We survey recent results about asymptotic functions of groups, obtained by the authors in collaboration with J.-C.Birget, V. Guba and E. Rips. We also discuss methods used in the proofs of these results.
We prove that every countable left-ordered group embeds into a finitely generated left-ordered simple group. Moreover, if the first group has a computable left-order, then the simple group also has a computable left-order. We also obtain a Boone-Higman-Thompson type theorem for left-orderable groups with recursively enumerable positive cones. These embeddings are Frattini embeddings, and isometric whenever the initial group is finitely generated. Finally, we reprove Thompson's theorem on word problem preserving embeddings into finitely generated simple groups and observe that the embedding is …
We build a faithful action of Higman's group on the line by homeomorphisms, answering a question of Yves de Cornulier. As a by-product we obtain many quasimorphisms from the Higman group into the reals. We also show that every action by $C^1$-diffeomorphisms of Higman's group on the line or the circle is trivial.
We establish quasi-isometric rigidity for a class of right-angled Coxeter groups. Let $Γ_1,Γ_2$ be joins of finite generalized thick $m$-gons with $m\geq 3$. We show that the corresponding right-angled Coxeter groups are quasi-isometric if and only if $Γ_1,Γ_2$ are isomorphic. We also give a construction of commensurable right-angled Coxeter groups.
We construct examples of groups showing that virtual solvability and the property of being virtually torsion-free are not preserved by bi-Lipschitz maps and hence by quasi-isometries.
The main goal of this note is to suggest an algebraic approach to the quasi-isometric classification of partially commutative groups (alias right-angled Artin groups). More precisely, we conjecture that if the partially commutative groups $\mathbb{G}(Δ)$ and $\mathbb{G}(Γ)$ are quasi-isometric, then $\mathbb{G}(Δ)$ is a (nice) subgroup of $\mathbb{G}(Γ)$ and vice-versa. We show that the conjecture holds for all known cases of quasi-isometric classification of partially commutative groups, namely for the classes of $n$-tress and atomic graphs. As in the classical Mostow rigidity theory for irre…
We show that non-abelian two-generator subgroups of right-angled Artin groups are quasi-isometrically embedded free groups. This provides an alternate proof of a theorem of A. Baudisch: that all two-generator subgroups are free or free abelian. Additionally, it shows that they are quasi-isometrically embedded. Our theorem also gives a method for detecting groups that are not isomorphic to a subgroup of any RAAG. We present some counterexamples in subgroups with more than two generators.
In this note we explain how Day's fixed point theorem can be used to conjugate certain groups of biLipschitz maps of a metric space into special subgroups like similarity groups. In particular, we use Day's theorem to establish Tukia-type theorems and to give new proofs of quasi-isometric rigidity results.
The goal of this paper is to construct quasi-isometrically embedded subgroups of Thompson's group $F$ which are isomorphic to $\fz^n$ for all $n$. A result estimating the norm of an element of Thompson's group is found. As a corollary, Thompson's group is seen to be an example of a finitely presented group which has an infinite-dimensional asymptotic cone.
Let $Δ$ be a cocompact lattice in $\mathsf{Sp}(m,1)$, $m \geq 2$, or $F_{4}^{(-20)}$. We exhibit examples of finitely generated subgroups of $Δ\times Δ$ with positive first Betti number all of whose discrete faithful representations into any real semisimple Lie group are quasi-isometric embeddings. The examples of this paper are inspired by the counterexamples of Bass-Lubotzky [BL00] to Platonov's conjecture.
We show that the continuous $L^p$-cohomology of locally compact second countable groups is a quasi-isometric invariant. As an application, we prove partial results supporting a positive answer to a question asked by M.~Gromov, suggesting a classical behaviour of continuous $L^p$-cohomology of simple real Lie groups. In addition to quasi-isometric invariance, the ingredients are a spectral sequence argument and Pansu's vanishing results for real hyperbolic spaces. In the best adapted cases of simple Lie groups, we obtain nearly half of the relevant vanishings.
Brown has defined the generalised Thompson's group $F_n$, $T_n$, where $n$ is an integer at least $2$ and Thompson's groups $F= F_2$ and $T =T_2$ in the 80's. Burillo, Cleary and Stein have found that there is a quasi-isometric embedding from $F_n$ to $F_m$ where $n$ and $m$ are positive integers at least 2. We show that there is a quasi-isometric embedding from $T_n$ to $T_2$ for any $n \geq 2$ and no embeddings from $T_2$ to $T_n$ for $n \geq 3$.
