Let F_n = <x_1,...,x_n> denote the free group with generators {x_1,...,x_n}. Nielsen and Magnus described generators for the kernel of the canonical epimorphism from the automorphism group of F_n to the general linear group over the integers. In particular among them are the automorphisms chi_{k,i} which conjugate the generator x_k by the generator x_i leaving the x_j fixed for j not k. A computation of the cohomology ring as well as the Lie algebra obtained from the descending central series of the group generated by chi_{k,i} for i<k is given here. Partial results are obtained for the group generated by all chi_{k,i}.
We compute the topological complexity of Eilenberg-Mac Lane spaces associated to the group of automorphisms of a finitely generated free group which act by conjugation on a given basis, and to certain subgroups.
An automorphism of a graph product of groups is conjugating if it sends each factor to a conjugate of a factor (possibly different). In this article, we determine precisely when the group of conjugating automorphisms of a graph product satisfies Kazhdan's property (T) and when it satisfies some vastness properties including SQ-universality.
In this paper we describe the structure of a group of conjugating automorphisms $C_n$ of free group and prove that this structure is similar to the structure of a braid group $B_n$ with $n>1$ strings. We find the linear representation of group $C_n$. Also we prove that the braid group $B_n(S^2)$ of 2--sphere, mapping class group M(0,n) of the $n$--punctured 2--sphere and the braid group $B_3(P^2)$ of the projective plane are linear. Using result of J. Dyer, E. Formanek, E. Grossman and the faithful linear representation of Lawrence--Krammer of $B_4$ we construct faithful linear representation …
We determine the structure of the first resonance variety of the cohomology ring of the group of automorphisms of a finitely generated free group which act by conjugation on a given basis.
We construct a linear representation of the group IA(F_n) of IA-automorphisms of a free group F_n, an extension of the Gassner representation of the pure braid group P_n. Although the problem of faithfulness of the Gassner representation is still open for n > 3, we prove that the restriction of our representation to the group of basis conjugating automorphisms Cb_n contains a non-trivial kernel even if n=2. We construct also an extensions of the Burau representation to the group of conjugating automorphisms C_n. This representation is not faithful for n > 1.
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 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.
We describe an algorithm to find the virtual cohomological dimension of the automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group. The algorithm works in the relative setting; in particular it also applies to untwisted automorphism groups and basis-conjugating automorphism groups. The main new tool is the construction of free abelian subgroups of certain Fouxe-Rabinovitch groups of rank equal to their virtual cohomological dimension, generalizing a result of Meucci in the setting of free groups.
The goal of this paper is to construct and describe certain arithmetic subgroups of the automorphism group of a partially commutative group. More precisely, given an arbitrary finite graph $Γ$ we construct an arithmetic subgroup $St(L(G))$, represented as a subgroup of $GL(n,Z)$, where $n$ is the number of vertices of the graph $Γ$. In the last section of the paper we give a description of the decomposition of the group of automorphisms $St^{conj}(L(G))$ as a semidirect product of the group of conjugating automorphisms $Conj(G)$ and $St(L(G))$. This result is closely related to Theorem 1.4 of …
If $G$ is a free product of finite groups, let $ΣAut_1(G)$ denote all (necessarily symmetric) automorphisms of $G$ that do not permute factors in the free product. We show that a McCullough-Miller [D. McCullough and A. Miller, {\em Symmetric Automorphisms of Free Products}, Mem. Amer. Math. Soc. 122 (1996), no. 582] and Gutiérrez-Krstić [M. Gutiérrez and S. Krstić, {\em Normal forms for the group of basis-conjugating automorphisms of a free group}, International Journal of Algebra and Computation 8 (1998) 631-669] derived (also see Bogley-Krstić [W. Bogley and S. Krstić, {\em String groups and…
We show that the conjugacy problem is solvable in [finitely generated free]-by-cyclic groups, by using a result of O. Maslakova that one can algorithmically find generating sets for the fixed subgroups of free group automorphisms, and one of P. Brinkmann that one can determine whether two cyclic words in a free group are mapped to each other by some power of a given automorphism. The algorithm effectively computes a conjugating element, if it exists. We also solve the power conjugacy problem and give an algorithm to recognize if two given elements of a finitely generated free group are Reideme…
We define several "standard" subgroups of the automorphism group Aut(G) of a partially commutative (right-angled Artin) group and use these standard subgroups to describe decompositions of Aut(G). If C is the commutation graph of G, we show how Aut(G) decomposes in terms of the connected components of C: obtaining a particularly clear decomposition theorem in the special case where C has no isolated vertices. If C has no vertices of a type we call dominated then we give a semi-direct decompostion of Aut(G) into a subgroup of locally conjugating automorphisms by the subgroup stabilising a certa…
