounded cohomology. We show that these maps reflect various properties of the group orderings.
Work of Linnell shows that the space of left-orderings of a group is either finite or uncountable, and in the case that the space is finite, the isomorphism type of the group is known---it is what is known as a Tararin group. By defining semiconjugacy of circular orderings in a general setting (that is, for arbitrary circular orderings of groups that may not act on $S^1$), we can view the subspace of left-orderings of any group as a single semiconjugacy class of circular orderings. Taking this perspective, we generalize the result of Linnell, to show that every semiconjugacy class of circular …
We show that the space of left-orderings of a countable virtually solvable group is either finite or homeomorphic to a Cantor set. We also provide an explicit description of the space of left-orderings of $SOL=\Z^2\rtimes_T\Z$.
We generalize a result of T. Koberda by showing that the natural action of the automorphism group on the space of left-orderings is faithful for all nonabelian bi-orderable groups G, as well as for a certain class of left-orderable groups that includes the braid groups. As a corollary we show that the action of the automorphism group of G on the boundary of G is faithful whenever G is bi-orderable and hyperbolic. We also analyze the action of the commensurator of G on its space of virtual left-orderings.
We are concerned with mapping class groups of surfaces with nonempty boundary. We present a very natural method, due to Thurston, of finding many different left orderings of such groups. The construction involves equipping the surface with a hyperbolic structure, embedding the universal cover in the hyperbolic plane, and extending the action of the mapping class group on it to its limit points on the circle at infinity. We classify all orderings of braid groups which arise in this way. Moreover, restricting to a certain class of ``nonpathological'' orderings, we prove that there are only finit…
In Chapter 1 we give the basic background and notations. We also give a new characterization of the Conrad property for orderings. In Chapter 2, we use the new characterization of the Conradian property to give a classification of groups admitting (only) finitely many Conradian orderings §2.1. Using this classification we deduce a structure theorem for the space of Conradian orderings §2.2. In addition, we are able to give a structure theorem for the space of left-orderings on a group by studying the possibility of approximating a given ordering by its conjugates §2.3. In Chapter 3 we show tha…
We prove that the pure braid groups on closed, orientable surfaces are bi-orderable, and that the pure braid groups on closed, non-orientable surfaces have generalized torsion, thus they are not bi-orderable.
We introduce a Dehornoy-like ordering of groups, which is a generalization of the Dehornoy ordering of the braid groups. Under a weak assumption which we call Property F, we show that Dehornoy-like orderings have properties similar to the Dehornoy ordering, and produce isolated left orderings. We also construct new examples of Dehornoy-like ordering and isolated orderings and study their more precise properties.
We provide a pure algebraic version of the dynamical characterization of Conrad's property. This approach allows dealing with general group actions on totally ordered spaces. As an application, we give a new and somehow constructive proof of a theorem first established by Linnell: an orderable group having infinitely many orderings has uncountably many. This proof is achieved by extending to uncountable orderable groups a result about orderings which may be approximated by their conjugates. This last result is illustrated by an example of an exotic ordering on the free group given in the Appen…
In this article we study the space of left- and bi-invariant orderings on a torsion-free nilpotent group $G$. We will show that generally the set of such orderings is equipped with a faithful action of the automorphism group of $G$. We prove a result which allows us to establish the same conclusion when $G$ is assumed to be merely residually torsion-free nilpotent. In particular, we obtain faithful actions of mapping class groups of surfaces. We will draw connections between the structure of orderings on residually torsion-free nilpotent, hyperbolic groups and their Gromov boundaries, and we s…
We are concerned with orderable groups and particularly those with orderings invariant not only under multiplication, but also under a given automorphism or family of automorphisms. Several applications to topology are given: we prove that the fundamental groups of hyperbolic nonorientable surfaces, and the groups of certain fibred knots are bi-orderable. Moreover, we show that the pure braid groups associated with hyperbolic nonorientable surfaces are left-orderable.
We prove that for any finite Thurston-type ordering $<_{T}$ on the braid group\ $B_{n}$, the restriction to the positive braid monoid $(B_{n}^{+},<_{T})$ is a\ well-ordered set of order type $ω^{ω^{n-2}}$. The proof uses a combi\ natorial description of the ordering $<_{T}$. Our combinatorial description is \ based on a new normal form for positive braids which we call the $\C$-normal fo\ rm. It can be seen as a generalization of Burckel's normal form and Dehornoy's \ $Φ$-normal form (alternating normal form).
