We prove a combination theorem for trees of (strongly) relatively hyperbolic spaces and finite graphs of (strongly) relatively hyperbolic groups. This gives a geometric extension of Bestvina and Feighn's Combination Theorem for hyperbolic groups and answers a question of Swarup. We also prove a converse to the main Combination Theorem.
We provide a simple, combinatorial criteria for a hierarchically hyperbolic space to be relatively hyperbolic by proving a new formulation of relative hyperbolicity in terms of hierarchy structures. In the case of clean hierarchically hyperbolic groups, this criteria characterizes relative hyperbolicity. We apply our criteria to graphs associated to surfaces and prove that the separating curve graph of a surface is relatively hyperbolic when the surface has zero or two punctures. We also recover a celebrated theorem of Brock and Masur on the relative hyperbolicity of the Weil-Petersson metric …
We introduce the notions of geometric height and graded (geometric) relative hyperbolicity in this paper. We use these to characterize quasiconvexity in hyperbolic groups, relative quasiconvexity in relatively hyperbolic groups, and convex cocompactness in mapping class groups and $Out(F_n)$. Corrigendum: there is an unfortunate mistake in the statement and the proof of Proposition 5.1. This affects one direction of the implications of the main theorem. A correction is given, that states that given a quasi-convex subgroup of a hyperbolic (or relatively hyperbolic) group, the graded relative hy…
We prove that the separating curve graph of a connected, compact, orientable surface with genus at least 3 and a single boundary component is not relatively hyperbolic. This completes the classification of when the separating curve graph is hyperbolic and relatively hyperbolic initiated by previous works of the authors.
The pants graph has proved to be influential in understanding 3-manifolds concretely. This stems from a quasi-isometry between the pants graph and the Teichmüller space with the Weil-Petersson metric. Currently, all estimates on the quasi-isometry constants are dependent on the surface in an undiscovered way. This paper starts effectivising some constants which begins the understanding how relevant constants change based on the surface. We do this by studying the hyperbolicity constant of the pants graph for the five-punctured sphere and the twice punctured torus. The hyperbolicity constant of…
We prove that any graph of multicurves satisfying certain natural properties is either hyperbolic, relatively hyperbolic, or thick. Further, this geometric characterization is determined by the set of subsurfaces that intersect every vertex of the graph. This extends previously established results for the pants graph and the separating curve graph to a broad family of graphs associated to surfaces.
Let G be a group acting geometrically on a CAT(0) cube complex X. We prove first that G is hyperbolic relative to the collection P of subgroups if and only if the simplicial boundary of X is the disjoint union of a nonempty discrete set, together with a pairwise-disjoint collection of subcomplexes corresponding, in the appropriate sense, to elements of P. As a special case of this result is a new proof, in the cubical case, of a Theorem of Hruska--Kleiner regarding Tits boundaries of relatively hyperbolic CAT(0) spaces. Second, we relate the existence of cut-points in asymptotic cones of a cub…
We prove that the automorphism group of every infinitely-ended finitely generated group is acylindrically hyperbolic. In particular $\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{F}_n)$ is acylindrically hyperbolic for every $n\ge 2$. More generally, if $G$ is a group which is not virtually cyclic, and hyperbolic relative to a finite collection $\mathcal{P}$ of finitely generated proper subgroups, then $\mathrm{Aut}(G,\mathcal{P})$ is acylindrically hyperbolic. As a consequence, a free-by-cyclic group $\mathbb{F}_n\rtimes_φ\mathbb{Z}$ is acylindrically hyperbolic if and only if $φ$ has infinite order in $\mathrm{Out}(…
This paper studies the generic behavior of $k$-tuple elements for $k\ge 2$ in a proper group action with contracting elements, with applications towards relatively hyperbolic groups, CAT(0) groups and mapping class groups. For a class of statistically convex-cocompact action, we show that an exponential generic set of $k$ elements for any fixed $k\ge 2$ generates a quasi-isometrically embedded free subgroup of rank $k$. For $k=2$, we study the sprawl property of group actions and establish that the class of statistically convex-cocompact actions is statistically hyperbolic in a sense of M. Duc…