We describe the kernel of the canonical map from the Floyd boundary of a relatively hyperbolic group to its Bowditch boundary. Using our methods we then prove that a finitely generated group $H$ admitting a quasi-isometric map $ϕ$ into a relatively hyperbolic group $G$ is relatively hyperbolic with respect to a system of subgroups whose image under $ϕ$ is situated in a uniformly bounded distance from the parabolic subgroups of $G$.
We say that a subset $X$ quasi-isometrically boundedly generates a finitely generated group $Γ$ if each element $γ$ of a finite-index subgroup of $Γ$ can be written as a product $γ= x_1 x_2 \cdots x_r$ of a bounded number of elements of $X$, such that the word length of each $x_i$ is bounded by a constant times the word length of $γ$. A. Lubotzky, S. Mozes, and M.S. Raghunathan observed in 1993 that ${\rm SL}(n,{\mathbb Z})$ is quasi-isometrically boundedly generated by the elements of its natural ${\rm SL}(2,{\mathbb Z})$ subgroups. We generalize (a slightly weakened version of) this by showi…
Let $G$ be a non-compact semisimple Lie group with finite centre and finitely many components. We show that any finitely generated group $Γ$ which is quasi-isometric to an irreducible lattice in $G$ has the $R_\infty$-property, namely, that there are infinitely $ϕ$-twisted conjugacy classes for every automorphism $ϕ$ of $Γ$. Also, we show that any lattice in $G$ has the $R_\infty$-property, extending our earlier result for irreducible lattices.
We use geometric techniques to investigate several examples of quasi-isometrically embedded subgroups of Thompson's group F. Many of these are explored using the metric properties of the shift map phi in F. These subgroups have simple geometric but complicated algebraic descriptions. We present them to illustrate the intricate geometry of Thompson's group F as well as the interplay between its standard finite and infinite presentations. These subgroups include those of the form F^m cross Z^n, for integral non-negative m and n, which were shown to occur as quasi-isometrically embedded subgroups…
We study the quasi-isometric rigidity of a large family of finitely generated groups that split as graphs of groups with virtually free vertex groups and two-ended edge groups. Let $G$ be a group that is one-ended, hyperbolic relative to virtually abelian subgroups, and has JSJ decomposition over two-ended subgroups containing only virtually free vertex groups that aren't quadratically hanging. Our main result is that any group quasi-isometric to $G$ is abstractly commensurable to $G$. In particular, our result applies to certain "generic" HNN extensions of a free group over cyclic subgroups.
We show that every group $H$ of at most exponential growth with respect to some left invariant metric admits a bi-Lipschitz embedding into a finitely generated group $G$ such that $G$ is amenable (respectively, solvable, satisfies a non-trivial identity, elementary amenable, of finite decomposition complexity, etc.) whenever $H$ is. We also discuss some applications to compression functions of Lipschitz embeddings into uniformly convex Banach spaces, Følner functions, and elementary classes of amenable groups.
A subgroup $H\leq G$ is said to be almost normal if every conjugate of $H$ is commensurable to $H$. If $H$ is almost normal, there is a well-defined quotient space $G/H$. We show that if a group $G$ has type $F_{n+1}$ and contains an almost normal coarse $PD_n$ subgroup $H$ with $e(G/H)=\infty$, then whenever $G'$ is quasi-isometric to $G$, it contains an almost normal subgroup $H'$ that is quasi-isometric to $H$. Moreover, the quotient spaces $G/H$ and $G'/H'$ are quasi-isometric. This generalises a theorem of Mosher-Sageev-Whyte, who prove the case in which $G/H$ is quasi-isometric to a fini…
We say that a finitely generated group $G$ has property (QT) if it acts isometrically on a finite product of quasi-trees so that orbit maps are quasi-isometric embeddings. A quasi-tree is a connected graph with path metric quasi-isometric to a tree, and product spaces are equipped with the $\ell^1$-metric. As an application of the projection complex techniques, we prove that residually finite hyperbolic groups and mapping class groups have (QT).
We develop a battery of tools for studying quasi-isometric rigidity and classification problems for splittings of groups. The techniques work best for finite graphs of groups where all edge and vertex groups are coarse PD groups. For example, if Gamma is a graph of coarse PD(n) groups for a fixed n, if the Bass-Serre tree of Gamma has infinitely many ends, and if H is a finitely generated group quasi-isometric to pi_1(Gamma), then we prove that H is the fundamental group of a graph of coarse PD(n) groups, with vertex and edge groups quasi-isometric to those of Gamma. We also have quasi-isometr…
The main result of this article is that any braided (resp. annular, planar) diagram group $D$ splits as a short exact sequence $1 \to R \to D \to S \to 1$ where $R$ is a subgroup of some right-angled Artin group and $S$ a subgroup of Thompson's group $V$ (resp. $T$, $F$). As an application, we show that several braided diagram groups embeds into Thompson's group $V$, including Higman's groups $V_{n,r}$, groups of quasi-automorphisms $QV_{n,r,p}$, and generalised Houghton's groups $H_{n,p}$.
