In this paper we consider the class of 2-dimensional Artin groups with connected, large type, triangle-free defining graphs (type CLTTF). We classify these groups up to isomorphism, and describe a generating set for the automorphism group of each such Artin group. In the case where the defining graph has no separating edge or vertex we show that the Artin group is not abstractly commensurable to any other CLTTF Artin group. If, moreover, the defining graph satisfies a further `vertex rigidity' condition, then the abstract commensurator group of the Artin group is isomorphic to its automorphism group and generated by inner automorphisms, graph automorphisms (induced from automorphisms of the defining graph), and the involution which maps each standard generator to its inverse. We observe that the techniques used here to study automorphisms carry over easily to the Coxeter group situation. We thus obtain a classification of the CLTTF type Coxeter groups up to isomorphism and a description of their automorphism groups analogous to that given for the Artin groups.
We prove that, aside from the obvious exceptions, the mapping class group of a compact orientable surface is not abstractly commensurable with any right-angled Artin group. Our argument applies to various subgroups of the mapping class group---the subgroups generated by powers of Dehn twists and the terms of the Johnson filtration---and additionally to the outer automorphism group of a free group and to certain linear groups.
We prove that the abstract commensurator of a nonabelian free group, an infinite surface group, or more generally of a group that splits appropriately over a cyclic subgroup, is not finitely generated. This applies in particular to all torsion-free word-hyperbolic groups with infinite outer automorphism group and abelianization of rank at least 2. We also construct a finitely generated, torsion-free group which can be mapped onto Z and which has a finitely generated commensurator.
Sh. Mozes showed that the commensurator of the lattice ${\rm PSL}_2 \bigl({\bf F}_p[t{}^{-1}] \bigr)$ is dense in the full automorphism group of the Bruhat-Tits tree of valency $p+1$, the latter group being much bigger than ${\rm PSL}_2 \bigl({\bf F}_p((t)) \bigr)$. By G.A. Margulis' criterion, this density is a generalized arithmeticity result. We show that the density of the commensurator holds for many tree-lattices among those called of Nagao type by H. Bass and A. Lubotzky. The result covers many lattices obtained via Moufang twin trees.
Let Gamma be a lattice in a simply-connected solvable Lie group. We construct a Q-defined algebraic group A such that the abstract commensurator of Gamma is isomorphic to A(Q) and Aut(Gamma) is commensurable with A(Z). Our proof uses the algebraic hull construction, due to Mostow, to define an algebraic group H so that commensurations of Gamma extend to Q-defined automorphisms of H. We prove an analogous result for lattices in connected linear Lie groups whose semisimple quotient satisfies superrigidity.
We observe that, for each positive integer n > 2, each of the Artin groups of finite type A_n, B_n=C_n, and affine type \tilde A_{n-1} and \tilde C_{n-1} is a central extension of a finite index subgroup of the mapping class group of the (n+2)-punctured sphere. (The centre is trivial in the affine case and infinite cyclic in the finite type cases). Using results of Ivanov and Korkmaz on abstract commensurators of surface mapping class groups we are able to determine the automorphism groups of each member of these four infinite families of Artin groups.
Let G be the automorphism group of a regular right-angled building X. The "standard uniform lattice" Γ_0 in G is a canonical graph product of finite groups, which acts discretely on X with quotient a chamber. We prove that the commensurator of Γ_0 is dense in G. This result was also obtained by Haglund. For our proof, we develop carefully a technique of "unfoldings" of complexes of groups. We use unfoldings to construct a sequence of uniform lattices Γ_n in G, each commensurable to Γ_0, and then apply the theory of group actions on complexes of groups to the sequence Γ_n. As further applicatio…
Let $(A_S,S)$ be an Artin-Tits and $X$ a subset of $S$ ; denote by $A_X$ the subgroup of $A_S$ generated by $X$. When $A_S$ is of spherical type, we prove that the normalizer and the commensurator of $A_X$ in $A_S$ are equal and are the product of $A_X$ by the quasi-centralizer of $A_X$ in $A_S$. Looking to the associated monoids $A_S^+$ and $A_X^+$, we describe the quasi-centralizer of $A_X^+$ in $A_S^+$ thanks to results in Coxeter groups. These two results generalize earlier results of Paris. Finaly, we compare, in the spherical case, the normalizer of a parabolic subgroup in the Artin-Tits…
We compute the BNS-invariant for the pure symmetric automorphism groups of right-angled Artin groups. We use this calculation to show that the pure symmetric automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group is itself not a right-angled Artin group provided that its defining graph contains a separating intersection of links.