Recently there has been renewed interest in the mapping-class group of a compact surface of genus $g \ge 2$ and also in its finite order elements. A finite order element of the mapping-class group will be a conformal automorphisms on some Riemann surface of genus $g$. Here we give the details of the proof that there is an {\sl adapted basis} for any conformal automorphism of prime order on a surface of genus $g$ and extend the original result to apply to fixed point free automorphisms. An adapted basis is one that reflects the action of the automorphism in the optimal manner described below. T…
Let S be a compact Riemann surfaces of genus g >= 2 and G a conformal automoprhism group of order n acting on S. In this paper we give the definition of an adapted generating set and an adapted basis for the first homology group of such a compact Riemann surface. This generating set and basis reflect the action of G in as simple manner as possible. This can be seen in the matrix of the action of G which we obtain. We prove the existence of such a generating set and basis for any conformal group acting on such a surface and find the matrix. This extends our earlier results on adapted bases and …
For any choice of a basis $\cal A$ the free group $F_N$ of finite rank $N \geq 2$ can be canonically identified with the set $F(\cal A)$ of reduced words in $\cal A\cup \cal A^{-1}$. However, such a word $w \in F(\cal A)$ admits a second interpretation, namely as cylinder $C^1_w \subset \partial F_N$. The subset of $\partial F_N$ defined by $C^1_w$ depends not only on the element of $F_N$ given by the word $w$, but also on the chosen basis $\cal A$. In particular one has in general, for $Φ\in \Aut(F_N)$: $$Φ(C^1_w) \neq C^1_{Φ(w)}$$ Indeed, the image of a cylinder under an automorphism $Φ\in \…
This paper introduces a newly developed private key cryptosystem and a public key cryptosystem. In the first one, each letter is encrypted with a different key. Therefore, it is a kind of a one-time pad. The second one is inspired by the ElGamal cryptosystem. Both presented cryptosystems are based on automorphisms of free groups. Given a free group $F$ of finite rank, the automorphism group $Aut(F)$ can be generated by Nielsen transformations, which are the basis of a linear technique to study free groups and general infinite groups. Therefore Nielsen transformations are introduced.
Let αbe an automorphism of the totally disconnected group G. The compact open subgroup, V, if G is tidy for αif [α(V') : α(V')\cap V'] is minimised at V, where V' ranges over all compact open subgroups of G. Identifying a subgroup tidy for αis analogous to identifying a basis which puts a linear transformation into Jordan canonical form. This analogy is developed here by showing that commuting automorphisms have a common tidy subgroup of G and, conversely, that a group H of automorphisms having a common tidy subgroup V is abelian modulo the automorphisms which leave V invariant. Certain subgro…
We describe an algorithm that uses Stallings' folding technique to decompose an element of $Aut(F_n)$ as a product of Whitehead automorphisms (and hence as a product of Nielsen transformations.) We use this to give an alternative method of finding a finite generating set for the subgroup of $Aut(F_n)$ that fixes a subset $Y$ of the basis elements, and the subgroup that fixes each element of $Y$ up to conjugacy. We show that the intersection of this latter subgroup with $IA_n$ is also finitely generated.
Let $F_n$ be the free group of rank $n$ with free basis $X=\{x_1,\dots,x_n \}$. A palindrome is a word in $X^{\pm 1}$ that reads the same backwards as forwards. The palindromic automorphism group $ΠA_n$ of $F_n$ consists of those automorphisms that map each $x_i$ to a palindrome. In this paper, we investigate linear representations of $ΠA_n$, and prove that $ΠA_2$ is linear. We obtain conjugacy classes of involutions in $ΠA_2$, and investigate residual nilpotency of $ΠA_n$ and some of its subgroups. Let $IA_n$ be the group of those automorphisms of $F_n$ that act trivially on the abelianisatio…
Using Frobenius normal forms of matrices over finite fields as well as the Burnside Basis Theorem, we give a direct proof of Horoševskiĭ's result that every automorphism $α$ of a finite nilpotent group has a cycle whose length coincides with $\mathrm{ord}(α)$. Also, we give two new sufficient conditions for an automorphism $α$ of an arbitrary finite group to satisfy this property, namely when $\mathrm{ord}(α)$ is a product of at most two prime powers or when $α$ has a sufficiently large cycle. This will allow us to show that the least order of a group where this property is violated is 120. Fi…
The group of basis-conjugating automorphisms of the free group of rank $n$, also known as the McCool group or the welded braid group $PΣ_n$, contains a much-studied subgroup, called the upper McCool group $PΣ_n^+$. Starting from the cohomology ring of $PΣ_n^+$, we find, by means of a Gröbner basis computation, a simple presentation for the infinitesimal Alexander invariant of this group, from which we determine the resonance varieties and the Chen ranks of the upper McCool groups. These computations reveal that, unlike for the pure braid group $P_n$ and the full McCool group $PΣ_n$, the Chen r…
