Densities in free groups and $\mathbb{Z}^k$, Visible Points and Test Elements

We classify the groups that are the inverse limits of sequences of free groups of finite rank. Except free groups of finite rank, there exist four groups that are the inverse limits of sequences of free groups of finite rank.

We consider free groups of finite rank and write F k for the absolutely free group of rank k, freely generated by f = {f1, ..., f k }. An automorphism of F k maps a verbal subgroup U(F k ) onto itself; hence

This paper is devoted to the computation of the space $$\mathrm{H}_\mathrm{b}^2(\Gamma ,H;{\mathbb {R}})$$ , where $$\Gamma $$ is a free group of finite rank $$n\ge 2$$ and $$H$$ is a subgroup of finite rank. More precisely we prove that $$H$$ has infinite index in $$\Gamma $$ if and only if $$\mathrm{H}_\mathrm{b}^2(\Gamma ,H;{\mathbb {R}})$$ is not trivial, and furthermore, if and only if there is an isometric embedding $$\oplus _\infty ^n\mathcal {D}({\mathbb {Z}})\hookrightarrow \mathrm{H}_\mathrm{b}^2(\Gamma ,H;{\mathbb {R}})$$ , where $$\mathcal {D}({\mathbb {Z}})$$ is the space of bounded alternating functions on $${\mathbb {Z}}$$ equipped with the defect norm.

The Ehrenfeucht Conjecture [5] states that if Μ is a finitely generated free monoid with nonempty subset S, then there is a finite subset T⊂S (a “test set”) such that given two endomorphisms f and g on Μ, f and g agree on S if and only if they agree on T. In[4], the authors prove that the above conjecture is equivalent to the following conjecture: a system of equations in a finite number of unknowns in Μ is equivalent to a finite subsystem. Since a finitely generated free monoid embeds naturally into the free group with the same number of generators, it is natural to ask whether a free group of finite rank has the above property on systems of equations. A restatement of the question motivates the following.

Characterizing a free group in its automorphism group

We show that every right-angled Artin group AΓ defined by a graph Γ of finite chromatic number is poly-free with poly-free length bounded between the clique number and the chromatic number of Γ. Further, a characterization of all right-angled Artin groups of poly-free length 2 is given, namely the group AΓ has poly-free length 2 if and only if there exists an independent set of vertices D in Γ such that every cycle in Γ meets D at least twice. Finally, it is shown that AΓ is a semidirect product of two free groups of finite rank if and only if Γ is a finite tree or a finite complete bipartite graph. All of the proofs of the existence of polyfree structures are constructive.

Let G be a finite group, F a free group of finite rank, R the kernel of a homomorphism φ of F onto G, and let [R, F], [R, R] denote mutual commutator subgroups. Conjugation in F yields a G-module structure on R/[R, R] let dg(R/[R, R]) be the number of elements required to generate this module. Define d(R/[R, F]) similarly. By an earlier result of the first author, for a fixed G, the difference dG(R/[R, R]) − d(R/[R, F]) is independent of the choice of F and φ; here it is called the proficiency gap of G. If this gap is 0, then G is said to be proficient. It has been more usual to consider dF(R), the number of elements required to generate R as normal subgroup of F: the group G has been called efficient if F and φ can be chosen so that dF(R) = dG(R/[R, F]). An efficient group is necessarily proficient; but (though usually expressed in different terms) the converse has been an open question for some time.

A Presentation for the Automorphism Group of a Free Group of Finite Rank

We study the prime ideal spaces of the quantized function algebras R q [ G ] R_{q}[G] , for G G a semisimple Lie group and q q an indeterminate. Our method is to examine the structure of algebras satisfying a set of seven hypotheses, and then to demonstrate, using work of Joseph, Hodges and Levasseur, that the algebras R q [ G ] R_{q}[G] satisfy this list of assumptions. Rings satisfying the assumptions are shown to satisfy normal separation, and therefore Jategaonkar’s strong second layer condition. For such rings much representation-theoretic information is carried by the graph of links of the prime spectrum, and so we proceed to a detailed study of the prime links of algebras satisfying the list of assumptions. Homogeneity is a key feature – it is proved that the clique of any prime ideal coincides with its orbit under a finite rank free abelian group of automorphisms. Bounds on the ranks of these groups are obtained in the case of R q [ G ] R_{q}[G] . In the final section the results are specialized to the case G = S L n ( C ) G= SL_{n}(\mathbb {C}) , where detailed calculations can be used to illustrate the general results. As a preliminary set of examples we show also that the multiparameter quantum coordinate rings of affine n n -space satisfy our axiom scheme when the group generated by the parameters is torsionfree.

We prove that, aside from the obvious exceptions, the mapping class group of a compact orientable surface is not abstractly commensurable with any right-angled Artin group. Our argument applies to various sub- groups of the mapping class group—the subgroups generated by powers of Dehn twists and the terms of the Johnson filtration—and additionally to the outer automorphism group of a free group and to certain linear groups. There are many analogies and interconnections between the theories of right- angled Artin groups on one hand and mapping class groups on the other hand. For instance, by the work of Crisp and Wiest (13), the work of Koberda (27), and the work of the first two authors with Mangahas (12), there is an abundance of injective homomorphisms from right-angled Artin groups to mapping class groups. Also, the last two authors proved (30) that any two elements of the pure braid group either generate a free group or a free abelian group—a property shared by all right-angled Artin groups (4, Theorem 1.2). We are thus led to ask to what extent mapping class groups are the same as right-angled Artin groups. It is straightforward to see that most mapping class groups are not isomorphic to right-angled Artin groups, for instance because right-angled Artin groups are torsion free. On the other hand, mapping class groups have finite-index sub- groups that are torsion free, and so this leaves open the possibility that mapping class groups are abstractly commensurable to right-angled Artin groups, that is, that they have isomorphic finite-index subgroups. We prove that, aside from a small number of exceptions, this is not the case. We also extend this result to several classes of groups related to mapping class groups. We start by recalling some definitions. To a finite graph , we can associate a right-angled Artin grou p: this is the group with one generator for each vertex of , and one defin ing relator for each edge, namely, the commutator of the two generators corresponding to the endpoints. Let Sg,n denote a closed, connected, orientable surface of genus g with n marked points. The mapping class group Mod(Sg,n) is the group of homotopy classes of orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of Sg,n preserving the set of marked points. As discussed in Koberda's paper (27, Theorem 1.5), no finite-index subgroup of Mod(Sg,n) injects into a right-angled Artin group if g ≥ 2 and (g,n) 6 (2,0); see

