Let X be an arbitrary hyperbolic geodesic metric space and let G be a countable non-elementary weakly acylindrical group of isometries of X. We show that the second bounded cohomology group of G with real coefficients or with coefficients in the regular representation is infinite dimensional. The result holds for any subgroup of the mapping class group of a non-exceptional surface of finite type not containing a normal subgroup which virtually split as a direct product.
We build a bridge between geometric group theory and topological dynamical systems by establishing a dictionary between coarse equivalence and continuous orbit equivalence. As an application, we give conceptual explanations for previous results of Shalom and Sauer on coarse invariance of homological and cohomological dimensions and Shalom's property $H_{FD}$. As another application, we show that group homology and cohomology in a class of coefficients, including all induced and co-induced modules, are coarse invariants. We deduce that being of type $FP_n$ (over arbitrary rings) is a coarse inv…
Let X be a proper hyperbolic geodesic metric space and let G be a closed subgroup of the isometry group Iso(X) of X. We show that if G is not amenable then its second continuous bounded cohomology group with coefficients the regular representation does not vanish. This yields some structure results for such groups.
We demonstrate the quasi-isometry invariance of two important geometric structures for relatively hyperbolic groups: the coned space and the cusped space. As applications, we produce a JSJ-decomposition for relatively hyperbolic groups which is invariant under quasi-isometries and outer automorphisms, as well as a related splitting of the quasi-isometry groups of relatively hyperbolic groups.
We prove that given a fixed radius $r$, the set of isometry-invariant probability measures supported on ``periodic'' radius $r$-circle packings of the hyperbolic plane is dense in the space of all isometry-invariant probability measures on the space of radius $r$-circle packings. By a periodic packing, we mean one with cofinite symmetry group. As a corollary, we prove the maximum density achieved by isometry-invariant probability measures on a space of radius $r$-packings of the hyperbolic plane is the supremum of densities of periodic packings. We also show that the maximum density function v…
The isometry group of a compact n-dimensional hyperbolic manifold is known to be finite. We show that for every n > 2, every finite group is realized as the full isometry group of some compact hyperbolic n-manifold. The cases n = 2 and n = 3 have been proven by Greenberg and Kojima, respectively. Our proof is non constructive: it uses counting results from subgroup growth theory and the strong approximation theorem to show that such manifolds exist.
Let $\mathcal{X}_S$ denote the class of spaces homeomorphic to two closed orientable surfaces of genus greater than one identified to each other along an essential simple closed curve in each surface. Let $\mathcal{C}_S$ denote the set of fundamental groups of spaces in $\mathcal{X}_S$. In this paper, we characterize the abstract commensurability classes within $\mathcal{C}_S$ in terms of the ratio of the Euler characteristic of the surfaces identified and the topological type of the curves identified. We prove that all groups in $\mathcal{C}_S$ are quasi-isometric by exhibiting a bilipschitz …
We build quasi--isometry invariants of relatively hyperbolic groups which detect the hyperbolic parts of the group; these are variations of the stable dimension constructions previously introduced by the authors. We prove that, given any finite collection of finitely generated groups $\mathcal{H}$ each of which either has finite stable dimension or is non-relatively hyperbolic, there exist infinitely many quasi--isometry types of one--ended groups which are hyperbolic relative to $\mathcal{H}$. The groups are constructed using small cancellation theory over free products.
We use cross ratios to describe second real continuous bounded cohomology for locally compact topological groups. We also derive a rigidity result for cocycles with values in the isometry group of a proper hyperbolic geodesic metric space.
This paper overviews recent developments in the classification up to quasi-isometry of finitely generated groups, and more specifically of relatively hyperbolic groups.
We extend the techniques developed by Millson and Raghunathan to prove nonvanishing results for the cohomology of compact arithmetic quotients of hyperbolic n-space with values in the local coefficient systems associated to finite dimensional irreducible representations of the group SO(n,1). We prove that all possible nonvanishing results compatible with the vanishing theorems of Vogan and Zuckerman can be realized by any sufficiently deep congruence subgroup of the standard cocompact arithmetic examples.