Let $S$ be a compact Riemann surface and $G$ a group of conformal automorphisms of $S$ with $S_0 = S/G$. $S$ is a finite regular branched cover of $S_0$. If $U$ denotes the unit disc, let $Γ$ and $Γ_0$ be the Fuchsian groups with $S = U/Γ$ and $S_0 = U/{Γ_0}$. There is a group homomorphism of $Γ_0$ onto $G$ with kernel $Γ$ and this is termed a surface kernel map. Two surface kernel maps are equivalent if they differ by an automorphism of $Γ_0$. In his 1971 paper Harvey showed that when $G$ is a cyclic group, there is a unique simplest representative for this equivalence class. His result has p…
In this paper we define a quantity called the rank of an outer automorphism of a free group which is the same as the index introduced in [D. Gaboriau, A. Jaeger, G. Levitt and M. Lustig, `An index for counting fixed points for automorphisms of free groups', Duke Math. J. 93 (1998) 425-452] without the count of fixed points on the boundary. We proceed to analyze outer automorphisms of maximal rank and obtain results analogous to those in [D.J. Collins and E. Turner, `An automorphism of a free group of finite rank with maximal rank fixed point subgroup fixes a primitive element', J. Pure and App…
The concept of an adapted homology basis for a prime order conformal automorphism of a compact Riemann surface extends to arbitrary finite groups of conformal automorphisms. Here we compute some examples of adapted homology bases for some groups of automorphisms. The method is to begin by apply the Schreier-Reidemeister rewriting process along with the Schreier-Reidemeister Theorem and then to eliminate generators and relations until there is one single large defining relation for the fundamental group in which every generator and its inverse occurs. We are then able to compute the action of t…
A palindrome in a free group F_n is a word on some fixed free basis of F_n that reads the same backwards as forwards. The palindromic automorphism group ΠA_n of the free group F_n consists of automorphisms that take each member of some fixed free basis of F_n to a palindrome; the group ΠA_n has close connections with hyperelliptic mapping class groups, braid groups, congruence subgroups of GL(n,Z), and symmetric automorphisms of free groups. We obtain a generating set for the subgroup of ΠA_n consisting of those elements acting trivially on the abelianisation of F_n, the palindromic Torelli gr…
We study automorphisms of a relatively hyperbolic group G. When G is one-ended, we describe Out(G) using a preferred JSJ tree over subgroups that are virtually cyclic or parabolic. In particular, when G is toral relatively hyperbolic, Out(G) is virtually built out of mapping class groups and subgroups of GL_n(Z) fixing certain basis elements. When more general parabolic groups are allowed, these subgroups of GL_n(Z) have to be replaced by McCool groups: automorphisms of parabolic groups acting trivially (i.e. by conjugation) on certain subgroups. Given a malnormal quasiconvex subgroup P of a h…
We give a presentation by generators and relations of a certain monoid generating a subgroup of index two in the group Aut(F_2) of automorphisms of the rank two free group F_2 and show that it can be realized as a monoid in the group B_4 of braids on four strings. In the second part we use Christoffel words to construct an explicit basis of F_2 lifting any given basis of the free abelian group Z^2. We further give an algorithm allowing to decide whether two elements of F_2 form a basis or not. We also show that, under suitable conditions, a basis has a unique conjugate consisting of two palind…
The group of automorphisms of Euclidean (embedded in $\mathbb{R}^n$) dense lattices such as the root lattices $D_4$ and $E_8$, the Barnes-Wall lattice $BW_{16}$, the unimodular lattice $D_{12}^+$ and the Leech lattice $Λ_{24}$ may be generated by entangled quantum gates of the corresponding dimension. These (real) gates/lattices are useful for quantum error correction: for instance, the two and four-qubit real Clifford groups are the automorphism groups of the lattices $D_4$ and $BW_{16}$, respectively, and the three-qubit real Clifford group is maximal in the Weyl group $W(E_8)$. Technically,…
We call a linear operator on a vector space over a field Jordanable if it has a Jordan canonical form. An almost Abelian Lie algebra has only one non-vanishing Lie bracket, which is given by a linear operator. If the latter is Jordanable then we call the almost Abelian Lie algebra Jordanable. The existence of canonical form allows to describe important structural properties of these Lie algebras in explicit terms. Lie subalgebras, ideals, automorphisms and derivations, as well as quadratic Casimir elements are given in explicitly in a suitable basis.
A subgroup $H$ of a free group $F$ is called inert in $F$ if for every $G < F$ the rank of the intersection of $H$ with $G$ is no grater than the rank of $G$. In this paper we expand the known families of inert subgroups. We show that the inertia property holds for 1-generator endomorphisms. Equivalently, echelon subgroups in free groups are inert. An echelon subgroup is defined through a set of generators that are in echelon form with respect to some ordered basis of the free group, and may be seen as a generalization of a free factor. For example, the fixed subgroups of automorphisms of fini…
