We study sets of solutions to equations over a free group, projections of such sets, and the structure of elementary sets defined over a free group. The structre theory we obtain enable us to answer some questions of A. Tarski's, and classify those finitely generated groups that are elementary equivalent to a free group. Connections with low dimensional topology, and a generalization to (Gromov) hyperbolic groups will also be discussed.
The Diophantine problem for a monoid $M$ is the decision problem to decide whether any given system of equations has a solution in $M$. In this note, we give a simple example of a context-free, word-hyperbolic, finitely presented, special monoid $M$ with trivial group of units, and such that the Diophantine problem is undecidable in $M$. This answers two questions asked by Garreta & Gray in 2019, and shows that the decidability of the Diophantine problem in hyperbolic groups, as proved by Dahmani & Guirardel, does not generalise to word-hyperbolic monoids.
This paper is the 10th in a sequence on the structure of sets of solutions to systems of equations over groups, projections of such sets (Diophantine sets), and the structure of definable sets over few classes of groups. In the 10th paper we answer affirmatively a question of R. L. Vaught on the elementary equivalence of free products of pairs of elementarily equivalent groups, and obtain a generalization of Tarski's problem on the elementary equivalence of non-abelian free groups. Finally, we prove that free products of stable groups is stable, generalizing a previous result on the stability …
In this note, we explore the notion of hyperbolicity of topologically finitely generated profinite groups. Some applications to diophantine geometry are suggested and we try to reformulate certain problems in diophantine geometry in terms of hyperbolic profinite groups. Then, we introduce many occasions in which Galois groups are free profinite and try to explore implications of this condition in the world of diophantine geometry. In particular, we prove that, Grothendieck's "section conjecture" plus Shafarevich's "freeness conjecture" imply that hyperbolic curves have infinitely many solution…
This paper is the eighth in a sequence on the structure of sets of solutions to systems of equations in free and hyperbolic groups, projections of such sets (Diophantine sets), and the structure of definable sets over free and hyperbolic groups. In the eighth paper we use a modification of the sieve procedure, that was presented as part of the quantifier elimination process, to prove that free and torsion-free (Gromov) hyperbolic groups are stable.
We use a recent result of Alexander and Nishinaka to show that if $G$ is a non-elementary torsion-free hyperbolic group and $R$ is a countable domain, then the group ring $RG$ is primitive. This implies that the group ring $KG$ of any non-elementary torsion-free hyperbolic group $G$ over a field $K$ is primitive.
Let $G$ be a group hyperbolic relative to a collection of subgroups $\{H_λ,λ\in Λ\} $. We say that a subgroup $Q\le G$ is hyperbolically embedded into $G$, if $G$ is hyperbolic relative to $\{H_λ,λ\in Λ\} \cup \{Q\} $. In this paper we obtain a characterization of hyperbolically embedded subgroups. In particular, we show that if an element $g\in G$ has infinite order and is not conjugate to an element of $H_λ$, $λ\in Λ$, then the (unique) maximal elementary subgroup contained $g$ is hyperbolically embedded into $G$. This allows to prove that if $G$ is boundedly generated, then $G$ is elementar…
Let G be a torsion free hyperbolic group. We prove that the elementary theory of G is decidable and admits an effective quantifier elimination to boolean combination of AE-formulas. The existence of such quantifier elimination was previously proved by Sela.
Sela introduced limit groups in his work on the Tarski problem, and showed that each limit group has a cyclic hierarchy. In this paper, a class of relatively hyperbolic groups, equipped with a hierarchy similar to the one for limit groups, is shown to be closed under quasi-isometry. Additionally, these groups share some of the properties of limit groups. In particular, groups quasi-isometric to limit groups are shown to be LERF and virtually toral relatively hyperbolic.
The following properties are preserved under elementary equivalence, among finitely generated groups: being hyperbolic (possibly with torsion), being hyperbolic and cubulable, and being a subgroup of a hyperbolic group. In other words, if a finitely generated group G has the same first-order theory as a group possessing one of the previous property, then G enjoys this property as well.
This paper proves that in a non-elementary relatively hyperbolic group, the logarithm growth rate of any non-elementary subgroup has a linear lower bound by the logarithm of the size of the corresponding generating set. As a consequence, any non-elementary subgroup has uniform exponential growth.
