Related papers: Trees, contraction groups, and Moufang sets

For finitely generated groups H and G, equipped with word metrics, a translation-like action of H on G is a free action such that each element of H acts by a map which has finite distance from the identity map in the uniform metric. For…

We show that the following problems are decidable in a rank 2 free group F_2: does a given finitely generated subgroup H contain primitive elements? and does H meet the orbit of a given word u under the action of G, the group of…

This article is an expanded version of the talks given by the authors at the Arbeitsgemeinschaft "Totally Disconnected Groups", held at Oberwolfach in October 2014. We recall the basic theory of automorphisms of trees and Tits' simplicity…

Let $A$ be an Artinian local ring with algebraically closed residue field $k$, and let $\mathbf{G}$ be an affine smooth group scheme over $A$. The Greenberg functor $\mathcal{F}$ associates to $\mathbf{G}$ a linear algebraic group…

We show that if $G$ is a non-elementary word hyperbolic group, mapping class group of a hyperbolic surface or the outer automorphism group of a nonabelian free group then $G$ has $2^{\aleph_0}$ many continuous ergodic invariant random…

It is well known that if a group G factorizes as G = NH where H\leq G and N is normal in G then the group structure of G is determined by the subgroups H and N, the intersection of N with H and how H acts on N with a homomorphism f : H ->…

We address the problem to characterise closed type I subgroups of the automorphism group of a tree. Even in the well-studied case of Burger-Mozes' universal groups, non-type I criteria were unknown. We prove that a huge class of groups…

Let $G$ be a group acting properly by isometries and with a strongly contracting element on a geodesic metric space. Let $N$ be an infinite normal subgroup of $G$, and let $\delta_N$ and $\delta_G$ be the growth rates of $N$ and $G$ with…

The deformation space of a simplicial G-tree T is the set of G-trees which can be obtained from T by some collapse and expansion moves, or equivalently, which have the same elliptic subgroups as T. We give a short proof of a rigidity result…

Ostrom and Wagner (1959) proved that if the automorphism group $G$ of a finite projective plane $\pi$ acts $2$-transitively on the points of $\pi$, then $\pi$ is isomorphic to the Desarguesian projective plane and $G$ is isomorphic to…

We investigate the possible structures imposed on a finite group by its possession of an automorphism sending a large fraction of the group elements to their cubes, the philosophy being that this should force the group to be, in some sense,…

For which groups $G$ is it true that for all fields $k$, every non-monomial element of the group algebra $k\,G$ generates a proper $2$-sided ideal? The only groups for which we know this are the torsion-free abelian groups. We would like to…

Let G be a simple Lie group of real rank one, and S the ideal boundary of the corresponding symmetric space of noncompact type (H^n_R, H^n_C, H^n_H or H^2_O). We show the finiteness of the possible values of the secondary characteristic…

We describe constraints that need to be satisfied ``near the top'' of the portraits of the elements in Grigorchuk group. These constraints, if satisfied by the portraits of all sections of some binary tree automorphism, guarantee that this…

Let $G$ be a hyperbolic group that splits as a graph of free groups with cyclic edge groups, and which is not isomorphic to a free product of free and surface groups. We show that $G$ admits an exhausting, nested sequence of finite-index…

Let $\mathbb{K}$ be an unramified quadratic extension of $\mathbb{Q}_{p}$ for a fixed $p>2$. Projective general linear groups $G=\operatorname{PGL}_{2}(\mathbb{K})$ and $H=\operatorname{PGL}_{2}(\mathbb{Q}_{p})$ act transitively on…

We consider actions of completely metrisable groups on simplicial trees in the context of the Bass--Serre theory. Our main result characterises continuity of the amplitude function corresponding to a given action. Under fairly mild…

The transitivity degree of a group $G$ is the supremum of all integers $k$ such that $G$ admits a faithful $k$-transitive action. Few obstructions are known to impose an upper bound on the transitivity degree for infinite groups. The…

A group with a geometric action on some hyperbolic space is necessarily word hyperbolic, but on the other hand every countable group acts (metrically) properly by isometries on a locally finite hyperbolic graph. In this paper we consider…

Let G be a torsion-free hyperbolic group and let n > 5 be an integer. We prove that G is the fundamental group of a closed aspherical manifold if the boundary of G is homeomorphic to an (n-1)-dimensional sphere.