In the framework of homological characterizations of relative hyperbolicity, Groves and Manning posed the question of whether a simply connected $2$-complex $X$ with a linear homological isoperimetric inequality, a bound on the length of attaching maps of $2$-cells and finitely many $2$-cells adjacent to any edge must have a fine $1$-skeleton. We provide a positive answer to this question. We revisit a homological characterization of relative hyperbolicity, and show that a group $G$ is hyperbolic relative to a collection of subgroups $\mathcal P$ if and only if $G$ acts cocompactly with finite…
A remarkable result of Gersten states that the class of hyperbolic groups of cohomological dimension $2$ is closed under taking finitely presented (or more generally $FP_2$) subgroups. We prove the analogous result for relatively hyperbolic groups of Bredon cohomological dimension $2$ with respect to the family of parabolic subgroups. A class of groups where our result applies consists of $C'(1/6)$ small cancellation products. The proof relies on an algebraic approach to relative homological Dehn functions, and a characterization of relative hyperbolicity in the framework of finiteness propert…
Bowditch characterized relative hyperbolicity in terms of group actions on fine hyperbolic graphs with finitely many edge orbits and finite edge stabilizers. In this paper, we define generalized fine actions on hyperbolic graphs, in which the peripheral subgroups are allowed to stabilize finite sub-graphs rather than stabilizing a point. Generalized fine actions are useful for studying groups that act relatively geometrically on a CAT(0) cube complex, which were recently defined by the first two authors. Specifically, we show that a group acting relatively geometrically on a CAT(0) cube comple…
We show the mapping class group, CAT(0) groups, the fundamental groups of closed 3-manifolds, and certain relatively hyperbolic groups have a local-to-global property for Morse quasi-geodesics. This allows us to generalize combination theorems of Gitik for quasiconvex subgroups of hyperbolic groups to the stable subgroups of these groups. In the case of the mapping class group, this gives combination theorems for convex cocompact subgroups. We show a number of additional consequences of this local-to-global property, including a Cartan-Hadamard type theorem for detecting hyperbolicity locally …
Let $G$ be a right-angled Artin group with defining graph $Γ$ and let $H$ be a finitely generated group quasi-isometric to $G(Γ)$. We show if $G$ satisfies (1) its outer automorphism group is finite; (2) $Γ$ does not have induced 4-cycle; (3) $Γ$ is star-rigid; then $H$ is commensurable to $G$. We show condition (2) is sharp in the sense that if $Γ$ contains an induced 4-cycle, then there exists an $H$ quasi-isometric to $G(Γ)$ but not commensurable to $G(Γ)$. Moreover, one can drop condition (1) if $H$ is a uniform lattice acting on the universal cover of the Salvetti complex of $G(Γ)$. As a …
We define analogues of the graphs of free splittings, of cyclic splittings, and of maximally-cyclic splittings of $F_N$ for free products of groups, and show their hyperbolicity. Given a countable group $G$ which splits as $G=G_1\ast\dots\ast G_k\ast F$, where $F$ denotes a finitely generated free group, we identify the Gromov boundary of the graph of relative cyclic splittings with the space of equivalence classes of $\mathcal{Z}$-averse trees in the boundary of the corresponding outer space. A tree is \emph{$\mathcal{Z}$-averse} if it is not compatible with any tree $T'$, that is itself comp…
We prove that a group obtained as a quotient of the free product of finitely many cubulable groups by a finite set of relators satisfying the classical $C'(1/6)$--small cancellation condition is cubulable. This yields a new large class of relatively hyperbolic groups that can be cubulated, and constitutes the first instance of a cubulability theorem for relatively hyperbolic groups which does not require any geometric assumption on the peripheral subgroups besides their cubulability. We do this by constructing appropriate wallspace structures for such groups, by combining walls of the free fac…
In this article, we prove a combination theorem for a complex of relatively hyperbolic groups. It is a generalization of Martin's \cite{martin} work for combination of hyperbolic groups over a finite $M_K$-simplicial complex, where $k\leq 0$.
