English

On the geometry of the free factor graph for ${\rm{Aut}}(F_N)$

Geometric Topology 2025-12-02 v2 Group Theory

Abstract

Let Φ\Phi be a pseudo-Anosov diffeomorphism of a compact (possibly non-orientable) surface Σ\Sigma with one boundary component. We show that if bπ1(Σ)b \in \pi_1(\Sigma) is the boundary word, ϕAut(π1(Σ))\phi \in {\rm{Aut}}(\pi_1(\Sigma)) is a representative of Φ\Phi fixing bb, and adb{\rm{ad}}_b denotes conjugation by bb, then the orbits of ϕ,adbZ2\langle \phi, {\rm{ad}}_b \rangle\cong\mathbb{Z}^2 in the graph of free factors of π1(Σ)\pi_1(\Sigma) are quasi-isometrically embedded. It follows that for N2N \geq 2 the free factor graph for Aut(FN){\rm{Aut}}(F_N) is not hyperbolic, in contrast to the Out(FN){\rm{Out}}(F_N) case.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2312.03535,
  title  = {On the geometry of the free factor graph for ${\rm{Aut}}(F_N)$},
  author = {Mladen Bestvina and Martin R. Bridson and Richard D. Wade},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.03535},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

12 pages, 1 figure. To appear in GGD