We investigate algebraic sets over certain finitely generated torsion-free metabelian groups. The class of groups under consideration is the class of so-called ρ-groups. It consists of all wreath products of finitely generated free abelian groups and their subgroups. In particular, it includes all free metabelian groups of finite rank. Our main result is a characterization of certain irreducible algebraic sets over ρ-groups. More precisely, we consider irreducible algebraic sets which are determined by a system of equations in n indeterminates. For their coordinate groups, we introduce a discrete invariant called the relative characteristic. This is an ordered pair of non-negative integers. We determine the structure of the coordinate group of the n-dimensional affine space, and show that its relative characteristic is (n, n). Then we characterize the irreducible algebraic sets of relative characteristic (n, n) and (0, k ) where 0 ≤ k ≤ n . We also obtain some examples of somewhat unusual algebraic sets over ρ-groups, thus demonstrating that algebraic sets over these groups are much more varied and complicated than, say, algebraic sets over free groups.

This chapter continues the development of group theory begun in Chapter IV, the main topics being the use of generators and relations, representation theory for finite groups, and group extensions. Representation theory uses linear algebra and inner-product spaces in an essential way, and a structure-theory theorem for finite groups is obtained as a consequence. Group extensions introduce the subject of cohomology of groups.Sections 1–3 concern generators and relations. The context for generators and relations is that of a free group on the set of generators, and the relations indicate passage to a quotient of this free group by a normal subgroup. Section 1 constructs free groups in terms of words built from an alphabet and shows that free groups are characterized by a certain universal mapping property. This universal mapping property implies that any group may be defined by generators and relations. Computations with free groups are aided by the fact that two reduced words yield the same element of a free group if and only if the reduced words are identical. Section 2 obtains the Nielsen-Schreier Theorem that subgroups of free groups are free. Section 3 enlarges the construction of free groups to the notion of the free product of an arbitrary set of groups. Free product is what coproduct is for the category of groups; free groups themselves may be regarded as free products of copies of the integers.Sections 4–5 introduce representation theory for finite groups and give an example of an important application whose statement lies outside representation theory. Section 4 contains various results giving an analysis of the space C(G, ?) of all complex-valued functions on a finite group G. In this analysis those functions that are constant on conjugacy classes are shown to be linear combinations of the characters of the irreducible representations. Section 5 proves Burnside’s Theorem as an application of this theory—that any finite group of order paqb with p and q prime and with a+b > 1 has a nontrivial normal subgroup.Section 6 introduces cohomology of groups in connection with group extensions. If N is to be a normal subgroup of G and Q is to be isomorphic to G/N, the first question is to parametrize the possibilities for G up to isomorphism. A second question is to parametrize the possibilities for G if G is to be a semidirect product of N and Q.

There are two well-known approaches to recognizing automorphisms of a free group, i.e. to distinguishing automorphisms from non-automorphisms. The first one is the “inverse function theorem” of Birman. The second one, the “test element” approach, was originated by Nielsen for the free group of rank 2 and then extended to free groups of arbitrary finite rank by Zieschang, Rosenberger and others. In this note, we establish a direct connection between these two approaches: we associate a special matrix with any element of a free group, and show that an automorphism can be distinguished from a non-automorphism in terms of invertibility of such a matrix associated with a particular single element. Similar results hold for free associative and Lie algebras.

We prove that, if φ, ψ ∈ Out (FN) are hyperbolic iwips (irreducible with irreducible powers) such that 〈φ, ψ〉 ⊆ Out (FN) is not virtually cyclic, then some high powers of φ and ψ generate a free subgroup of rank two for which all nontrivial elements are again hyperbolic iwips. Being a hyperbolic iwip element of Out (FN) is strongly analogous to being a pseudo-Anosov element of a mapping class group, so the above result provides analogues of "purely pseudo-Anosov" free subgroups in Out (FN).

Let Fn be a free group of rank n ≥ 2. Two elements g, h in Fn are said to be translation equivalent in Fn if the cyclic length of φ(g) equals the cyclic length of φ(h) for every automorphism φ of Fn. Let F(a, b) be the free group generated by {a, b} and let w(a, b) be an arbitrary word in F(a, b). We prove that w(g, h) and w(h, g) are translation equivalent in Fn whenever g, h ∈ Fn are translation equivalent in Fn, and thereby give an affermative solution to problem F38b in the online version (http://www.grouptheory.info) of [G. Baumslag, A. G. Myasnikov and V. Shpilrain. Open problems in combinatorial group theory, 2nd edition. In Combinatorial and geometric group theory (New York, 2000/Hoboken, NJ, 2001), Contemp. Math. 296 (American Mathematical Society, 2002), pp. 1–38.].