Embedding of two-colored right-angled Coxeter groups into products of two binary trees

We prove that every finitely generated 2-colored right-angled Coxeter group Γ can be quasi-isometrically embedded into the product of two binary trees. Moreover we show that the natural extension of this embedding to n-colored groups is not for every group quasi-isometric. Partially supported by Swiss National Science Foundation.     

Hyperbolic Coxeter groups of large dimension

We construct examples of Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter groups of arbitrarily large dimension. We also extend Vinbergs theorem to show that if a Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter group is a virtual Poincaré duality group of dimension n, then n 61.Coxeter groups acting on their associated complexes have been extremely useful source of examples and insight into nonpositively curved spaces over last several years. Negatively curved (or Gromov hyperbolic) Coxeter groups were much more elusive. In particular their existence in high dimensions was in doubt.In 1987 Gabor Moussong [M] conjectured that there is a universal bound on the virtual cohomological dimension of any Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter group. This question was also raised by Misha Gromov [G] (who thought that perhaps any construction of high dimensional negatively curved spaces requires nontrivial number theory in the guise of arithmetic groups in an essential way), and by Mladen Bestvina [B2].In the present paper we show that high dimensional Gromov hyperbolic Coxeter groups do exist, and we construct them by geometric or group theoretic but not arithmetic means.     

Coxeter matroid polytopes

If Δ is a polytope in real affine space, each edge of Δ determines a reflection in the perpendicular bisector of the edge. The exchange groupW (Δ) is the group generated by these reflections, and Δ is a (Coxeter) matroid polytope if this group is finite. This simple concept of matroid polytope turns out to be an equivalent way to define Coxeter matroids. The Gelfand-Serganova Theorem and the structure of the exchange group both give us information about the matroid polytope. We then specialize this information to the case of ordinary matroids; the matroid polytope by our definition in this case turns out to be a facet of the classical matroid polytope familiar to matroid theorists. This work was supported in part by NSA grant MDA904-95-1-1056.     

Homotopy type of the boolean complex of a Coxeter system

In any Coxeter group, the set of elements whose principal order ideals are boolean forms a simplicial poset under the Bruhat order. This simplicial poset defines a cell complex, called the boolean complex. In this paper it is shown that, for any Coxeter system of rank n, the boolean complex is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of (n−1)-dimensional spheres. The number of such spheres can be computed recursively from the unlabeled Coxeter graph, and defines a new graph invariant called the boolean number. Specific calculations of the boolean number are given for all finite and affine irreducible Coxeter systems, as well as for systems with graphs that are disconnected, complete, or stars. One implication of these results is that the boolean complex is contractible if and only if a generator of the Coxeter system is in the center of the group.     

A geometric characterization of Coxeter matroids

Coxeter matroids, introduced by Gelfand and Serganova, are combinatorial structures associated with any finite Coxeter group and its parabolic subgroup they include ordinary matroids as a specia case. A basic result in the subject is a geometric characterization of Coxeter matroids first stated by Gelfand and Serganova. This paper presents a self-contained, simple proof of a more general version of this geometric characterization.     

A note on irreducible,infinite Coxeter groups

A new proof is given for the statement: For an irreducible, infinite Coxeter group (W,S)$(W,S)$ and w∈W$w\in W$, if wSw^-1=S${\mathit{wSw}}^{-1}=S$, then w=1$w=1$ (the identity element of W).     

Salem numbers defined by Coxeter transformation

A real algebraic integer α>1 is called a Salem number if all its remaining conjugates have modulus at most 1 with at least one having modulus exactly 1. It is known [J.A. de la Peña, Coxeter transformations and the representation theory of algebras, in: V. Dlab et al. (Eds.), Finite Dimensional Algebras and Related Topics, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Representations of Algebras and Related Topics, Ottawa, Canada, Kluwer, August 10-18, 1992, pp. 223-253; J.F. McKee, P. Rowlinson, C.J. Smyth, Salem numbers and Pisot numbers from stars, Number theory in progress. in: K. Gy?ry et al. (Eds.), Proc. Int. Conf. Banach Int. Math. Center, Diophantine problems and polynomials, vol. 1, de Gruyter, Berlin, 1999, pp. 309-319; P. Lakatos, On Coxeter polynomials of wild stars, Linear Algebra Appl. 293 (1999) 159-170] that the spectral radii of Coxeter transformation defined by stars, which are neither of Dynkin nor of extended Dynkin type, are Salem numbers. We prove that the spectral radii of the Coxeter transformation of generalized stars are also Salem numbers. A generalized star is a connected graph without multiple edges and loops that has exactly one vertex of degree at least 3.     

Invariant convex subcones of the Tits cone of a linear Coxeter group

We investigate the faces and the face lattices of arbitrary Coxeter group invariant convex subcones of the Tits cone of a linear Coxeter system as introduced by E.B. Vinberg. Particular examples are given by certain Weyl group invariant polyhedral cones, which underlie the theory of normal reductive linear algebraic monoids as developed by M.S. Putcha and L.E. Renner. We determine the faces and the face lattice of the Tits cone and the imaginary cone, generalizing some of the results obtained for linear Coxeter systems with symmetric root bases by M. Dyer, and for linear Coxeter systems with free root bases by E. Looijenga, P. Slodowy, and the author.     