We say that a group $G$ is acylindrically hyperbolic if it admits a non-elementary acylindrical action on a hyperbolic space. We prove that the class of acylindrically hyperbolic groups coincides with many other classes studied in the literature, e.g., the class $C_{geom}$ introduced by Hamenstadt, the class of groups admitting a non-elementary weakly properly discontinuous action on a hyperbolic space in the sense of Bestvina and Fujiwara, and the class of groups with hyperbolically embedded subgroups studied by Dahmani, Guirardel, and the author. We also record some basic results about acyli…
We consider embeddings in a torsion-free hyperbolic group which are elementary in the sense of first-order logic. We give a description of these embeddings in terms of Sela's hyperbolic towers. We deduce as a corollary that subgroups elementarily embedded in finitely generated free groups are free factors.
In a remarkable series of papers, Zlil Sela classified the first-order theories of free groups and torsion-free hyperbolic groups using geometric structures he called towers. It was later proved by Chloé Perin that if $H$ is an elementarily embedded subgroup (or elementary submodel) of a torsion-free hyperbolic group $G$, then $G$ is a tower over $H$. We prove a generalization of Perin's result to toral relatively hyperbolic groups using JSJ and shortening techniques.
Building on previous results concerning hyperbolicity of groups of Fibonacci type, we give an almost complete classification of the (non-elementary) hyperbolic groups within this class. We are unable to determine the hyperbolicity status of precisely two groups, namely the Gilbert-Howie groups H(9,4), H(9,7). We show that if H(9,4) is torsion-free then it is not hyperbolic. We consider the class of T(5) cyclically presented groups and classify the (non-elementary) hyperbolic groups and show that the Tits alternative holds.
A group G is acylindrically hyperbolic if it admits a non-elementary acylindrical action on a hyperbolic space. We prove that every acylindrically hyperbolic group G has a generating set X such that the corresponding Cayley graph is a (non-elementary) quasi-tree and the action of G on the Cayley graph is acylindrical. Our proof utilizes the notions of hyperbolically embedded subgroups and projection complexes. As a by-product, we obtain some new results about hyperbolically embedded subgroups and quasi-convex subgroups of acylindrically hyperbolic groups.
We study to what extent torsion-free (Gromov)-hyperbolic groups are elementarily equivalent to their finite index subgroups. In particular, we prove that a hyperbolic limit group either is a free product of cyclic groups and surface groups, or admits infinitely many subgroups of finite index which are pairwise non elementarily equivalent.
We give a dynamical characterization of acylindrically hyperbolic groups. As an application, we prove that non-elementary convergence groups are acylindrically hyperbolic.
We prove that every non-elementary hyperbolic group $G$ acts with maximal growth on some set $X$ such that every orbit of any element $g \in G$ is finite. As a side-product of our approach we prove that if $G$ is non-elementary hyperbolic, $\HH \leq G$ is quasiconvex of infinite index then there exists $g \in G$ such that $<\HH,g>$ is quasiconvex of infinite index and is isomorphic to $\HH*<g >$ if and only if $\HH \cap E(G)= \{e\} $, where $E(G)$ is the maximal finite normal subgroup of $G$.
We study the Diophantine problem, i.e. the decision problem of solving systems of equations, for some families of one-relator groups, and provide some background for why this problem is of interest. The method used is primarily the Reidemeister--Schreier method, together with general recent results by Dahmani & Guirardel and Ciobanu, Holt & Rees on the decidability of the Diophantine problem in general classes of groups. First, we give a sample of the methods of the article by proving that the one-relator group with defining relation $a^mb^n = 1$ is virtually a direct product of hyperbolic gro…
We generalize some results of Paulin and Rips-Sela on endomorphisms of hyperbolic groups to relatively hyperbolic groups, and in particular prove the following. (1) If G is a finitely generated non-elementary relatively hyperbolic group with slender parabolic subgroups, and either G is not co-Hopfian or Out(G) is infinite, then G splits over a slender group. (2) If a finitely generated non-parabolic subgroup H of a non-elementary relatively hyperbolic group is not Hopfian, then H acts non-trivially on an R-tree. (3) Every non-elementary relatively hyperbolic group has a non-elementary relative…
We prove that a non-elementary relatively hyperbolic group is statistically hyperbolic with respect to every finite generating set. We also establish statistical hyperbolicity for certain direct products of two groups, one of which is relatively hyperbolic.
This work is concerned with the stable norm in word hyperbolic groups as defined by Gromov. We give a short elementary proof of one of its basic property, that is existence of a computable uniform non null lower bound for stable norm in a word hyperbolic group.
We show that if $G$ is a non-elementary torsion-free word hyperbolic group then there exists another word hyperbolic group $G^*$, such that $G$ is a subgroup of $G^*$ but $G$ is not quasiconvex in $G^*$.
