Related papers: Digraphs and cycle polynomials for free-by-cyclic …

We relate the McMullen polynomial of a free-by-cyclic group to its Alexander polynomial. To do so, we introduce the notion of an orientable fully irreducible outer automorphism $\varphi$ and use it to characterize when the homological…

Consider a group G and an epimorphism u_0:G\to\Z inducing a splitting of G as a semidirect product ker(u_0)\rtimes_\varphi\Z with ker(u_0) a finitely generated free group and \varphi\in Out(ker(u_0)) representable by an expanding…

Given a free-by-cyclic group $G = F_N \rtimes_\varphi \mathbb{Z}$ determined by any outer automorphism $\varphi \in \mathrm{Out}(F_N)$ which is represented by an expanding irreducible train-track map $f$, we construct a $K(G,1)$ $2$-complex…

We study the automorphisms \phi of a finitely generated free group F. Building on the train-track technology of Bestvina, Feighn and Handel, we provide a topological representative f:G\to G of a power of \phi that behaves very much like the…

Stallings remarked that an outer automorphism of a free group may be thought of as a subdivision of a graph followed by a sequence of folds. In this thesis, we prove that automorphisms of fundamental groups of graphs of groups satisfying…

We study the dilatation of outer automorphisms of right-angled Artin groups. Given a right-angled Artin group defined on a simplicial graph: $A(\Gamma) = \langle V | E \rangle$ and an automorphism $\phi \in Out(A(\Gamma))$ there is a…

Every irreducible outer automorphism of the free group of rank r is topologically represented by an irreducible train track map $f$ on some graph $\Gamma$ of rank r. Moreover, $f$ can always be written as a composition of folds and a graph…

We describe the outer automorphism group of a one-ended fundamental group of a graph of groups, when edge groups are cyclic, and vertex groups are torsion-free with cyclic centralizers. We show that in this case the outer automorphism group…

Let $F$ be a free group of positive, finite rank and let $\Phi\in Aut(F)$ be a polynomial-growth automorphism. Then $F\rtimes_\Phi\mathbb Z$ is strongly thick of order $\eta$, where $\eta$ is the rate of polynomial growth of $\phi$. This…

We prove that any isometry of the graph of cyclic splittings of a finitely generated free group $F_N$ of rank $N\ge 3$ is induced by an outer automorphism of $F_N$. The same statement also applies to the graphs of maximally-cyclic…

In the 1970s Stallings showed that one could learn a great deal about free groups and their automorphisms by viewing the free groups as fundamental groups of graphs and modeling their automorphisms as homotopy equivalences of graphs.…

Let $\phi$ be an automorphism of a free group $F_n$ of rank $n$, and let $M_{\phi}=F_n \rtimes_{\phi} \mathbb{Z}$ be the corresponding mapping torus of $\phi$. We study the group $Out(M_{\phi})$ under certain technical conditions on $\phi$.…

An outer automorphism of a free group is geometric if it can be represented by a homeomorphism of a compact surface. Bestvina and Handel gave an algorithmic characterization of geometric irreducible outer automorphisms using relative train…

Let $G$ be a group and let ${\mathcal G}$ be a free factor system of $G$, namely a free splitting of $G$ as $G=G_1*\dots*G_k*F_r$. In this paper, we study the set of train track points for ${\mathcal G}$-irreducible automorphisms $\phi$…

This paper, which is the last of a series of three papers, studies dynamical properties of elements of $\mathrm{Out}(F_{\tt n})$, the outer automorphism group of a nonabelian free group $F_{\tt n}$. We prove that, for every subgroup $H$ of…

McCarthy's Theorem for the mapping class group of a closed hyperbolic surface states that for any two mapping classes $\sigma,\tau \in \mathrm{Mod}(S)$ there is some power $N$ such that the group $\langle \sigma^N,\tau^N\rangle$ is either…

We prove that abelian subgroups of the outer automorphism group of a free group are quasi-isometrically embedded. Our proof uses recent developments in the theory of train track maps by Feighn-Handel. As an application, we prove the rank…

We will survey the work on the topology of $Out(F_n)$ in the last 20 years or so. Much of the development is driven by the tantalizing analogy with mapping class groups. Unfortunately, $Out(F_n)$ is more complicated and less well-behaved.…

The main theorem of this document emulates, in the context of Out(F_r) theory, a mapping class group theorem (by H. Masur and J. Smillie) that determines precisely which index lists arise from pseudo-Anosov mapping classes. Since the ideal…

We generalize the combinatorial approaches of Rapaport and Higgins--Lyndon to the Whitehead algorithm. We show that for every automorphism $\varphi$ of a free group $F$ and every word $u\in F$ there exists a finite multiset of words…