We construct 2-dimensional CAT(-1) groups which contain free subgroups with arbitrary iterated exponential distortion, and with distortion higher than any iterated exponential.
In this paper, we compute the subgroup distortion of all finitely generated subgroups of all finitely generated 3-manifold groups, and the subgroup distortion in this case can only be linear, quadratic, exponential and double exponential. It turns out that the subgroup distortion of a subgroup of a 3-manifold group is closely related to the separability of this subgroup.
We prove that various subgroups of the mapping class group $Mod(Σ)$ of a surface $Σ$ are at least exponentially distorted. Examples include the Torelli group (answering a question of Hamenstadt), the "point-pushing" and surface braid subgroups, and the Lagrangian subgroup. Our techniques include a method to compute lower bounds on distortion via representation theory and an extension of Johnson theory to arbitrary subgroups of $H_1(Σ;\mathbb{Z})$.
We examine distortion of finitely generated normal subgroups. We show a connection between subgroup distortion and group divergence. We suggest a method computing the distortion of normal subgroups by decomposing the whole group into smaller subgroups. We apply our work to compute the distortion of normal subgroups of graph of groups and normal subgroups of right-angled Artin groups that induce infinite cyclic quotient groups. We construct normal subgroups of $\CAT(0)$ groups introduced by Macura and introduce a collection of normal subgroups of right-angled Artin groups. These groups provide …
In this paper we propose cryptosystems based on subgroup distortion in hyperbolic groups. We also include concrete examples of hyperbolic groups as possible platforms.
There is a family of hyperbolic groups known as hyperbolic hydra which contain heavily distorted free subgroups. We prove the existence of Cannon--Thurston maps (that is, maps of the boundaries induced by subgroup inclusion) for these free subgroups. It is known that Cannon--Thurston maps between hyperbolic space boundaries can exist even in the presence of arbitrarily heavy (even non-recursive) distortion. The hyperbolic hydra examples show that Cannon--Thurston maps can exist even between hyperbolic group boundaries in the presence of arbitrarily heavy primitive recursive distortion.
We prove that abelian subgroups of the outer automorphism group of a free group are quasi-isometrically embedded. Our proof uses recent developments in the theory of train track maps by Feighn-Handel. As an application, we prove the rank conjecture for $\mathrm{Out}(F_n)$.
We show the connection between the relative Dehn function of a finitely generated metabelian group and the distortion function of a corresponding subgroup in the wreath product of two free abelian groups of finite rank. Further, we show that if a finitely generated metabelian group $G$ is an extension of an abelian group by $\mathbb Z$ the relative Dehn function of $G$ is polynomially bounded. Therefore, if $G$ is finitely presented, the Dehn function is bounded above by the exponential function up to equivalence.
We provide polynomial lower bounds for residual finiteness of residually finite, finitely generated solvable groups that admit infinite order elements in the Fitting subgroup of strict distortion at least exponential. For this class of solvable groups which include polycyclic groups with a nontrivial exponential radical and the metabelian Baumslag-Solitar groups, we improve the lower bounds found in the literature. Additionally, for the class of residually finite, finitely generated solvable groups of infinite Prüfer rank that satisfy the conditions of our theorem, we provide the first nontriv…
Mahan Mitra (Mj) proved Cannon--Thurston maps exist for normal hyperbolic subgroups of a hyperbolic group. We prove that Cannon--Thurston maps do not exist for infinite normal hyperbolic subgroups of non-hyperbolic CAT(0) groups with isolated flats with respect to the visual boundaries. We also show Cannon--Thurston maps do not exist for infinite infinite-index normal CAT(0) subgroups with isolated flats in non-hyperbolic CAT(0) groups with isolated flats. We obtain a structure theorem for the normal subgroups in these settings and show that outer automorphism groups of hyperbolic groups have …
In this paper we study distortion of various well-known embeddings of finitely generated torsion-free nilpotent groups $G$ into unitriangular groups $UT_n(\mathbb{Z})$. We also provide a polynomial time algorithm for finding distortion of a given subgroup of $G$
We construct 4-dimensional CAT(0) groups containing finitely presented subgroups whose Dehn functions are $\exp^{(n)}(x^m)$ for integers $n, m \geq 1$ and 6-dimensional CAT(0) groups containing finitely presented subgroups whose Dehn functions are $\exp^{(n)}(x^α)$ for integers $n \geq 1$ and $α$ dense in $[1,\infty)$. This significantly expands the known geometric behavior of subgroups of CAT(0) groups.
We construct CAT(0) groups containing subgroups whose Dehn functions are given by $x^s$, for a dense set of numbers $s \in [2, \infty)$. This significantly expands the known geometric behavior of subgroups of CAT(0) groups.