We study the subgroup structure of discrete groups which share cohomological properties which resemble non-negative curvature. Examples include all Gromov hyperbolic groups. We provide strong restrictions on the possible s-normal subgroups of a Gromov hyperbolic group, or more generally a 'negatively curved' group. Another result says that the image of a group, which is boundedly generated by a finite set of amenable subgroups, in a Gromov hyperbolic group has to be virtually cyclic. Moreover, we show that any homomorphic image of an analogue of a higher rank lattices in a Gromov hyperbolic gr…
Using a probabilistic argument we show that the second bounded cohomology of an acylindrically hyperbolic group $G$ (e.g., a non-elementary hyperbolic or relatively hyperbolic group, non-exceptional mapping class group, ${\rm Out}(F_n)$, \dots) embeds via the natural restriction maps into the inverse limit of the second bounded cohomologies of its virtually free subgroups, and in fact even into the inverse limit of the second bounded cohomologies of its hyperbolically embedded virtually free subgroups. This result is new and non-trivial even in the case where $G$ is a (non-free) hyperbolic gro…
For a proper geodesic metric space $X$, the Morse boundary $\partial_*X$ focuses on the hyperbolic-like directions in the space $X$. It is a quasi-isometry invariant. That is, a quasi-isometry between two hyperbolic spaces induces a homeomorphism on their boundaries. In this paper, we investigate additional structures on the Morse boundary $\partial_*X$ which determine $X$ up to a quasi-isometry. We prove that, for $X$ and $Y$ proper, cocompact spaces, a homeomorphism $f$ between their Morse boundaries is induced by a quasi-isometry if and only if $f$ and $f^{-1}$ are bihölder, or quasi-symmet…
We classify the normal subgroups K of the tetrahedral group Delta=[3,5,3]^+, the even subgroup of the Coxeter group Gamma=[3,5,3], with Delta/K isomorphic to a finite simple group L_2(q). We determine their normalisers N(K) in the isometry group of hyperbolic 3-space H^3, the isometry groups N(K)/K of the associated hyperbolic 3-manifolds H^3/K, and the symmetry groups N_{Gamma}(K)/K of the icosahedral tessellations of these manifolds, giving a detailed analysis of how L_2(q) acts on these tessellations.
We construct combinatorial volume forms of hyperbolic three manifolds fibering over the circle. These forms define non-trivial classes in bounded cohomology. After introducing a new seminorm on exact bounded cohomology, we use these combinatorial classes to show that, in degree 3, the zero norm subspace of the bounded cohomology of an acylindrically hyperbolic group is infinite dimensional. In the appendix we use the same techniques to give a cohomological proof of a lower bound, originally due to Brock, on the volume of the mapping torus of a cobounded pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism of a closed …
Bowditch's JSJ tree for splittings over 2-ended subgroups is a quasi-isometry invariant for 1-ended hyperbolic groups which are not cocompact Fuchsian. Our main result gives an explicit, computable "visual" construction of this tree for certain hyperbolic right-angled Coxeter groups. As an application of our construction we identify a large class of such groups for which the JSJ tree, and hence the visual boundary, is a complete quasi-isometry invariant, and thus the quasi-isometry problem is decidable. We also give a direct proof of the fact that among the Coxeter groups we consider, the coco…
We study quasi-isometry invariants of Gromov hyperbolic spaces, focussing on the l_p-cohomology and closely related invariants such as the conformal dimension, combinatorial modulus, and the Combinatorial Loewner Property. We give new constructions of continuous l_p-cohomology, thereby obtaining information about the l_p-equivalence relation, as well as critical exponents associated with l_p-cohomology. As an application, we provide a flexible construction of hyperbolic groups which do not have the Combinatorial Loewner Property, extending and complementing earlier examples. Another consequenc…
Let G be a closed subgroup of the isometry group of a proper CAT(0)-space X. We show that if G is non-elementary and contains a rank-one element then its second bounded cohomology group with coefficients in the regular representation is non-trivial. As a consequence, up to passing to an open subgroup of finite index, either G is a compact extension of a totally disconnected group or G is a compact extension of a simple Lie group of rank one.