In this article we provide evidence for a well-known conjecture which states that quasi-isometric simply-connected nilpotent Lie groups are isomorphic. We do so by constructing new examples which are rigid in the sense that whenever they are quasi-isometric to any other simply-connected nilpotent Lie group, the groups are actually isomorphic.
We prove that if $G$ is a non-uniform lattice in a rank-one semi-simple Lie group $\ne Isom(\H^2_\R)$ then $G$ is quasi-isometrically co-Hopf. This means that every quasi-isometric embedding $G\to G$ is coarsely onto and thus is a quasi-isometry.
We describe the quasi-isometric classification of fundamental groups of irreducible non-geometric 3-manifolds which do not have "too many" arithmetic hyperbolic geometric components, thus completing the quasi-isometric classification of 3--manifold groups in all but a few exceptional cases.
We prove that PSL(2,Z[1/p]) gives the first example of groups which are not quasi-isometric to each other but have the same quasi-isometry group. Namely, PSL(2,Z[1/p]) and PSL(2,Z[1/q]) are not quasi-isometric unless p=q, and, independent of p, the quasi-isometry group of PSL(2,Z[1/p]) is PSL(2,Q). In addition, we characterize PSL(2,Z[1/p]) uniquely among all finitely generated groups by its quasi-isometry type.
Let $G$ and $G'$ be two right-angled Artin groups (RAAG). We show they are quasi-isometric iff they are isomorphic, under the assumption that $Out(G)$ and $Out(G')$ are finite. If only $Out(G)$ is finite, then $G'$ is quasi-isometric $G$ iff $G'$ is isomorphic to a finite index subgroup of $G$. In this case, we give an algorithm to determine whether $G$ and $G'$ are quasi-isometric by looking at their defining graphs.
We define and develop the notion of a discretisable quasi-action. It is shown that a cobounded quasi-action on a proper non-elementary hyperbolic space $X$ not fixing a point of $\partial X$ is quasi-conjugate to an isometric action on either a rank one symmetric space or a locally finite graph. Topological completions of quasi-actions are also introduced. Discretisable quasi-actions are used to give several instances where commensurated subgroups are preserved by quasi-isometries. For example, the class of $\mathbb{Z}$-by-hyperbolic groups is shown to be quasi-isometrically rigid. We characte…
We show that certain lamplighter groups that are quasi-isometric to each other are not bilipschitz equivalent. This gives a positive answer to a question in Topics in Geometric Group Theory by Pierre de la Harpe (page 107).
We characterize groups quasi-isometric to a right-angled Artin group $G$ with finite outer automorphism group. In particular all such groups admit a geometric action on a $CAT(0)$ cube complex that has an equivariant "fibering" over the Davis building of $G$.
Let BS(1,n)= < a,b: aba^{-1}=b^n >. We prove that any finitely-generated group quasi-isometric to BS(1,n) is (up to finite groups) isomorphic to BS(1,n). We also show that any uniform group of quasisimilarities of the real line is bilipschitz conjugate to an affine group.
We construct examples of quasi-isometric embeddings of word hyperbolic groups into $\mathsf{SL}(d,\mathbb{R})$ for $d \geqslant 5$ which are not limits of Anosov representations into $\mathsf{SL}(d,\mathbb{R})$. As a consequence, we conclude that an analogue of the density theorem for $\mathsf{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ does not hold for $\mathsf{SL}(d,\mathbb{R})$ when $d \geqslant 5$.
We study quasi-isometric embeddings of symmetric spaces and non-uniform irreducible lattices in semisimple higher rank Lie groups. We show that any quasi-isometric embedding between symmetric spaces of the same rank can be decomposed into a product of quasi-isometric embeddings into irreducible symmetric spaces. We thus extend earlier rigidity results about quasi-isometric embeddings to the setting of semisimple Lie groups. We also present some examples when the rigidity does not hold, including first examples in which every flat is mapped into multiple flats.
