Lacunary hyperbolic groups
Abstract
We call a finitely generated group lacunary hyperbolic if one of its asymptotic cones is an R-tree. We characterize lacunary hyperbolic groups as direct limits of Gromov hyperbolic groups satisfying certain restrictions on the hyperbolicity constants and injectivity radii. Using central extensions of lacunary hyperbolic groups, we solve a problem of Gromov by constructing a group whose asymptotic cone C has countable but non-trivial fundamental group (in fact C is homeomorphic to the direct product of a tree and a circle, so \pi_1(C)=Z). We show that the class of lacunary hyperbolic groups contains elementary amenable groups, groups with all proper subgroups cyclic, and torsion groups. This allows us to solve two problems of Drutu and Sapir, and a problem of Kleiner about groups with cut-points in their asymptotic cones. We also construct a finitely generated group whose divergence function is not linear but is arbitrarily close to being linear. This answers a question of Behrstock.
Cite
@article{arxiv.math/0701365,
title = {Lacunary hyperbolic groups},
author = {A. Yu. Olshanskii and D. V. Osin and M. V. Sapir},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0701365},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
69 pages; v2: added an Appendix by M. Kapovich and B. Kleiner; v3 accepted in Geometry and Topology, misprints fixed