In this article, we state and prove a general criterion allowing us to show that some groups are hyperbolically elementary, meaning that every isometric action of one of these groups on a Gromov-hyperbolic space either fixes a point at infinity or has bounded orbits. Also, we show how such a hyperbolic rigidity leads to fixed-point properties on finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complexes. As an application, we prove that Thompson's group $V$ is hyperbolically elementary, and we deduce that it satisfies Property $(FW_{\infty})$, ie., every isometric action of $V$ on a finite-dimensional CAT(0) cu…
We give an example of a definable set in every free or torsion-free (non-elementary) hyperbolic group that is not in the Boolean algebra of equational sets. Hence, the theories of free and torsion-free (non-elementary) hyperbolic groups are not equational in the sense of G. Srour.
We show that Gromov's monster groups arising from i.i.d. labelings of expander graphs do not admit non-elementary actions on geodesic hyperbolic spaces. The proof relies on comparing properties of random walks on randomly labeled graphs and on groups acting non-elementarily on hyperbolic spaces.
We define and develop the notion of a discretisable quasi-action. It is shown that a cobounded quasi-action on a proper non-elementary hyperbolic space $X$ not fixing a point of $\partial X$ is quasi-conjugate to an isometric action on either a rank one symmetric space or a locally finite graph. Topological completions of quasi-actions are also introduced. Discretisable quasi-actions are used to give several instances where commensurated subgroups are preserved by quasi-isometries. For example, the class of $\mathbb{Z}$-by-hyperbolic groups is shown to be quasi-isometrically rigid. We characte…
We study the (Ahlfors regular) conformal dimension of the boundary at infinity of Gromov hyperbolic groups which split over elementary subgroups. If such a group is not virtually free, we show that the conformal dimension is equal to the maximal value of the conformal dimension of the vertex groups, or 1, whichever is greater, and we characterise when the conformal dimension is attained. As a consequence, we are able to characterise which Gromov hyperbolic groups (without $2$-torsion) have conformal dimension 1, answering a question of Bonk and Kleiner.
We study residual properties of relatively hyperbolic groups. In particular, we show that if a group $G$ is non-elementary and hyperbolic relative to a collection of proper subgroups, then $G$ is SQ-universal.
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.
We generalize a version of small cancellation theory to the class of acylindrically hyperbolic groups. This class contains many groups which admit some natural action on a hyperbolic space, including non-elementary hyperbolic and relatively hyperbolic groups, mapping class groups, and groups of outer automorphisms of free groups. Several applications of this small cancellation theory are given, including to Frattini subgroups and Kazhdan constants, the construction of various \exotic"' quotients, and to approximating acylindrically hyperbolic groups in the topology of marked group presentation…
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…
We show that if H is a quasiconvex subgroup of a hyperbolic group G then the relative Cayley graph Y (also known as the Schreier coset graph) for G/H is Gromov-hyperbolic. We also observe that in this situation if G is torsion-free and non-elementary and H has infinite index in G then the simple random walk on Y is transient.
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…
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.
Baker and Riley proved that a free group of rank 3 can be contained in a hyperbolic group as a subgroup for which the Cannon-Thurston map is not well-defined. By using their result, we show that the phenomenon occurs for not only a free group of rank 3 but also every non-elementary hyperbolic group. In fact it is shown that a similar phenomenon occurs for every non-elementary relatively hyperbolic group.
We provide a new and elegant approach to relative quasiconvexity for relatively hyperbolic groups in the context of Bowditch's approach to relative hyperbolicity using cocompact actions on fine hyperbolic graphs. Our approach to quasiconvexity generalizes the other definitions in the literature that apply only for countable relatively hyperbolic groups. We also provide an elementary and self-contained proof that relatively quasiconvex subgroups are relatively hyperbolic.
$H$ is called a $G$-subgroup of a hyperbolic group $G$ if for any finite subset $M\subset G$ there exists a homomorphism from $G$ onto a non-elementary hyperbolic group $G_1$ that is surjective on $H$ and injective on $M$. In his paper in 1993 A. Ol'shanskii gave a description of all $G$-subgroups in any given non-elementary hyperbolic group $G$. Here we show that for the same class of $G$-subgroups the finiteness assumption on $M$ (under certain natural conditions) can be replaced by an assumption of quasiconvexity.
We investigate systems of equations and the first-order theory of one-relator monoids. We describe a family $\mathcal{F}$ of one-relator monoids of the form $\langle A\mid w=1\rangle$ where for each monoid $M$ in $\mathcal{F}$, the longstanding open problem of decidability of word equations with length constraints reduces to the Diophantine problem (i.e.\ decidability of systems of equations) in $M$. We achieve this result by finding an interpretation in $M$ of a free monoid, using only systems of equations together with length relations. It follows that each monoid in $\mathcal{F}$ has undeci…
We show that if $H$ is a quasiconvex subgroup of infinite index in a non-elementary hyperbolic group $G$ then the Schreier coset graph $X$ for $G$ relative to $H$ is non-amenable (that is, $X$ has positive Cheeger constant). We present some corollaries regading the Martin boundary and Martin compactification of $X$ and the co-growth of $H$ in $G$.
