For an arrangement with complement X and fundamental group G, we relate the truncated cohomology ring, H^{<=2}(X), to the second nilpotent quotient, G/G_3. We define invariants of G/G_3 by counting normal subgroups of a fixed prime index p, according to their abelianization. We show how to compute this distribution from the resonance varieties of the Orlik-Solomon algebra mod p. As an application, we establish the cohomology classification of 2-arrangements of n<=6 planes in R^4.
We determine the center of a meta-nilpotent quotient of a mapping-torus group. As a corollary, we introduce two invariants, which are quadratic forms, of knots and of mapping classes.
We show that if the lower central series of the fundamental group of a closed oriented $3$-manifold stabilizes then the maximal nilpotent quotient is a cyclic group, a quaternion $2$-group cross an odd order cyclic group, or a Heisenberg group. These groups are well known to be precisely the nilpotent fundamental groups of closed oriented $3$-manifolds.
We focus on the cohomology of the $k$-th nilpotent quotient of the free group, $F/F_k$. This paper describes all the group 2-, 3-cocycles in terms of Massey products, and gives expressions for some of the 3-cocycles. We also give simple proofs of some of the results on Milnor invariants and the Johnson-Morita homomorphisms.
We consider the fundamental group $π$ of a surface of finite type equipped with the infinite generating set consisting of all simple closed curves. We show that every nilpotent quotient of $π$ has finite diameter with respect to the word metric given by this set. This is in contrast with a result of Danny Calegari that shows that $π$ has infinite diameter with respect to this set. Furthermore, we give a general criterion for a finitely generated group equipped with a generating set to have this property.
By using computer assistance, we prove that the fundamental group of the complement of a real complexified line arrangement is not determined by its intersection lattice, providing a counter-example for a problem of Falk and Randell. We also deduce that the torsion of the lower central series quotients is not combinatorially determined, which gives a negative answer to a question of Suciu.
We give effective proofs of residual finiteness and conjugacy separability for finitely generated nilpotent groups. In particular, we give precise asymptotic bounds for a function introduced by Bou-Rabee that measures how large the quotients that are need to separate non-identity elements of bounded length from the identity which improves the work of Bou-Rabee. Similarly, we give polynomial upper and lower bounds for an analogous function introduced by Lawton, Louder, and McReynolds that measures how large the quotients that are need to separate pairs of distinct conjugacy classes of bounded w…
We study the word length entropy of automorphisms of residually nilpotent groups, and how the entropy of such group automorphisms relates to the entropy of induced automorphisms on various nilpotent quotients. We show that much like the structure of a nilpotent group is dictated to a large degree by its abelianization, the entropy of an automorphism of a nilpotent group is dictated by its entropy on the abelianization. We give some applications to the study of pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms of surfaces. In particular, we show that if $ψ$ is a non--homological pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism of a sur…
We present the various constructions of new symplectic $4$-manifolds with non-negative signatures using the complex surfaces on the BMY line $c_1^2 = 9χ_h$, the Cartwright-Steger surfaces, the quotients of Hirzebruch's certain line-arrangement surfaces, along with the exotic symplectic $4$-manifolds constructed in \cite{AP2, AS}. In particular, our constructions yield to (i) an irreducible symplectic and infinitely many non-symplectic $4$-manifolds that are homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to $(2n-1)CP^{2}\#(2n-1)\bar{CP}^{2}$ for each integer $n \geq 9$, (ii) the families of simply connecte…
The ramification of a polyhedral space is defined as the metric completion of the universal cover of its regular locus. We consider mainly polyhedral spaces of two origins: quotients of Euclidean space by a discrete group of isometries and polyhedral metrics on the complex projective plane with singularities at a collection of complex lines. In the former case we conjecture that quotient spaces always have a CAT[0] ramification and prove this in several cases. In the latter case we prove that the ramification is CAT[0] if the metric is non-negatively curved. We deduce that complex line arrange…
A homogeneous nilpotent Lie group has a scaling automorphism determined by a grading of its Lie algebra. Many proofs of upper bounds for the Dehn function of such a group depend on being able to fill curves with discs compatible with this grading; the area of such discs changes predictably under the scaling automorphism. In this paper, we present combinatorial methods for finding such bounds. Using this method, we give new proofs of some results on Dehn functions of nilpotent groups, prove theorems on central powers and certain quotients of nilpotent groups, and construct the first example of …
Let G be a complex reductive linear algebraic group and let K be a maximal compact subgroup of G. Given a nilpotent group Γgenerated by r elements, we consider the representation spaces Hom(Γ,G) and Hom(Γ,K) with the natural topology induced from an embedding into G^r and K^r respectively. The goal of this paper is to prove that there is a strong deformation retraction of Hom(Γ,G) onto Hom(Γ,K). We also obtain a strong deformation retraction of the geometric invariant theory quotient Hom(Γ,G)//G onto Hom(Γ,K)/K.
Church-Ellenberg-Farb used the language of FI-modules to prove that the cohomology of certain sequences of hyperplane arrangements with S_n-actions satisfies representation stability. Here we lift their results to the level of the arrangements themselves, and define when a collection of arrangements is "finitely generated". Using this notion we greatly widen the stability results to: 1) General linear subspace arrangements, not necessarily of hyperplanes. 2) A wide class of group actions, replacing FI by a general category C. We show that the cohomology of such collections of arrangements sati…
We construct bundles $E_k(\A,\F) \to M$ over the complement $M$ of a complex hyperplane arrangement \A, depending on an integer $k \geq 1$ and a set $\F=\{f_1, \ldots, f_μ\}$ of continuous functions $f_i \colon M \to \C$ whose differences are nonzero on $M$, generalizing the configuration space bundles arising in the Lawrence-Krammer-Bigelow representation of the pure braid group. We display such families \F\ for rank two arrangements, reflection arrangements of types $A_\ell$, $B_\ell$, $D_\ell$, $F_4$, and for arrangements supporting multinet structures with three classes, with the resulting…
For a real oriented hyperplane arrangement, we show that the corresponding Salvetti complex is homotopy equivalent to the complement of the complexified arrangement. This result was originally proved by M. Salvetti. Our proof follows the framework of a proof given by L. Paris and relies heavily on the notation of oriented matroids. We also show that homotopy equivalence is preserved when we quotient by the action of the corresponding reflection group. In particular, the Salvetti complex of the braid arrangement in $\ell$ dimensions modulo the action of the symmetric group is a cell complex whi…