We study the algebraic structure of the automorphism group of a general right-angled Artin group. We show that this group is virtually torsion-free and has finite virtual cohomological dimension. This generalizes results proved by the authors and John Crisp (arXiv:math/0610980) for two-dimensional right-angled Artin groups.
Let G be a right-angled Artin group. We use geometric methods to compute a presentation of the subgroup H of Aut(G) consisting of the automorphisms that send each generator to a conjugate of itself. This generalizes a result of McCool on basis-conjugating automorphisms of free groups.
We describe the automorphism groups and the abstract commensurators of Houghton's groups. Then we give sharp estimates for the word metric of these groups and deduce that the commensurators embed into the corresponding quasi-isometry groups. As a further consequence, we obtain that the Houghton group on two rays is at least quadratically distorted in those with three or more rays.
We introduce a homology theory for subspace arrangements, and use it to extract a new system of numerical invariants from the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant of a group. We use these to characterize when the set of basis conjugating outer automorphisms (a.k.a. the pure symmetric outer automorphism group) of a right-angled Artin group is itself a right-angled Artin group.
Using abelian coverings of Salvetti complexes, embeddings of outer automorphism groups of right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs) into outer automorphism groups of their particular characteristic subgroups are constructed. Virtual embeddings of outer automorphism groups of finitely generated groups having the unique root property into outer automorphism groups of their particular subgroups are also given. These results provide us with rich examples of (virtual) embeddings between outer automorphism groups of RAAGs. Finite subgroups of pure (outer) automorphism groups of RAAGs are also investigated. …
We generalize the peak-reduction algorithm (Whitehead's theorem) for free groups to a theorem about a general right-angled Artin group A_Gamma. As an application, we find a finite presentation for the automorphism group Aut A_Gamma that generalizes McCool's presentation for the automorphism group of a finite rank free group. We also give consider a stronger generalization of peak-reduction, giving a counterexample and proving a special case.
For any right-angled Artin group, we show that its outer automorphism group contains either a finite-index nilpotent subgroup or a nonabelian free subgroup. This is a weak Tits alternative theorem. We find a criterion on the defining graph that determines which case holds. We also consider some examples of solvable subgroups, including one that is not virtually nilpotent and is embedded in a non-obvious way.
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 study the dilatation of outer automorphisms of right-angled Artin groups. Given a right-angled Artin group defined on a simplicial graph: $A(Γ) = \langle V | E \rangle$ and an automorphism $ϕ\in Out(A(Γ))$ there is a natural measure of how fast the length of a word of $A(Γ)$ grows after $n$ iterations of $ϕ$ as a function of $n$, which we call the dilatation of $w$ under $ϕ$. We define the dilatation of $ϕ$ as the supremum over dilatations of all $w \in A(Γ)$. Assuming that $ϕ$ is a pure and square map, we show that if the dilatation of $ϕ$ is positive, then either there exists a free abeli…
We construct the first known examples of infinite subgroups of the outer automorphism group of Out(A_Gamma), for certain right-angled Artin groups A_Gamma. This is achieved by introducing a new class of graphs, called focused graphs, whose properties allow us to exhibit (infinite) projective linear groups as subgroups of Out(Out(A_Gamma)). This demonstrates a marked departure from the known behavior of Out(Out(A_Gamma)) when A_Gamma is free or free abelian, as in these cases Out(Out(A_Gamma)) has order at most 4. We also disprove a previous conjecture of the second author, producing new exampl…
We study the outer automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group A_G in the case where the defining graph G is connected and triangle-free. We give an algebraic description of Out(A_G) in terms of maximal join subgraphs in G and prove that the Tits' alternative holds for Out(A_G). We construct an analogue of outer space for Out(A_G) and prove that it is finite dimensional, contractible, and has a proper action of Out(A_G). We show that Out(A_G) has finite virtual cohomological dimension, give upper and lower bounds on this dimension and construct a spine for outer space realizing the most g…
We show that many normal subgroups of the braid group modulo its centre, and of the mapping class group of a sphere with marked points, have the property that their automorphism and abstract commensurator groups are mapping class groups of such spheres. As one application, we establish the automorphism groups of each term in the lower central series and derived series of the pure braid group. We also obtain new proofs of results of Dyer-Grossman and Orevkov, showing that the automorphism groups of the braid group and of its commutator subgroup are isomorphic. We then calculate the automorphism…
We consider the outer automorphism group Out(A_Gamma) of the right-angled Artin group A_Gamma of a random graph Gamma on n vertices in the Erdos--Renyi model. We show that the functions (log(n)+log(log(n)))/n and 1-(log(n)+log(log(n)))/n bound the range of edge probability functions for which Out(A_Gamma) is finite: if the probability of an edge in Gamma is strictly between these functions as n grows, then asymptotically Out(A_Gamma) is almost surely finite, and if the edge probability is strictly outside of both of these functions, then asymptotically Out(A_Gamma) is almost surely infinite. T…
We compute the automorphism groups of the Torelli complex and the complex of separating curves for all but finitely many compact orientable surfaces. As an application, we show that the abstract commensurators of the Torelli group and the Johnson kernel for such surfaces are naturally isomorphic to the extended mapping class group.