We show that a large class of right-angled Artin groups (in particular, those with planar complementary defining graph) can be embedded quasi-isometrically in pure braid groups and in the group of area preserving diffeomorphisms of the disk fixing the boundary (with respect to the $L^2$-norm metric); this extends results of Benaim and Gambaudo who gave quasi-isometric embeddings of $F\_n$ and $\Z^n$ for all $n>0$. As a consequence we are also able to embed a variety of Gromov hyperbolic groups quasi-isometrically in pure braid groups and in the diffeomorphism group of the disk. Examples includ…
We show that the fundamental groups of any two closed irreducible non-geometric graph-manifolds are quasi-isometric. This answers a question of Kapovich and Leeb. We also classify the quasi-isometry types of fundamental groups of graph-manifolds with boundary in terms of certain finite two-colored graphs. A corollary is the quasi-isometry classification of Artin groups whose presentation graphs are trees. In particular any two right-angled Artin groups whose presentation graphs are trees of diameter at least 3 are quasi-isometric, answering a question of Bestvina; further, this quasi-isometry …
In the spirit of peripheral subgroups in relatively hyperbolic groups, we exhibit a simple class of quasi-isometrically rigid subgroups in graph products of finite groups, which we call eccentric subgroups. As an application, we prove that, if two right-angled Coxeter groups $C(Γ_1)$ and $C(Γ_2)$ are quasi-isometric, then for any minsquare subgraph $Λ_1 \leq Γ_1$ there exists a minsquare subgraph $Λ_2 \leq Γ_2$ such that the right-angled Coxeter groups $C(Λ_1)$ and $C(Λ_2)$ are quasi-isometric as well. Various examples of non-quasi-isometric groups are deduced. Our arguments are based on a stu…
Two groups are virtually isomorphic if they can be obtained one from the other via a finite number of steps, where each step consists in taking a finite extension or a finite index subgroup (or viceversa). Virtually isomorphic groups are always quasi-isometric, and a group G is quasi-isometrically rigid if every group quasi-isometric to G is virtually isomorphic to G. In this survey we describe quasi-isometric rigidity results for fundamental groups of manifolds which can be decomposed into geometric pieces. After stating by now classical results on lattices in semisimple Lie groups, we focus …
In these lecture notes, we combine recent homological methods of Kevin Whyte with older dynamical methods developed by Benson Farb and myself, to obtain a new quasi-isometric rigidity theorem for the mapping class group MCG(S) of a once punctured surface S of genus at least 2: if K is a finitely generated group quasi-isometric to MCG(S) then there is a homomorphism K -> MCG(S) with finite kernel and finite index image. This theorem is joint with Kevin Whyte.
We use basic tools of descriptive set theory to prove that a closed set $\mathcal S$ of marked groups has $2^{\aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes provided every non-empty open subset of $\mathcal S$ contains at least two non-quasi-isometric groups. It follows that every perfect set of marked groups having a dense subset of finitely presented groups contains $2^{\aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes. These results account for most known constructions of continuous families of non-quasi-isometric finitely generated groups. They can also be used to prove the existence of $2^{\aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry c…
We describe a family of finitely presented groups which are quasi-isometric but not bilipschitz equivalent. The first such examples were described by the first author and are the lamplighter groups $F \wr \mathbb{Z}$ where $F$ is a finite group; these groups are finitely generated but not finitely presented. The examples presented in this paper are higher rank generalizations of these lamplighter groups and include groups that are of type $F_n$ for any $n$.
Let S be an oriented surface of finite type of genus g with m punctures and where 3g-3+m>1. We show that the mapping class group M(S) of S is quasi-isometrically rigid. We also give a different proof of the following result of Behrstock and Minsky: The homological dimension of the asmyptotic cone of M(S) of S equals 3g-3+m.
Let $G$ and $G'$ be simple Lie groups of equal real rank and real rank at least $2$. Let $Γ<G$ and $Λ< G'$ be non-uniform lattices. We prove a theorem that often implies that any quasi-isometric embedding of $Γ$ into $Λ$ is at bounded distance from a homomorphism. For example, any quasi-isometric embedding of $SL(n,\mathbb Z)$ into $SL(n, \mathbb Z[i])$ is at bounded distance from a homomorphism. We also include a discussion of some cases when this result is not true for what turn out to be purely algebraic reasons.
We construct quasi-isometric embeddings from right-angled Artin groups into the outer automorphism group of a free group. These homomorphisms are in analogy with those constructed in \cite{CLM}, where the target group is the mapping class group of a surface. Toward this goal, we develop tools in the free group setting that mirror those for surface groups as well as discuss various analogs of subsurface projection; these may be of independent interest.
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.