Multiderivations of Coxeter arrangements

Let V be an ℓ-dimensional Euclidean space. Let G⊂O(V) be a finite irreducible orthogonal reflection group. Let ? be the corresponding Coxeter arrangement. Let S be the algebra of polynomial functions on V. For H∈? choose α _H ∈V ^* such that H=ker(α _H ). For each nonnegative integer m, define the derivation module D ^(m) (?)={θ∈Der _S |θ(α _H )∈Sα ^m _H }. The module is known to be a free S-module of rank ℓ by K. Saito (1975) for m=1 and L. Solomon-H. Terao (1998) for m=2. The main result of this paper is that this is the case for all m. Moreover we explicitly construct a basis for D ^(m) (?). Their degrees are all equal to mh/2 (when m is even) or are equal to ((m−1)h/2)+m _i (1≤i≤ℓ) (when m is odd). Here m ₁≤···≤m _ℓ are the exponents of G and h=m _ℓ+1 is the Coxeter number. The construction heavily uses the primitive derivation D which plays a central role in the theory of flat generators by K. Saito (or equivalently the Frobenius manifold structure for the orbit space of G). Some new results concerning the primitive derivation D are obtained in the course of proof of the main result. Oblatum 27-XI-2001 & 4-XII-2001?Published online: 18 February 2002     

Subword complexes in Coxeter groups

Let (Π,Σ) be a Coxeter system. An ordered list of elements in Σ and an element in Π determine a subword complex, as introduced in Knutson and Miller (Ann. of Math. (2) (2003), to appear). Subword complexes are demonstrated here to be homeomorphic to balls or spheres, and their Hilbert series are shown to reflect combinatorial properties of reduced expressions in Coxeter groups. Two formulae for double Grothendieck polynomials, one of which appeared in Fomin and Kirillov (Proceedings of the Sixth Conference in Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics, DIMACS, 1994, pp. 183-190), are recovered in the context of simplicial topology for subword complexes. Some open questions related to subword complexes are presented.     

The permutation class group of a finite group

Analogously to the projective class group, the permutation class group of a finite group π can be defined as the group of equivalence classes of direct summands of integral permutation modules modulo permutation modules. It is shown that this group behaves nicely with respect to localization and completion, which then is used to prove that contrary to the projective class group - it is not always a torsion group. More precisely, the rank of the permutation class of group is computed.     

Coxeter groups are virtually special

In this paper we prove that every finitely generated Coxeter group has a finite index subgroup that is the fundamental group of a special cube complex. Some consequences include: Every f.g. Coxeter group is virtually a subgroup of a right-angled Coxeter group. Every word-hyperbolic Coxeter group has separable quasiconvex subgroups.     

The probability of generating a finite linear group

We study the asymptotic behavior of the probability of generating a finite completely reducible linear group G of degree n with [ n] elements. In particular we prove that if 3/2 and n is large enough then [ n] randomly chosen elements that generate G modulo O²(G) almost certainly generate G itself.Received: 13 February 2003     

Periodicity of Adams operations on the Green ring of a finite group

The Adams operations and on the Green ring of a group G over a field K arise from the study of the exterior powers and symmetric powers of KG-modules. When G is finite and K has prime characteristic p we show that and are periodic in n if and only if the Sylow p-subgroups of G are cyclic. In the case where G is a cyclic p-group we find the minimum periods and use recent work of Symonds to express in terms of .     

A new approach to the construction of subsystems of complex root systems

Dynkin has shown how subsystems of real root systems may be constructed. As the concept of subsystems of complex root systems is not as well developed as in the real case, in this paper we give an algorithm to classify the proper subsystems of complex proper root systems. Furthermore, as an application of this algorithm, we determine the proper subsystems of imprimitive complex proper root systems. These proper subsystems are useful in giving combinatorial constructions of irreducible representations of properly generated finite complex reflection groups.     

The rational group algebra of a normally monomial group

In this paper, a complete irredundant set of a class of strong Shoda pairs of a finite group G is computed. The algebraic structure of the rational group algebra of a normally monomial group is thus obtained. A necessary and sufficient condition for G to be normally monomial is derived. The main result is also illustrated by computing a complete set of primitive central idempotents and the explicit Wedderburn decomposition of the rational group algebra of some normally monomial groups.     

Orthogonal representations over finite fields and the chromatic number of graphs

We study the relationship between the minimum dimension of an orthogonal representation of a graph over a finite field and the chromatic number of its complement. It turns out that for some classes of matrices defined by a graph the 3-colorability problem is equivalent to deciding whether the class defined by the graph contains a matrix of rank 3 or not. This implies the NP-hardness of determining the minimum rank of a matrix in such a class. Finally we give for any class of matrices defined by a graph that is interesting in this respect a reduction of the 3-colorability problem to the problem of deciding whether or not this class contains a matrix of rank equal to three.The author is financially supported by the Cooperation Centre Tilburg and Eindhoven Universities.     

The symmetry group of a finite frame

We define the symmetry group of a finite frame as a group of permutations on its index set. This group is closely related to the symmetry group of Vale and Waldron (2005) [12] for tight frames: they are isomorphic when the frame is tight and has distinct vectors. The symmetry group is the same for all similar frames, in particular for a frame, its dual and canonical tight frames. It can easily be calculated from the Gramian matrix of the canonical tight frame. Further, a frame and its complementary frame have the same symmetry group. We exploit this last property to construct and classify some classes of highly symmetric tight frames.