Related papers: Spectral gap of scl in free products

Stable commutator length scl_G(g) of an element g in a group G is an invariant for group elements sensitive to the geometry and dynamics of G. For any group G acting on a tree, we prove a sharp bound scl_G(g)>=1/2 for any g acting without…

We develop a new criterion to tell if a group $G$ has the maximal gap of $1/2$ in stable commutator length (scl). For amalgamated free products $G = A \star_C B$ we show that every element $g$ in the commutator subgroup of $G$ which does…

We establish the spectral gap property for dense subgroups generated by algebraic elements in any compact simple Lie group, generalizing earlier results of Bourgain and Gamburd for unitary groups.

Associated to a discrete group $G$, one has the topological category of finite dimensional (unitary) $G$-representations and (unitary) isomorphisms. Block sums provide this category with a permutative structure, and the associated…

Recall that a subset $X$ of a group $G$ is 'product-free' if $X^2\cap X=\varnothing$, ie if $xy\notin X$ for all $x,y\in X$. Let $G$ be a group definable in a distal structure. We prove there are constants $c>0$ and $\delta\in(0,1)$ such…

We study stable commutator length (scl) in free products via surface maps into a wedge of spaces. We prove that scl is piecewise rational linear if it vanishes on each factor of the free product, generalizing the main result in Danny…

We show that for any compact Lie group $G$ with identity component $N$ and component group $W=G/N$, the category of free rational $G$-spectra is equivalent to the category of torsion modules over the twisted group ring $H^*(BN)[W]$. This…

A classical conjecture in transformation group theory states that if $G=(\bbZ/p)^r$ acts freely on a product of $k$ spheres $S^{n_1} \times ... \times S^{n_k}$, then $r\leq k$. We prove this conjecture in the case where the average of the…

We establish the spectral gap property for dense subgroups of $SU(d)$ ($d\geq 2$), generated by finitely many elements with algebraic entries; this result was announced in [BG3]. The method of proof differs, in several crucial aspects, from…

Higman proved in 1952 that every free group is non-commutatively slender, this is to say that if G is a free group and h is a homomorphism from the countable complete free product (X_omega Z) to G, then there exists a finite subset F of…

The following two results are shown. 1) Let $G$ be the $k$-rational points of a simple algebraic group over a local field $k$ and let $H$ be a lattice in $G.$ Then the regular representation of $G$ on $L^2(G/H)$ has a spectral gap (that is,…

The existence of a strong spectral gap for quotients $\Gamma\bs G$ of noncompact connected semisimple Lie groups is crucial in many applications. For congruence lattices there are uniform and very good bounds for the spectral gap coming…

Let G be a real Lie group and H a lattice or, more generally, a closed subgroup of finite covolume in G. We show that the unitary representation lambda_{G/H} of G on L^2(G/H) has a spectral gap, that is, the restriction of lambda_{G/H} to…

Let $k$ be a field of characteristic different from $2$ and let $G$ be a nonabelian residually torsion-free nilpotent group. It is known that $G$ is an orderable group. Let $k(G)$ denote the subdivision ring of the Malcev-Neumann series…

We construct a non-free but aleph_1-separable, torsion-free abelian group G with a pure free subgroup B such that all subgroups of G disjoint from B are free and such that G/B is divisible. This answers a question of Irwin and shows that a…

Pick a formal system. Any formal system. Whatever your favourite formal system is, as long as it's capable of reasoning about elementary arithmetic. The First Spectral Gap Incompleteness Theorem of [CPGW15] proved that there exist…

We give a geometric proof of a well known theorem that describes splittings of a free group as an amalgamated product or HNN extension over the integers. The argument generalizes to give a similar description of splittings of a virtually…

We establish a close connection between stable commutator length in free groups and the geometry of sails (roughly, the boundary of the convex hull of the set of integer lattice points) in integral polyhedral cones. This connection allows…

Let $(\mathcal{A},\mathrm{tr})$ be a von Neumann algebra with a faithful, normal trace $\mathrm{tr}:\mathcal{A}\rightarrow\mathbb{C}.$ For each $a\in\mathcal{A},$ define \[…

We give a new geometric proof of a theorem of Heuer showing that, in the presence of letter-quasimorphisms (which are analogues of real-valued quasimorphisms with image in free groups), and in particular in RAAGs, there is a sharp lower…