It was proved by Mineyev and Yaman that, if $(Γ, Γ')$ is a relatively hyperbolic pair, the comparison map $$ H_b^k(Γ, Γ'; V) \to H^k(Γ, Γ'; V) $$ is surjective for every $k \ge 2$, and any bounded $Γ$--module $V$. By exploiting results of Groves and Manning, we give another proof of this result. Moreover, we prove the opposite implication under weaker hypotheses than the ones required by Mineyev and Yaman.
We compute the de Rham cohomology of the weak stable foliation of the geodesic flow of a connected orientable closed hyperbolic surface with various coefficients. For most of the coefficients, we also give certain "Hodge decompositions" of the corresponding de Rham complexes, which are not obtained by the usual Hodge theory of foliations. These results are based on unitary representation theory of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$. As an application we obtain an answer to a problem considered by Haefliger and Li around 1980.
We prove that for every countable group G there exists a hyperbolic 3-manifold M such that the isometry group of M, the mapping class group of M, and the outer automorphism group of the fundamental group of M are isomorphic to G.
Thurston has claimed (unpublished) that central extensions of word hyperbolic groups by finitely generated abelian groups are automatic. We show that they are in fact biautomatic. Further, we show that every 2-dimensional cohomology class on a word hyperbolic group can be represented by a bounded 2-cocycle. This lends weight to the claim of Gromov that for a word hyperbolic group, the cohomology in every dimension is bounded.
We develop further basic tools in the theory of continuous bounded cohomology of locally compact groups. We apply this tools to establish a Milnor-Wood type inequality in a very general context and to prove a global rigidity result which was originally announced by the authors with a sketch of a proof using bounded cohomology techniques and then proven by Koziarz and Maubon using harmonic map techniques. As a corollary one obtains that a lattice in SU(p,1) cannot be deformed nontrivially in SU(q,1), if either p is at least 2 or the lattice is cocompact. This generalizes to noncocompact lattice…
This is a survey of higher-dimensional Kleinian groups, i.e., discrete isometry groups of the hyperbolic n-space for n greater than 3. Our main emphasis is on the topological and geometric aspects of higher-dimensional Kleinian groups and their contrast with the discrete groups of isometry of the hyperbolic 3-space.
The large-scale geometry of hyperbolic metric spaces exhibits many distinctive features, such as the stability of quasi-geodesics (the Morse Lemma), the visibility property, and the homeomorphism between visual boundaries induced by a quasi-isometry. We prove a number of closely analogous results for spaces of rank $n \ge 2$ in an asymptotic sense, under some weak assumptions reminiscent of nonpositive curvature. For this purpose we replace quasi-geodesic lines with quasi-minimizing (locally finite) $n$-cycles of $r^n$ volume growth; prime examples include $n$-cycles associated with $n$-quasif…
Suppose $G$ is a 1-ended finitely presented group that is hyperbolic relative to $\mathcal P$ a finite collection of 1-ended finitely presented proper subgroups of $G$. Our main theorem states that if the boundary $\partial (G,{\mathcal P})$ is locally connected and the second cohomology group $H^2(P,\mathbb ZP)$ is free abelian for each $P\in \mathcal P$, then $H^2(G,\mathbb ZG)$ is free abelian. When $G$ is 1-ended it is conjectured that $\partial (G,\mathcal P)$ is always locally connected. Under mild conditions on $G$ and the members of $\mathcal P$ the 1-ended and local connectivity hypot…
Given a CAT(0) cube complex X, we show that if Aut(X) $\neq$ Isom(X) then there exists a full subcomplex of X which decomposes as a product with $\mathbb{R}^n$. As applications, we prove that if X is $δ$-hyperbolic, cocompact and 1-ended, then Aut(X) $=$ Isom(X) unless X is quasi-isometric to $\mathbb{H}^2$, and extend the rank-rigidity result of Caprace-Sageev to any lattice $ Γ\leq$ Isom(X).
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.
In this paper it is proved that relative hyperbolicity is an invariant of quasi-isometry. As a byproduct of the arguments, simplified definitions of relative hyperbolicity are obtained. In particular we obtain a new definition very similar to the one of hyperbolicity, relying on the existence for every quasi-geodesic triangle of a central left coset of peripheral subgroup.
