Rotation numbers in Thompson–Stein groups and applications

We study the rationality properties of rotation numbers for some groups of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the circle, the Thompson–Stein groups. We prove that for many Thompson–Stein groups the outer automorphism group has order 2. As another application, we construct Thompson–Stein groups which do not admit non trivial representations in Diff⁹(S ¹).      

Automorphisms of Hyperbolic Groups and Graphs of Groups

Using the canonical JSJ splitting, we describe the outer automorphism group Out(G) of a one-ended word hyperbolic group G. In particular, we discuss to what extent Out(G) is virtually a direct product of mapping class groups and a free abelian group, and we determine for which groups Out(G) is infinite. We also show that there are only finitely many conjugacy classes of torsion elements in Out(G), for G any torsion-free hyperbolic group. More generally, let Γ be a finite graph of groups decomposition of an arbitrary group G such that edge groups G_e are rigid (i.e. Out(G_e) is finite). We describe the group of automorphisms of G preserving Γ, by comparing it to direct products of suitably defined mapping class groups of vertex groups.     

Finitely presentable, non-Hopfian groups with Kazhdan's Property (T) and infinite outer automorphism group

We give simple examples of Kazhdan groups with infinite outer automorphism groups. This answers a question of Paulin, independently answered by Ollivier and Wise by completely different methods. As arithmetic lattices in (non-semisimple) Lie groups, our examples are in addition finitely presented.

We also use results of Abels about compact presentability of -adic groups to exhibit a finitely presented non-Hopfian Kazhdan group. This answers a question of Ollivier and Wise.

     

An algorithmic construction of group automorphisms and the quantum Yang-Baxter equation

The structure group G of a non-degenerate symmetric set (X,S) is a Bieberbach and a Garside group. We describe a combinatorial method to compute explicitly a group of automorphisms of G and show this group admits a subgroup that preserves the Garside structure. In some special cases, we could also prove the group of automorphisms found is an outer automorphism group.     

On the Residual Finiteness of Outer Automorphisms of Hyperbolic Groups

We show that every virtually torsion-free subgroup of the outer automorphism group of a conjugacy separable hyperbolic group is residually finite. As a result, we are able to prove that the group of outer automorphisms of every finitely generated Fuchsian group and of every free-by-finite group is residually finite.     

Isomorphisms of adjoint Chevalley groups over integral domains

It is shown that every automorphism of an adjoint Chevalley group over an integral domain containing the rational number field is uniquely expressible as the product of a ring automorphism, a graph automorphism and an inner automorphism while every isomorphism between simple adjoint Chevalley groups can be expressed uniquely as the product of a ring isomorphism, a graph isomorphism and an inner automorphism. The isomorphisms between the elementary subgroups are also found having analogous expressions.

     

Strong rigidity of generalized Bernoulli actions and computations of their symmetry groups

We study equivalence relations and II₁ factors associated with (quotients of) generalized Bernoulli actions of Kazhdan groups. Specific families of these actions are entirely classified up to isomorphism of II₁ factors. This yields explicit computations of outer automorphism and fundamental groups. In particular, every finitely presented group is concretely realized as the outer automorphism group of a continuous family of non stably isomorphic II₁ factors.     

Residual finiteness of outer automorphism groups of certain 1-relator groups

We prove that certain 1-relator groups have Property E. Using this fact, we characterize all conjugacy separable 1-relator groups of the form a,b;(a-αbβaαbγ)t , t 1, having residually finite outer automorphism groups.     

Geometry for palindromic automorphism groups of free groups

We examine the palindromic automorphism group , of a free group F _n , a group first defined by Collins in [5] which is related to hyperelliptic involutions of mapping class groups, congruence subgroups of , and symmetric automorphism groups of free groups. Cohomological properties of the group are explored by looking at a contractible space on which acts properly with finite quotient. Our results answer some conjectures of Collins and provide a few striking results about the cohomology of , such as that its rational cohomology is zero at the vcd. Received: January 17, 2000.     

Compact quantum group actions on C*-algebras and invariant derivations

We define the notion of invariant derivation of a C*-algebra under a compact quantum group action and prove that in certain conditions, such derivations are generators of one parameter automorphism groups.

     

Quantum automorphism groups of finite graphs

A quantum analogue of the automorphism group of a finite graph is introduced. These are quantum subgroups of the quantum permutation groups defined by Wang. The quantum automorphism group is a stronger invariant for finite graphs than the usual automorphism group. We get a quantum dihedral group .

