Tame Automorphisms of Elementary Free Groups

We prove that the automorphism group of a finitely generated fully residually free group is tame.     

The isomorphism problem for toral relatively hyperbolic groups

We provide a solution to the isomorphism problem for torsion-free relatively hyperbolic groups with abelian parabolics. As special cases we recover solutions to the isomorphism problem for: (i) torsion-free hyperbolic groups (Sela, [60] and unpublished); and (ii) finitely generated fully residually free groups (Bumagin, Kharlampovich and Miasnikov [14]). We also give a solution to the homeomorphism problem for finite volume hyperbolic n-manifolds, for n≥3. In the course of the proof of the main result, we prove that a particular JSJ decomposition of a freely indecomposable torsion-free relatively hyperbolic group with abelian parabolics is algorithmically constructible.     

Conjugacy separability of 1-acylindrical graphs of free groups

We use the theory of group actions on profinite trees to prove that the fundamental group of a finite, 1-acylindrical graph of free groups with finitely generated edge groups is conjugacy separable. This has several applications: we prove that positive, C′(1/6) one-relator groups are conjugacy separable; we provide a conjugacy separable version of the Rips construction; we use this latter to provide an example of two finitely presented, residually finite groups that have isomorphic profinite completions, such that one is conjugacy separable and the other does not even have solvable conjugacy problem.     

Limit groups as limits of free groups

We give a topological framework for the study of Sela'slimit groups: limit groups are limits of free groups in a compact space of marked groups. Many results get a natural interpretation in this setting. The class of limit groups is known to coincide with the class of finitely generated fully residually free groups. The topological approach gives some new insight on the relation between fully residually free groups, the universal theory of free groups, ultraproducts and non-standard free groups.     

Large groups of deficiency 1

We prove that if a group possesses a deficiency 1 presentation where one of the relators is a commutator, then it is ℤ × ℤ, large or is as far as possible from being residually finite. Then we use this to show that a mapping torus of an endomorphism of a finitely generated free group is large if it contains a ℤ × ℤ subgroup of infinite index, as well as showing that such a group is large if it contains a Baumslag-Solitar group of infinite index and has a finite index subgroup with first Betti number at least 2. We give applications to free by cyclic groups, 1 relator groups and residually finite groups.     

The isomorphism problem for finitely generated fully residually free groups

We prove that the isomorphism problem for finitely generated fully residually free groups (or F-groups for short) is decidable. We also show that each F-group G has a decomposition that is invariant under automorphisms of G, and obtain a structure theorem for the group of outer automorphisms .     

A Hilbert-Nagata theorem in noncommutative invariant theory

Nagata gave a fundamental sufficient condition on group actions on finitely generated commutative algebras for finite generation of the subalgebra of invariants. In this paper we consider groups acting on noncommutative algebras over a field of characteristic zero. We characterize all the T-ideals of the free associative algebra such that the algebra of invariants in the corresponding relatively free algebra is finitely generated for any group action from the class of Nagata. In particular, in the case of unitary algebras this condition is equivalent to the nilpotency of the algebra in Lie sense. As a consequence we extend the Hilbert-Nagata theorem on finite generation of the algebra of invariants to any finitely generated associative algebra which is Lie nilpotent. We also prove that the Hilbert series of the algebra of invariants of a group acting on a relatively free algebra with a non-matrix polynomial identity is rational, if the action satisfies the condition of Nagata.

     

FINITELY GENERATED G′ AND POSITIVE LAWS

We conjecture that a finitely generated relatively free group G has a finitely generated commutator subgroup G′ if and only if G satisfies a positive law. We confirm this conjecture for groups G in the large class, containing all residually finite and all soluble groups.     

Subgroup separability in residually free groups

We prove that the finitely presentable subgroups of residually free groups are separable and that the subgroups of type are virtual retracts. We describe a uniform solution to the membership problem for finitely presentable subgroups of residually free groups.     