For real hyperbolic spaces, the dynamics of individual isometries and the geometry of the limit set of nonelementary discrete isometry groups have been studied in great detail. Most of the results were generalised to discrete isometry groups of simply connected Riemannian manifolds of pinched negative curvature. For symmetric spaces of higher rank, which contain isometrically embedded Euclidean planes, the situation becomes far more complicated. This paper is devoted to the study of the geometric limit set of ``nonelementary'' discrete isometry groups of higher rank symmetric spaces. We obtain…
We show that the number of isometry classes of cusped hyperbolic $3$-manifolds that bound geometrically grows at least super-exponentially with their volume, both in the arithmetic and non-arithmetic settings.
We study the geometry of nonrelatively hyperbolic groups. Generalizing a result of Schwartz, any quasi-isometric image of a non-relatively hyperbolic space in a relatively hyperbolic space is contained in a bounded neighborhood of a single peripheral subgroup. This implies that a group being relatively hyperbolic with nonrelatively hyperbolic peripheral subgroups is a quasi-isometry invariant. As an application, Artin groups are relatively hyperbolic if and only if freely decomposable. We also introduce a new quasi-isometry invariant of metric spaces called metrically thick, which is sufficien…
We give a group cohomological description of the Čech cohomology of the Bowditch boundary of a relatively hyperbolic group pair, generalizing a result of Bestvina-Mess about hyperbolic groups. In case of a relatively hyperbolic Poincaré duality group pair, we show the Bowditch boundary is a homology manifold. For a three-dimensional Poincaré duality pair, we recover the theorem of Tshishiku-Walsh stating that the boundary is homeomorphic to a two-sphere.
Two groups have a common model geometry if they act properly and cocompactly by isometries on the same proper geodesic metric space. The Milnor-Schwarz lemma implies that groups with a common model geometry are quasi-isometric; however, the converse is false in general. We consider free products of uniform lattices in isometry groups of rank-1 symmetric spaces and prove, within each quasi-isometry class, residually finite groups that have a common model geometry are abstractly commensurable. Our result gives the first examples of hyperbolic groups that are quasi-isometric but do not virtually …
We obtain non-vanishing of group $L^p$-cohomology of Lie groups for $p$ large and when the degree is equal to the rank of the group. This applies both to semisimple and to some suitable solvable groups. In particular, it confirms that Gromov's question on vanishing below the rank is formulated optimally. To achieve this, some complementary vanishings are combined with the use of spectral sequences. To deduce the semisimple case from the solvable one, we also need comparison results between various theories for $L^p$-cohomology, allowing the use of quasi-isometry invariance.
Building upon work of Y. Shalom we give a homological-algebra flavored definition of an induction map in group homology associated to a topological coupling. As an application we obtain estimates of the (co)homological dimension of groups G and H, where G embeds uniformly into H and the (co)homological dimension of G is finite. Another consequence of our results is that the Hirsch ranks of quasi-isometric solvable groups coincide. Further, it is shown that the real cohomology rings of quasi-isometric nilpotent groups are isomorphic as graded rings. On the analytic side, we apply the induction …
Any action of a group $Γ$ on $\mathbb H^3$ by isometries yields a class in degree three bounded cohomology by pulling back the volume cocycle to $Γ$. We prove that the bounded cohomology of finitely generated Kleinian groups without parabolic elements distinguishes the asymptotic geometry of geometrically infinite ends of hyperbolic $3$-manifolds. That is, if two homotopy equivalent hyperbolic manifolds with infinite volume and without parabolic cusps have different geometrically infinite end invariants, then they define a $2$ dimensional subspace of bounded cohomology. Our techniques apply to…
This paper shows that every Gromov hyperbolic group can be described by a finite subdivision rule acting on the 3-sphere. This gives a boundary-like sequence of increasingly refined finite cell complexes which carry all quasi-isometry information about the group. This extends a result from Cannon and Swenson in 1998 that hyperbolic groups can be described by a recursive sequence of overlapping coverings by possibly wild sets, and demonstrates the existence of non-cubulated groups that can be represented by subdivision rules.
