In this paper, we show that for every abelian subgroup $H$ of a Garside group, some conjugate $g^{-1}Hg$ consists of ultra summit elements and the centralizer of $H$ is a finite index subgroup of the normalizer of $H$. Combining with the results on translation numbers in Garside groups, we obtain an easy proof of the algebraic flat torus theorem for Garside groups and solve several algorithmic problems concerning abelian subgroups of Garside groups.
A Garside group is a group admitting a finite lattice generating set D. Using techniques developed by Bestvina for Artin groups of finite type, we construct K(π,1)s for Garside groups. This construction shows that the (co)homology of any Garside group G is easily computed given the lattice D, and there is a simple sufficient condition that implies G is a duality group. The universal covers of these K(π,1)s enjoy Bestvina's weak non-positive curvature condition. Under a certain tameness condition, this implies that every solvable subgroup of G is virtually abelian.
Let $G$ be a Garside group with Garside element $Δ$. An element $g$ in $G$ is said to be \emph{periodic} if some power of $g$ lies in the cyclic group generated by $Δ$. This paper shows the following. (i) The periodicity of an element does not depend on the choice of a particular Garside structure if and only if the center of $G$ is cyclic. (ii) If $g^k=Δ^{ka}$ for some nonzero integer $k$, then $g$ is conjugate to $Δ^a$. (iii) Every finite subgroup of the quotient group $G/<Δ^m>$ is cyclic, where $Δ^m$ is the minimal positive central power of $Δ$.
Let $G$ be a Garside group with Garside element $Δ$, and let $Δ^m$ be the minimal positive central power of $Δ$. An element $g\in G$ is said to be 'periodic' if some power of it is a power of $Δ$. In this paper, we study periodic elements in Garside groups and their conjugacy classes. We show that the periodicity of an element does not depend on the choice of a particular Garside structure if and only if the center of $G$ is cyclic; if $g^k=Δ^{ka}$ for some nonzero integer $k$, then $g$ is conjugate to $Δ^a$; every finite subgroup of the quotient group $G/<Δ^m>$ is cyclic. By a classical theor…
Let $\mathrm{Mod}(S)$ be the mapping class group of a compact connected orientable surface $S$, possibly with punctures and boundary components, with negative Euler characteristic. We prove that for any infinite virtually abelian subgroup $H$ of $\mathrm{Mod}(S)$, there is a subgroup $H'$ commensurable with $H$ such that the commensurator of $H$ equals the normalizer of $H'$. As a consequence we give, for each $n \geq 2$, an upper bound for the geometric dimension of $\mathrm{Mod}(S)$ for the family of abelian subgroups of rank bounded by $n$. These results generalize work by Juan-Pineda--Truj…
A square complex is a 2-complex formed by gluing squares together. This article is concerned with the fundamental group $Γ$ of certain square complexes of nonpositive curvature, related to quaternion algebras. The abelian subgroup structure of $Γ$ is studied in some detail.
Suppose that $(W,S)$ is a Coxeter system with associated Artin group $A$ and with a simplicial complex $L$ as its nerve. We define the notion of a "standard abelian subgroup" in $A$. The poset of such subgroups in $A$ is parameterized by the poset of simplices in a certain subdivision $L_\oslash$ of $L$. This complex of standard abelian subgroups is used to generalize an earlier result from the case of right-angled Artin groups to case of general Artin groups, by calculating, in many instances, the smallest dimension of a manifold model for $BA$. (This is the "action dimension" of $A$ denoted …
Let S be a closed oriented surface of genus g > 1, and let T denote its Torelli group. First, given a set E of homotopically nontrivial, pairwise disjoint, pairwise nonisotopic simple closed curves on S, we determine precisely when a multitwist on E is an element of T by defining an equivalence relation on E and then applying graph theory. Second, we prove that an arbitrary Abelian subgroup of T has rank < 2g-4.
