Related papers: A Strong Tits Alternative

We show that for some absolute (explicit) constant $C$, the following holds for every finitely generated group $G$, and all $d >0$: If there is some $ R_0 > \exp(\exp(Cd^C))$ for which the number of elements in a ball of radius $R_0$ in a…

It was shown in [A. Azimifard, E. Samei, N. Spronk, JFA 2009; arxiv 0805.3685] that the ZL-amenability constant of a finite group is always at least 1, with equality if and only if the group is abelian. It was also shown in the same paper…

We prove that the alternating group of a topologically free action of a countably infinite group $\Gamma$ on the Cantor set has the property that all of its $\ell^2$-Betti numbers vanish and, in the case that $\Gamma$ is amenable, is stable…

The deep theory of approximate subgroups establishes 3-step product growth for subsets of finite simple groups $G$ of Lie type of bounded rank. In this paper we obtain 2-step growth results for representations of such groups $G$ (including…

We show an analogous result of the famous Tits alternative for a group G of birational automorphisms of a projective hyperk\"aher manifold: Either G contains a non-commutative free group or G is an almost abelian group of finite rank. As an…

We study subgroups of fundamental groups of real analytic closed 4-manifolds with nonpositive sectional curvature. In particular, we are interested in the following question: if a subgroup of the fundamental group is not virtually free…

We show that (with one possible exception) there exist strongly dense free subgroups in any semisimple algebraic group over a large enough field. These are nonabelian free subgroups all of whose subgroups are either cyclic or Zariski dense.…

We show that the automorphism group of a one-dimensional full shift (the group of reversible cellular automata) does not satisfy the Tits alternative. That is, we construct a finitely-generated subgroup which is not virtually solvable yet…

Let $E \subset \mathbb{Z}^N$ be a set of positive upper Banach density and let $\Gamma < \operatorname{GL}_N(\mathbb{Z})$ be a finitely generated, strongly irreducible subgroup whose Zariski closure in $\operatorname{GL}_N(\mathbb{R})$ is a…

By Cartan's Theorem, every closed subgroup $H$ of a real (or $p$-adic) Lie group $G$ is a Lie subgroup. For Lie groups over a local field ${\mathbb K}$ of positive characteristic, the analogous conclusion is known to be wrong. We show more:…

A strong Gelfand pair $(G, H)$ is a finite group $G$ and a subgroup $H$ where every irreducible character of $H$ induces to a multiplicity-free character of $G$. We determine the strong Gelfand pairs of the sporadic groups, their…

In [13], it is proved that any subgroup of $\mathrm{Diff}_{+}^{\omega }(I)$ (the group of orientation preserving analytic diffeomorphisms of the interval) is either metaabelian or does not satisfy a law. A stronger question is asked whether…

We prove a dynamical variant of the Tits alternative for the group of almost automorphisms of a locally finite tree $\mathcal{T}$: a group of almost automorphisms of $\mathcal{T}$ either contains a nonabelian free group playing ping-pong on…

We show that some classical results on expander graphs imply growth results on normal subsets in finite simple groups. As one application, it is shown that given a nontrivial normal subset $ A $ of a finite simple group $ G $ of Lie type of…

Let $\Gamma $ be an infinite discrete group and $\mathsf{A}\subset \Gamma $ a nonempty finite subset. The set of permutations $\sigma $ of $\Gamma $ such that $s^{-1}\sigma (s)\in \mathsf{A}$ for every $s\in \Gamma $ can be identified with…

We give very precise bounds for the congruence subgroup growth of arithmetic groups. This allows us to determine the subgroup growth of irreducible lattices of semisimple Lie groups. In the most general case our results depend on the…

Every nonabelian finite simple group of rank $n$ over a field of size $q$, with the possible exception of the Ree groups $^2G_2(3^{2e+1})$, has a presentation with a bounded number of generators and relations and total length $O(\log n…

We prove the following extension of Tits' simplicity theorem. Let $k$ be an infinite field, $G$ an algebraic group defined and quasi-simple over $k,$ and $G(k)$ the group of $k$-rational points of $G.$ Let $G(k)^+$ be the subgroup of $G(k)$…

In this note we show that many subgroups of mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces without boundary have trivial centers, including all normal subgroups. Using similar techniques, we show that every nontrivial normal subgroup of a…

We call an element of a finite general linear group $ \textrm{GL}(d,q) $ \emph{fat} if it leaves invariant, and acts irreducibly on, a subspace of dimension greater than $d/2$. Fatness of an element can be decided efficiently in practice by…