English

Coarse group theoretic study on stable mixed commutator length

Group Theory 2025-04-04 v4 Geometric Topology Metric Geometry

Abstract

Let GG be a group and NN a normal subgroup of GG. We study the large scale behavior, not the exact values themselves, of the stable mixed commutator length sclG,Nscl_{G,N} on the mixed commutator subgroup [G,N][G,N]; when N=GN=G, sclG,Nscl_{G,N} equals the stable commutator length sclGscl_G on the commutator subgroup [G,G][G,G]. For this purpose, we regard sclG,Nscl_{G,N} not only as a function from [G,N][G,N] to R0\mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}, but as a bi-invariant metric function dsclG,N+d^+_{scl_{G,N}} from [G,N]×[G,N][G,N]\times [G,N] to R0\mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}. Our main focus is coarse group theoretic structures of ([G,N],dsclG,N+)([G,N],d^+_{scl_{G,N}}). Our preliminary result (the absolute version) connects, via the Bavard duality, ([G,N],dsclG,N+)([G,N],d^+_{scl_{G,N}}) and the quotient vector space of the space of GG-invariant quasimorphisms on NN over one of such homomorphisms. In particular, we prove that the dimension of this vector space equals the asymptotic dimension of ([G,N],dsclG,N+)([G,N],d^+_{scl_{G,N}}). Our main result is the comparative version: we connect the coarse kernel, formulated by Leitner and Vigolo, of the coarse homomorphism ιG,N ⁣:([G,N],dsclG,N+)([G,N],dsclG+)\iota_{G,N}\colon ([G,N],d^+_{scl_{G,N}})\to ([G,N],d^+_{scl_{G}}); yyy\mapsto y, and a certain quotient vector space W(G,N)W(G,N) of the space of invariant quasimorphisms. Assume that N=[G,G]N=[G,G] and that W(G,N)W(G,N) is finite dimensional with dimension \ell. Then we prove that the coarse kernel of ιG,N\iota_{G,N} is isomorphic to Z\mathbb{Z}^{\ell} as a coarse group. In contrast to the absolute version, the space W(G,N)W(G,N) is finite dimensional in many cases, including all (G,N)(G,N) with finitely generated GG and nilpotent G/NG/N. As an application of our result, given a group homomorphism φ ⁣:GH\varphi\colon G\to H between finitely generated groups, we define an R\mathbb{R}-linear map `inside' the groups, which is dual to the naturally defined R\mathbb{R}-linear map from W(H,[H,H])W(H,[H,H]) to W(G,[G,G])W(G,[G,G]) induced by φ\varphi.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2306.08618,
  title  = {Coarse group theoretic study on stable mixed commutator length},
  author = {Morimichi Kawasaki and Mitsuaki Kimura and Shuhei Maruyama and Takahiro Matsushita and Masato Mimura},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.08618},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

72 pages, no figure. (v4): corrections of Proposition 2.5 (2) and Example 11.4: additional assumptions were needed there; Minor revision (v3): Definition 3.8 and Remark 3.18 added; Minor revision (v2): some symbols changed

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:05:13.464Z