We prove a new version of the classical peak-reduction theorem for automorphisms of free groups in the setting of right-angled Artin groups. We use this peak-reduction theorem to prove two important corollaries about the action of the automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group $A_Γ$ on the set of $k$-tuples of conjugacy classes from $A_Γ$: orbit membership is decidable, and stabilizers are finitely presentable. Further, we explain procedures for checking orbit membership and building presentations of stabilizers. This improves on a previous result of the author's. We overcome a technical…
We show that there is no uniform upper bound on |Out(Aut(A))| when A ranges over all right-angled Artin groups. This is in contrast with the cases where A is free or free abelian: for all n, Dyer-Formanek and Bridson-Vogtmann showed that Out(Aut(F_n)) = 1, while Hua-Reiner showed |Out(Aut(Z^n)| = |Out(GL(n,Z))| < 5. We also prove the analogous theorem for Out(Out(A)). We establish our results by giving explicit examples; one useful tool is a new class of graphs called austere graphs.
In a recent article, Cumplido and Paris studied the question of commensurability between Artin groups of spherical type. Their analysis left six cases undecided, for the following pairs of Artin groups: $(F_4,D_4)$, $(H_4,D_4)$, $(F_4,H_4)$, $(E_6,D_6)$, $(E_7,D_7)$, and $(E_8,D_8)$. In this note we resolve the first two of these cases, namely, we show that the Artin groups of types $F_4$ and $H_4$ are not commensurable with that of type $D_4$. As a key step, we realize the abstract commensurator of the Artin group of type $D_4$ as the extended mapping class group of the torus with three punct…
We give a condition on the defining graph of a right-angled Artin group which implies its automorphism group is virtually indicable, that is, it has a finite-index subgroup that admits a homomorphism onto $\Z$. We use this as part of a criterion that determines precisely when the outer automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group defined on a graph with no separating intersection of links has property (T). As a consequence we also obtain a similar criterion for graphs in which each equivalence class under the domination relation of Servatius generates an abelian group.
A theorem of Farb and Handel asserts that for $N\ge 4$, the natural inclusion from $\mathrm{Out}(F_N)$ into its abstract commensurator is an isomorphism. We give a new proof of their result, which enables us to generalize it to the case where $N=3$. More generally, we give sufficient conditions on a subgroup $Γ$ of $\mathrm{Out}(F_N)$ ensuring that its abstract commensurator $\mathrm{Comm}(Γ)$ is isomorphic to its relative commensurator in $\mathrm{Out}(F_N)$. In particular, we prove that the abstract commensurator of the Torelli subgroup $\mathrm{IA}_N$ for all $N\ge 3$, or more generally any…
We show that for each positive integer $k$ there exist right-angled Artin groups containing free-by-cyclic subgroups whose monodromy automorphisms grow as $n^k$. As a consequence we produce examples of right-angled Artin groups containing finitely presented subgroups whose Dehn functions grow as $n^{k+2}$.
Given a group $G$ and an automorphism $φ$ of $G$, two elements $x, y \in G$ are said to be $φ$-conjugate if $x = g y φ(g)^{-1}$ for some $g \in G$. The number of equivalence classes is the Reidemeister number $R(φ)$ of $φ$, and if $R(φ) = \infty$ for all automorphisms of $G$, then $G$ is said to have the $R_\infty$-property. A finite simple graph $Γ$ gives rise to the right-angled Artin group $A_Γ$, which has as generators the vertices of $Γ$ and as relations $vw = wv$ if and only if $v$ and $w$ are joined by an edge in $Γ$. We conjecture that all non-abelian right-angled Artin groups have the…
This paper studies the rigidity properties of the abstract commensurator of the outer automorphism group of a universal Coxeter group of rank $n$, which is the free product $W_n$ of $n$ copies of $\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$. We prove that for $n\geq 5$ the natural map $\mathrm{Out}(W_n) \to \mathrm{Comm}(\mathrm{Out}(W_n))$ is an isomorphism and that every isomorphism between finite index subgroups of $\mathrm{Out}(W_n)$ is given by a conjugation by an element of $\mathrm{Out}(W_n)$.