A Classification of Fully Residually Free Groups of Rank Three or Less

A groupGisfully residually freeprovided to every finite setS ⊂ G\{1} of non-trivial elements ofGthere is a free groupF_Sand an epimorphismh_S:G → F_Ssuch thath_S(g) ≠ 1 for allg ∈ S. Ifnis a positive integer, then a groupGisn-freeprovided every subgroup ofGgenerated bynor fewer distinct elements is free. Our main result shows that a fully residually free group of rank at most 3 is either abelian, free, or a free rank one extension of centralizers of a rank two free group. To prove this we prove that every 2-free, fully residually free group is actually 3-free. There are fully residually free groups which are not 2-free and there are 3-free, fully residually free groups which are not 4-free.     

The real cohomology of virtually nilpotent groups

In this paper we present a method to compute the real cohomology of any finitely generated virtually nilpotent group. The main ingredient in our setup consists of a polynomial crystallographic action of this group. As any finitely generated virtually nilpotent group admits such an action (which can be constructed quite easily), the approach we present applies to all these groups. Our main result is an algorithmic way of computing these cohomology spaces. As a first application, we prove a kind of Poincaré duality (also in the nontorsion free case) and we derive explicit formulas in the virtually abelian case.

     

On residually finite groups of finite general rank

Following A. I.Mal’tsev, we say that a group G has finite general rank if there is a positive integer r such that every finite set of elements of G is contained in some r-generated subgroup. Several known theorems concerning finitely generated residually finite groups are generalized here to the case of residually finite groups of finite general rank. For example, it is proved that the families of all finite homomorphic images of a residually finite group of finite general rank and of the quotient of the group by a nonidentity normal subgroup are different. Special cases of this result are a similar result of Moldavanskii on finitely generated residually finite groups and the following assertion: every residually finite group of finite general rank is Hopfian. This assertion generalizes a similarMal’tsev result on the Hopf property of every finitely generated residually finite group.     

Box spaces,group extensions and coarse embeddings into Hilbert space

We investigate how coarse embeddability of box spaces into Hilbert space behaves under group extensions. In particular, we prove a result which implies that a semidirect product of a finitely generated free group by a finitely generated residually finite amenable group has a box space which coarsely embeds into Hilbert space. This provides a new class of examples of metric spaces with bounded geometry which coarsely embed into Hilbert space but do not have property A, generalising the example of Arzhantseva, Guentner and Spakula.     

Growth tightness of free and amalgamated products

We show that every nontrivial free product, different from the infinite dihedral group, is growth tight with respect to any algebraic distance: that is, its exponential growth rate is strictly greater than the corresponding growth rate of any of its proper quotients. A similar property holds for the amalgamated product of residually finite groups over a finite subgroup. As a consequence, we provide examples of finitely generated groups of uniform exponential growth whose minimal growth is not realized by any generating set.     

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.     

Euler Characteristics on virtually free products

We define Euler characteristics on classes of residually finite and virtually torsion free groups and we show that they satisfy certain formulas in the case of amalgamated free products and HNN extensions over finite subgroups. These formulas are obtained from a general result which applies to the rank gradient and the first L²?Betti number of a finitely generated group.     

Linear core conditions in residually finite groups

LetG be a residually finite or pro-finite group. We say thatG satisfies the linear core condition with constantc if all finite index (open) subgroups ofG contain a subgroup of index at mostc which is normal inG. Answering a question of L. Pyber we give a complete characterisation of finitely generated residually finite and pro-finite groups satisfying a linear core generated residually finite and pro-finite groups satisfying a linear core condition. In the case of infinitely generated groups we prove that such groups are abelian-by-finite. Research supported by the Hungarian National Research Foundation (OTKA), grant no. 16432 and F023436.     

On Turner’s theorem and first-order theory

A theorem of E.C. Turner states that if F is a finitely generated free group, then the test words are precisely the elements not contained in any proper retract. In this paper, we examine some ideas in model theory and logic related to Turner’s characterization of test words and introduce Turner groups, a class of groups containing all finite groups and all stably hyperbolic groups satisfying this characterization. We show that Turner’s theorem is not first-order expressible. However, we prove that every finitely generated elementary free group is a Turner group.     

On the residual properties of link groups

We study the residual properties of finitely generated linear groups. Using the methods under consideration, we prove the residual 2-finiteness of the groups of the Whitehead link, the Borromean links (answering a question of Cochran), and some other links. We show also that each link is a sublink of some link whose group is residually 2-finite.