We describe a higher dimensional analogue of the Stallings folding sequence for group actions on CAT(0) cube complexes. We use it to give a characterization of quasiconvex subgroups of hyperbolic groups which act properly co-compactly on CAT(0) cube complexes via finiteness properties of their hyperplane stabilizers.
In a seminal paper, Stallings introduced folding of morphisms of graphs. One consequence of folding is the representation of finitely-generated subgroups of a finite-rank free group as immersions of finite graphs. Stallings's methods allow one to construct this representation algorithmically, giving effective, algorithmic answers and proofs to classical questions about subgroups of free groups. Recently Dani--Levcovitz used Stallings-like methods to study subgroups of right-angled Coxeter groups, which act geometrically on CAT(0) cube complexes. In this paper we extend their techniques to fund…
In this article, we study the smooth mapping class group of a surface S relative to a given Cantor set, that is the group of isotopy classes of orientation-preserving smooth diffeomorphisms of S which preserve this Cantor set. When the Cantor set is the standard ternary Cantor set, we prove that the subgroup consisting of diffeomorphisms which are isotopic to the identity on S does not contain any distorted elements. Moreover, we prove a weak Tits alternative for these groups.
We study the structure of the commensurator of a virtually abelian subgroup $H$ in $G$, where $G$ acts properly on a $\mathrm{CAT}(0)$ space $X$. When $X$ is a Hadamard manifold and $H$ is semisimple, we show that the commensurator of $H$ coincides with the normalizer of a finite index subgroup of $H$. When $X$ is a $\mathrm{CAT}(0)$ cube complex or a thick Euclidean building and the action of $G$ is cellular, we show that the commensurator of $H$ is an ascending union of normalizers of finite index subgroups of $H$. We explore several special cases where the results can be strengthened and we…
In this article, we state and prove a general criterion which prevents some groups from acting properly on finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complexes. As an application, we show that, for every non-trivial finite group $F$, the lamplighter group $F \wr \mathbb{F}_2$ over a free group does not act properly on a finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex (although it acts properly on a infinite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex). We also deduce from this general criterion that, roughly speaking, given a group $G$ acting on a CAT(0) cube complex of finite dimension and an infinite torsion subgroup $L \le…
We construct families of $CAT(0)$ groups containing finitely presented groups whose divergence functions are of the form $r^α$ for a dense set of exponents $α\in [2,\infty)$ and $r^q\log(r)$ for integers $q \geq 2$. The same construction also yields examples of $CAT(0)$ groups containing contracting elements which are not contracting in certain finitely presented subgroups.
We compute the relative divergence and the subgroup distortion of Bestvina-Brady subgroups. We also show that for each integer $n\geq 3$, there is a free subgroup of rank $n$ of some right-angled Artin group whose inclusion is not a quasi-isometric embedding. This result answers the question of Carr about the minimum rank $n$ such that some right-angled Artin group has a free subgroup of rank $n$ whose inclusion is not a quasi-isometric embedding. It is well-known that a right-angled Artin group $A_Γ$ is the fundamental group of a graph manifold whenever the defining graph $Γ$ is a tree. We sh…
We construct new examples of CAT(0) groups containing non finitely presented subgroups that are of type $FP_2$, these CAT(0) groups do not contain copies of $\mathbb{Z}^3$. We also give a construction of groups which are of type $F_n$ but not $F_{n+1}$ with no free abelian subgroups of rank greater than $\lceil\frac{n}{3}\rceil$.
In this paper, we study distortion in the group $\mathcal A$ of Affine Interval Exchange Transformations (AIET). We prove that any distorted element $f$ of $\mathcal A$, has an iterate $f^ k$ that is conjugate by an element of $\mathcal A$ to a product of infinite order restricted rotations, with pairwise disjoint supports. As consequences we prove that no Baumslag-Solitar group, $BS(m,n)$ with $\vert m \vert \neq \vert n \vert$, acts faithfully by elements of $\mathcal A$, every finitely generated nilpotent group of $\mathcal A$ is virtually abelian and there is no distortion element in $\mat…
The main result of this paper is that the categories of (right) hypergroups over the group and of triples, consisting of a group, its subgroup and a (right) transversal to this subgroup, are equivalent.
The question which motivates the article is the following: given a group acting on a CAT(0) cube complex, how can we prove that it is acylindrically hyperbolic? Keeping this goal in mind, we show a weak acylindricity of the action on the contact graph associated to a CAT(0) cube complex, and we prove a characterisation of WPD contracting isometries of CAT(0) cube complexes. As a first consequence, we find alternative arguments to show several criteria which were proved by Indira Chatterji and Alexandre Martin. Next, we show that if a group acts essentially and acylindrically on the hyperplanes…