We introduce the palindromic automorphism group and the palindromic Torelli group of a right-angled Artin group A_G. The palindromic automorphism group Pi A_G is related to the principal congruence subgroups of GL(n,Z) and to the hyperelliptic mapping class group of an oriented surface, and sits inside the centraliser of a certain hyperelliptic involution in Aut(A_G). We obtain finite generating sets for Pi A_G and for this centraliser, and determine precisely when these two groups coincide. We also find generators for the palindromic Torelli group.
For a right-angled Artin group $A_Γ$, the untwisted outer automorphism group $U(A_Γ)$ is the subgroup of $Out(A_Γ)$ generated by all of the Laurence-Servatius generators except twists (where a {\em twist} is an automorphisms of the form $v\mapsto vw$ with $vw=wv$). We define a space $Σ_Γ$ on which $U(A_Γ)$ acts properly and prove that $Σ_Γ$ is contractible, providing a geometric model for $U(A_Γ)$ and its subgroups. We also propose a geometric model for all of $Out(A_Γ)$ defined by allowing more general markings and metrics on points of $Σ_Γ$.
Automorphism groups of locally finite trees provide a large class of examples of simple totally disconnected locally compact groups. It is desirable to understand the connections between the global and local structure of such a group. Topologically, the local structure is given by the commensurability class of a vertex stabiliser; on the other hand, the action on the tree suggests that the local structure should correspond to the local action of a stabiliser of a vertex on its neighbours. We study the interplay between these different aspects for the special class of groups satisfying Tits' in…
We study the outer automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group $A_Γ$ with finite defining graph $Γ$. We construct a subnormal series for $Out(A_Γ)$ such that each consecutive quotient is either finite, free-abelian, $GL(n,\mathbb{Z})$, or a Fouxe-Rabinovitch group. The last two types act respectively on a symmetric space or a deformation space of trees, so that there is a geometric way of studying each piece. As a consequence we prove that the group $Out(A_Γ)$ is type VF (it has a finite index subgroup with a finite classifying space). The main technical work is a study of relative outer …
It was previously shown by Grunewald and Lubotzky that the automorphism group of a free group, $\text{Aut}(F_n)$, has a large collection of virtual arithmetic quotients. Analogous results were proved for the mapping class group by Looijenga and by Grunewald, Larsen, Lubotzky, and Malestein. In this paper, we prove analogous results for the automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group for a large collection of defining graphs. As a corollary of our methods we produce new virtual arithmetic quotients of $\text{Aut}(F_n)$ for $n \geq 4$ where $k$th powers of all transvections act trivially fo…
Let $\Out(F_n)$ denote the outer automorphism group of the free group $F_n$ with $n>3$. We prove that for any finite index subgroup $Γ<\Out(F_n)$, the group $\Aut(Γ)$ is isomorphic to the normalizer of $Γ$ in $\Out(F_n)$. We prove that $Γ$ is {\em co-Hopfian} : every injective homomorphism $Γ\to Γ$ is surjective. Finally, we prove that the abstract commensurator $\Comm(\Out(F_n))$ is isomorphic to $\Out(F_n)$.
We compute the virtual cohomological dimension (VCD) of the group of partially symmetric outer automorphisms of a free group. We use this to obtain new upper and lower bounds on the VCD of the outer automorphism group of a two-dimensional right-angled Artin group. In the case of a right-angled group with defining graph a tree, the bounds agree.
We prove that every subnormal subgroup of p-power index in a right-angled Artin group is conjugacy p-separable. As an application, we prove that every right-angled Artin group is conjugacy separable in the class of torsion-free nilpotent groups. As another application, we prove that the outer automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group is virtually residually p-finite. We also prove that the Torelli group of a right-angled group is residually torsion-free nilpotent, hence residually p-finite and bi-orderable.
We study subgroups and quotients of outer automorphism groups of right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs). We prove that for all RAAGS, the outer automorphism group is residually finite and, for a large class of RAAGs, it satisfies the Tits alternative. We also investigate which of these automorphism groups contain non-abelian solvable subgroups.