For some $g \geq 3$, let $Γ$ be a finite index subgroup of the mapping class group of a genus $g$ surface (possibly with boundary components and punctures). An old conjecture of Ivanov says that the abelianization of $Γ$ should be finite. In this note, we prove two theorems supporting this conjecture. For the first, let $T_x$ denote the Dehn twist about a simple closed curve $x$. For some $n \geq 1$, we have $T_x^n \in Γ$. We prove that $T_x^n$ is torsion in the abelianization of $Γ$. Our second result shows that the abelianization of $Γ$ is finite if $Γ$ contains a "large chunk" (in a certain…
For a group $G$, let $\mathcal{F}_{n}$ be the family of all the subgroups of $G$ containing a subgroup isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}^{r}$ for some $r=0,1,2,\dots ,n$ of finite index. Joecken, Lafont and Sánchez Saldaña computed the $\mathcal{F}_1$-dimension of 3-manifold groups. The goal of this article is to compute the $\mathcal{F}_n$-geometric dimension of 3-manifold groups for all $n\geq 2$.
We discuss the possibility of lifting finite subgroups, and in particular finite cyclic subgroups, with respect to the canonical projections between automorphism and outer automorphism groups of free groups, surface groups and their abelianizations.
A companion result of the the Tits alternative for $Out(F_n)$ is proved: Every solvable subgroup of $Out(F_n)$ is finitely generated and virtually abelian.
We describe the topology of the space of all geometric limits of closed abelian subgroups of PSL2C. Main tools and ideas come from the previous paper [BC12].
Birman-Lubotzky-McCarthy proved that any abelian subgroup of the mapping class groups for orientable surfaces is finitely generated. We apply Birman-Lubotzky-McCarthy's arguments to the mapping class groups for non-orientable surfaces. We especially find a finitely generated group isomorphic to a given torsion-free subgroup of the mapping class groups.
Let F be a finite group with a Sylow 2-subgroup S that is normal and abelian. Using hyperelementary induction and cartesian squares, we prove that Cappell's unitary nilpotent groups UNil_*(Z[F];Z[F],Z[F]) have an induced isomorphism to the quotient of UNil_*(Z[S];Z[S],Z[S]) by the action of the group F/S. In particular, any finite group F of odd order has the same UNil-groups as the trivial group. The broader scope is the study of the L-theory of virtually cyclic groups, based on the Farrell--Jones isomorphism conjecture. We obtain partial information on these UNil when S is a finite abelian 2…
Given a probability measure on a finitely generated group, its Martin boundary is a way to compactify the group using the Green's function of the corresponding random walk. We give a complete topological characterization of the Martin boundary of finitely supported random walks on relatively hyperbolic groups with virtually abelian parabolic subgroups. In particular, in the case of nonuniform lattices in the real hyperbolic space H n , we show that the Martin boundary coincides with the CAT (0) boundary of the truncated space, and thus when n = 3, is homeomorphic to the Sierpinski carpet.
By Torelli topology the author understands aspects of the topology of surfaces (potentially) relevant to the study of Torelli groups. The present paper is devoted to a new approach to the results of W. Vautaw about Dehn multi-twists in Torelli groups and abelian subgroups of Torelli groups. The new proofs are more transparent and lead to stronger estimates of the rank of an abelian subgroup when some additional information is available. An unexpected application of our methods is a new proof of the algebraic characterization of the Dehn twist about separating circles and the Dehn-Johnson twist…
Abelian covers of hyperbolic $3$-manifolds are ubiquitous. We prove the local mixing theorem of the frame flow for abelian covers of closed hyperbolic $3$-manifolds. We obtain a classification theorem for measures invariant under the horospherical subgroup. We also describe applications to the prime geodesic theorem as well as to other counting and equidistribution problems. Our results are proved for any abelian cover of a homogeneous space $Γ_0\backslash G$ where $G$ is a rank one simple Lie group and $Γ_0<G$ is a convex cocompact Zariski dense subgroup.
In this paper, we characterize the dynamic of every abelian subgroups $\mathcal{G}$ of GL($n$, $\mathbb{K}$), $\mathbb{K} = \mathbb{R}$ or $\mathbb{C}$. We show that there exists a $\mathcal{G}$-invariant, dense open set $U$ in $\mathbb{K}^{n}$ saturated by minimal orbits with $\mathbb{K}^{n}- U$ a union of at most $n$ $\mathcal{G}$-invariant vectorial subspaces of $\mathbb{K}^{n}$ of dimension $n-1$ or $n-2$ on $\mathbb{K}$. As a consequence, $\mathcal{G}$ has height at most $n$ and in particular it admits a minimal set in $\mathbb{K}^{n}-\{0\}$.