A finitely generated group is lacunary hyperbolic if one of its asymptotic cones is an $\mathbb{R}$-tree. In this article we give a necessary and sufficient condition on lacunary hyperbolic groups in order to be stable under free product by giving a dynamical characterization of lacunary hyperbolic groups. Also we studied limits of elementary subgroups as subgroups of lacunary hperbolic groups and characterized them. Given any countable collection of increasing union of elementary groups we show that there exists a lacunary hyperbolic group whose set of all maximal subgroups is the given colle…
A subgroup of a group $G$ is called algebraic if it can be expressed as a finite union of solution sets to systems of equations. We prove that a non-elementary subgroup $H$ of an acylindrically hyperbolic group $G$ is algebraic if and only if there exists a finite subgroup $K$ of $G$ such that $C_G(K) \leq H \leq N_G(K)$. We provide some applications of this result to free products, torsion-free relatively hyperbolic groups, and ascending chains of algebraic subgroups in acylindrically hyperbolic groups.
Dehn fillings for relatively hyperbolic groups generalize the topological Dehn surgery on a non-compact hyperbolic $3$-manifold such as a hyperbolic knot complement. We prove a rigidity result saying that if two non-elementary relatively hyperbolic groups without suitable splittings have sufficiently many isomorphic Dehn fillings, then these groups are in fact isomorphic. Our main application is a solution to the isomorphism problem in the class of non-elementary relatively hyperbolic groups with residually finite parabolic groups and with no suitable splittings.
The following short note provides an alternative proof of a result of Coornaert: namely, that given a non-elementary word-hyperbolic group $G$ with a finite generating set $X$, there exist constants $λ,D > 1$ such that \[ D^{-1}λ^n \leq |B_{G,X}(n)| \leq D λ^n \] for all $n \geq 0$, where $B_{G,X}(n)$ is the ball of radius $n$ in the Cayley graph $Γ(G,X)$.
In 2006 Z. Sela and independently O. Kharlampovich and A. Myasnikov gave a solution to the Tarski problems by showing that two non-abelian free groups have the same elementary theory. Subsequently Z. Sela generalized the techniques used in his proof of the Tarski conjecture to classify all finitely generated groups elementary equivalent to a given torsion-free hyperbolic group. One important step in his analysis of the elementary theory of free and torsion-free hyperbolic groups is the Generalized Merzlyakov's Theorem. In our work we show that given a hyperbolic group $Γ$ and $Γ$-limit group $…
For any finitely generated, non-elementary, torsion-free group $G$ that is hyperbolic relative to $\mathbb P$, we show that there exists a group $G^*$ containing $G$ such that $G^*$ is hyperbolic relative to $\mathbb P$ and $G$ is not relatively quasiconvex in $G^*$. This generalizes a result of I. Kapovich for hyperbolic groups. We also prove that any torsion-free group $G$ that is non-elementary and hyperbolic relative to $\mathbb P$, contains a rank 2 free subgroup $F$ such that the group generated by "randomly" chosen elements $r_1,...,r_m$ in $F$ is aparabolic, malnormal in $G$ and quasic…
For every hyperbolic group and more general hyperbolic graphs, we construct an equivariant ideal bicombing: this is a homological analogue of the geodesic flow on negatively curved manifolds. We then construct a cohomological invariant which implies that several Measure Equivalence and Orbit Equivalence rigidity results established by Monod-Shalom hold for all non-elementary hyperbolic groups and their non-elementary subgroups. We also derive superrigidity results for actions of general irreducible lattices on a large class of hyperbolic metric spaces.
We show that the displacement and translation distance of non-elementary random walks on isometry groups of hyperbolic spaces satisfy large deviation principles with the same rate function $I$. Roughly, this means that there exists function $I(t)$ which accurately predicts the exponential decay rate of the probability that the translation distance of a random product of length $n$ is $tn$, and similarly for the displacement. This settles a special case of a conjecture concerning the large deviation principle for the spectral radius of random matrix products. In a second part, we give a charact…
It is shown that for n bigger than 1, the group of holomorphic isometries of the n dimensional complex hyperbolic space does not admit non-elementary representations into the group of isometries of the infinite dimensional real hyperbolic space.
We prove that if a countable group is elementarily equivalent to a non-abelian free group and all of its abelian subgroups are cyclic, then the group is a union of a chain of regular NTQ groups (i.e., hyperbolic towers).