We give a new method to construct isolated left orderings of groups whose positive cones are finitely generated. Our construction uses an amalgamated free product of two groups having an isolated ordering. We construct a lot of new examples of isolated orderings, and give an example of isolated left orderings having various properties which previously known isolated orderings do not have.
Experiment shows that the reverse length-lexicographical word ordering consistently yields far smaller Gröbner bases for modular p-group algebras than the length-lexicographical ordering. For the so-called Jennings word ordering, based on a special power-conjugate group presentation, the associated monomial algebra is a group invariant.
We introduce a condition on Garside groups that we call Dehornoy structure. An iteration of such a structure leads to a left order on the group. We show conditions for a Garside group to admit a Dehornoy structure, and we apply these criteria to prove that the Artin groups of type A and I 2 (m), m $\ge$ 4, have Dehornoy structures. We show that the left orders on the Artin groups of type A obtained from their Dehornoy structures are the Dehornoy orders. In the case of the Artin groups of type I 2 (m), m $\ge$ 4, we show that the left orders derived from their Dehornoy structures coincide with …
It is well-known that there is a faithful representation of braid groups on automorphism groups of free groups, and it is also well-known that free groups are bi-orderable. We investigate which n-strand braids give rise to automorphisms which preserve some bi-ordering of the free group rank n. As a consequence of our work we find that of the two minimal volume hyperbolic 2-cusped orientable 3-manifolds, one has bi-orderable fundamental group whereas the other does not. We prove a similar result for the 1-cusped case, and have further results for more cusps. In addition, we study pseudo-Anosov …
We show that the group of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of any compact PL manifold does not admit a Polish group topology. This uses a) new results on the relationship between topologies on groups of homeomorphisms, their algebraic structure, and the topology of the underlying manifold, and b) new results on the structure of certain subgroups of PL(M). The proof also shows that the group of piecewise projective homeomorphisms of the circle has no Polish group topology.
We give a characterization of those abelian groups which are direct sums of cyclic groups and the Jacobson radical of their endomorphism rings are closed. A complete characterization of $p$-groups $A$ for which $(EndA,\mathcal T_L)$ is locally compact, where $\mathcal T_L$ is the Liebert topology on $EndA$, is given. We prove that if $A$ is a countable elementary $p$-group then $EndA$ has a non-admissible ring topology. To every functorial topology on $A$ a right bounded ring topology on $EndA$ is attached. By using this topology we construct on $EndA$ a non-metrizable and non-admissibe ring t…
We prove that if $G$ is a group of automorphisms of a regular locally finite building which is closed in the compact-open topology and acts Weyl transitively on the building, then $G$ admits just one Hausdorff locally compact $σ$-compact topology compatible with the group operations.
For any countable torsion subgroup $H$ of an unbounded Abelian group $G$ there is a complete Hausdorff group topology $τ$ such that $H$ is the von Neumann radical of $(G,τ)$. In particular, any unbounded torsion countable Abelian group admits a complete Hausdorff minimally almost periodic (MinAP) group topology. If $G$ is a bounded torsion countably infinite Abelian group, then it admits a MinAP group topology if and only if all its leading Ulm-Kaplansky invariants are infinite. In such a case, a MinAP group topology can be chosen to be complete.
The braid group $B_{n}$, endowed with Artin's presentation, admits two distinguished involutions. One is the anti-automorphism ${\rm{rev}}: B_{n} \to B_{n}$, $v \mapsto \bar{v}$, defined by reading braids in the reverse order (from right to left instead of left to right). Another one is the conjugation $τ:x \mapsto Δ^{-1}x Δ$ by the generalized half-twist (Garside element). More generally, the involution ${\rm{rev}}$ is defined for all Artin groups (equipped with Artin's presentation) and the involution $τ$ is defined for all Artin groups of finite type. A palindrome is an element invariant un…
In this paper, we find at the properties of the family lambda which imply that the function space C(X,R^alpha) with the lambda-open topology is a semitopological group (paratopological group, topological group, topological vector space and other algebraic structures) under the usual operations of addition and multiplication (and multiplication by scalars).