     

A Galois correspondence for countable short recursively saturated models of PA

In this paper we investigate the properties of automorphism groups of countable short recursively saturated models of arithmetic. In particular, we show that Kaye's Theorem concerning the closed normal subgroups of automorphism groups of countable recursively saturated models of arithmetic applies to automorphism groups of countable short recursively saturated models as well. That is, the closed normal subgroups of the automorphism group of a countable short recursively saturated model of PA are exactly the stabilizers of the invariant cuts of the model which are closed under exponentiation. This Galois correspondence is used to show that there are countable short recursively saturated models of arithmetic whose automorphism groups are not isomorphic as topological groups. Moreover, we show that the automorphism groups of countable short arithmetically saturated models of PA are not topologically isomorphic to the automorphism groups of countable short recursively saturated models of PA which are not short arithmetically saturated (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Gaussian Groups and Garside Groups, Two Generalisations of Artin Groups

It is known that a number of algebraic properties of the braidgroups extend to arbitrary finite Coxeter-type Artin groups.Here we show how to extend the results to more general groupsthat we call Garside groups. Define a Gaussian monoid to be a finitely generated cancellativemonoid where the expressions of a given element have boundedlengths, and where left and right lowest common multiples exist.A Garside monoid is a Gaussian monoid in which the left andright lowest common multiples satisfy an additional symmetrycondition. A Gaussian group is the group of fractions of a Gaussianmonoid, and a Garside group is the group of fractions of a Garsidemonoid. Braid groups and, more generally, finite Coxeter-typeArtin groups are Garside groups. We determine algorithmic criteriain terms of presentations for recognizing Gaussian and Garsidemonoids and groups, and exhibit infinite families of such groups.We describe simple algorithms that solve the word problem ina Gaussian group, show that these algorithms have a quadraticcomplexity if the group is a Garside group, and prove that Garsidegroups have quadratic isoperimetric inequalities. We constructnormal forms for Gaussian groups, and prove that, in the caseof a Garside group, the language of normal forms is regular,symmetric, and geodesic, has the 5-fellow traveller property,and has the uniqueness property. This shows in particular thatGarside groups are geodesically fully biautomatic. Finally,we consider an automorphism of a finite Coxeter-type Artin groupderived from an automorphism of its defining Coxeter graph,and prove that the subgroup of elements fixed by this automorphismis also a finite Coxeter-type Artin group that can be explicitlydetermined. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: primary20F05, 20F36; secondary 20B40, 20M05.     

Word length in surface groups with characteristic generating sets

A subset of a group is characteristic if it is invariant under every automorphism of the group. We study word length in fundamental groups of closed hyperbolic surfaces with respect to characteristic generating sets consisting of a finite union of orbits of the automorphism group, and show that the translation length of any element with a nonzero crossing number is positive, and bounded below by a constant depending only (and explicitly) on a bound on the crossing numbers of generating elements. This answers a question of Benson Farb.

     

Automorphism groups of polycyclic-by-finite groups and arithmetic groups

We show that the outer automorphism group of a polycyclic-by-finite group is an arithmetic group. This result follows from a detailed structural analysis of the automorphism groups of such groups. We use an extended version of the theory of the algebraic hull functor initiated by Mostow. We thus make applicable refined methods from the theory of algebraic and arithmetic groups. We also construct examples of polycyclic-by-finite groups which have an automorphism group which does not contain an arithmetic group of finite index. Finally we discuss applications of our results to the groups of homotopy self-equivalences of K(Γ,1)-spaces and obtain an extension of arithmeticity results of Sullivan in rational homotopy theory.     

Counting Overlattices in Automorphism Groups of Trees

We give an upper bound for the number u _Γ(n) of “overlattices” in the automorphism group of a tree, containing a fixed lattice Γ with index n. For an example of Γ in the automorphism group of a 2p-regular tree whose quotient is a loop, we obtain a lower bound of the asymptotic behavior as well.     

On the Direct Indecomposability of Infinite Irreducible Coxeter Groups and the Isomorphism Problem of Coxeter Groups

In this article, we prove that any irreducible Coxeter group of infinite order, which is possibly of infinite rank, is directly indecomposable as an abstract group. The key ingredient of the proof is that we can determine, for an irreducible Coxeter group W, the centralizers in W of the normal subgroups of W that are generated by involu-tions. As a consequence, the problem of deciding whether two general Coxeter groups are isomorphic is reduced to the case of irreducible ones. We also describe the automorphism group of a general Coxeter group in terms of those of its irreducible components.     

Groups that are Almost Homogeneous

We classify those groups whose automorphism group has at most three orbits. In other words, we classify those groups whose holomorph is a rank 3 permutation group.     

Twisted Conjugacy Classes for Polyfree Groups

Let G be a finitely generated polyfree group. If G has nonzero Euler characteristic then we show that Aut(G) has a finite index subgroup in which every automorphism has infinite Reidemeister number. For certain G of length 2, we show that the number of Reidemeister classes of every automorphism is infinite.     

Rigidity of Branch Groups Acting on Rooted Trees

Automorphisms of groups acting faithfully on rooted trees are studied. We find conditions under which every automorphism of such a group is induced by a conjugation from the full automorphism group of the rooted tree. These results are applied to known examples such as Grigorchuk groups, Gupta–Sidki group, etc.