English

Three manifold groups, Kaehler groups and complex surfaces

Geometric Topology 2012-12-14 v3 Algebraic Geometry Differential Geometry Group Theory

Abstract

Let 1NGQ1 1 \rightarrow N \rightarrow G \rightarrow Q \rightarrow 1 be an exact sequence of finitely presented groups where Q is infinite and not virtually cyclic, and is the fundamental group of some closed 3-manifold. If G is Kaehler, we show that Q is either the 3-dimensional Heisenberg group or the fundamental group of the Cartesian product of a closed oriented surface of positive genus and the circle. As a corollary, we obtain a new proof of a theorem of Dimca and Suciu by taking N to be the trivial group, If G is the fundamental group of a compact complex surface, we show that Q must be the fundamental group of a Seifert-fibered space and G the fundamental group of an elliptic fibration. We also give an example showing that the relation of quasi-isometry does not preserve Kaehler groups. This gives a negative answer to a question of Gromov which asks whether Kaehler groups can be characterized by their asymptotic geometry.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1101.1162,
  title  = {Three manifold groups, Kaehler groups and complex surfaces},
  author = {Indranil Biswas and Mahan Mj and Harish Seshadri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1101.1162},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

v3: 24 pages. This version is slightly different from the version accepted for publication and contains two proofs of finiteness of height of fundamental groups of pieces in the torus decomposition of a 3-manifold. Accepted in Communications in Contemporary Mathematics

R2 v1 2026-06-21T17:08:15.831Z