We construct bi-invariant total orderings of residually torsion-free nilpotent groups by using Chen's iterated integrals. This construction can be seen as a generalization of the Magnus ordering of the free groups, and equivalent to the classical construction which uses an iteration of central extensions. Our geometric construction provides a connection between bi-orderings and the rational homotopy theory.
For any countable subgroup $H$ of an unbounded Abelian group $G$ there is a complete Hausdorff group topology $τ$ such that $H$ is the von Neumann radical of $(G,τ)$. In particular, we obtain the positive answer to Comfort's question: any unbounded countable Abelian group admits a complete Hausdorff minimally almost periodic (MinAP) group topology. A bounded infinite Abelian group admits a MinAP group topology if and only if all its leading Ulm-Kaplansky invariants are infinite. If, in addition, $G$ is countably infinite, a MinAP group topology can be chosen to be complete.
In this paper, we work on the pro-nilpotent group topology of a free group. First we investigate the closure of the product of finitely many subgroups of a free group in the pro-nilpotent group topology. We present an algorithm for the calculation of the closure in the pro-nilpotent group topology of the product of finitely many finitely generated subgroups of a free group. Then we deduce that the nil-closure of a rational subset is computable. We also prove that the pseudovarieties V malcev G_nil, for every decidable pseudovariety of monoids V, and J * G_nil are decidable.
Let $G=< x,t\mid w>$ be a one-relator group, where $w$ is a word in $x,t$. If $w$ is a product of conjugates of $x$ then, associated with $w$, there is a polynomial $A_w(X)$ over the integers, which in the case when $G$ is a knot group, is the Alexander polynomial of the knot. We prove, subject to certain restrictions on $w$, that if all roots of $A_w(X)$ are real and positive then $G$ is bi-orderable, and that if $G$ is bi-orderable then at least one root is real and positive. This sheds light on the bi-orderability of certain knot groups and on a question of Clay and Rolfsen. One of the resu…
It is a consequence of the theorem of Stallings on groups with many ends that splittings over finite groups are preserved by quasi-isometries. In this paper we use asymptotic topology to show that group splittings are preserved by quasi-isometries in many cases. Roughly speaking we show that splittings are preserved under quasi-isometries when the vertex groups are fundamental groups of aspherical manifolds (or more generally `coarse PD(n)-groups') and the edge groups are `smaller' than the vertex groups.
A topological group G is said to be almost maximally almost-periodic if its von Neumann radical is non-trivial, but finite. In this paper, we prove that every abelian group with an infinite torsion subgroup admits a (Hausdorff) almost maximally almost-periodic group topology. Some open problems are also formulated.
We give a definition of weakly sofic groups (w-sofic groups). Our definition is rather natural extension of the definition of sofic groups where instead of Hamming metric on symmetric groups we use general bi-invariant metrics on finite groups. The existence of non w-sofic groups is equivalent to some conjecture about profinite topology on free groups.
We consider the oriented graph whose vertices are isomorphism classes of finitely generated groups, with an edge from G to H if, for some generating set T in H and some sequence of generating sets S_i in G, the marked balls of radius i in (G,S_i) and in (H,T) coincide. Given a nilpotent group G, we characterize its connected component in this graph: if that connected component contains at least one torsion-free group, then it consists of those groups which generate the same variety of groups as G. The arrows in the graph define a preorder on the set of isomorphism classes of finitely generated…
This paper answers a question raised by Grothendieck in 1970 on the "Grothendieck closure" of an integral linear group and proves a conjecture of the first author made in 1980. This is done by a detailed study of the congruence topology of arithmetic groups, obtaining along the way, an arithmetic analogue of a classical result of Chevalley for complex algebraic groups. As an application we also deduce a group theoretic characterization of thin subgroups of arithmetic groups.
It is known that splittings of finitely presented groups over 2-ended groups can be characterized geometrically. We show that this characterization does not extend to all finitely generated groups. Answering a question of Kleiner we show that the Cayley graph of the lamplighter group is coarsely separated by quasi-circles.
We give necessary and sufficient conditions on the graph of a right-angled Artin group that determine whether the group is subgroup separable or not. Moreover, we investigate the profinite topology of the direct product of two free groups. We show that the profinite topology of the above group is strongly connected with the profinite topology of the free group of rank two.