Related papers: Ping-pong in Hadamard manifolds

We show that two-dimensional Artin groups satisfy a strengthening of the Tits alternative: their subgroups either contain a non-abelian free group or are virtually free abelian of rank at most $2$. When in addition the associated Coxeter…

We construct a group (an HNN extension of a free group) with polynomial isoperimetric function, linear isodiametric function and non-simply connected asymptotic cones.

This note studies the Burnside problem for homeomorphism groups of compact connected manifolds. For surfaces, we prove that the identity component of the homeomorphism group is torsion-free precisely when the surface is not the sphere,…

Consider a 3$-$dimensional manifold $N$ obtained by gluing a finite number of ideal hyperbolic tetrahedra via isometries along their faces. By varying the isometry type of each tetrahedron but keeping fixed the gluing pattern we define a…

We use geometric methods to show that given any $3$-manifold $M$, and $g$ a sufficiently large integer, the mapping class group $\mathrm{Mod}(\Sigma_{g,1})$ contains a coset of an abelian subgroup of rank $\lfloor \frac{g}{2}\rfloor,$…

We show that any lattice in $\mathrm{SL}_3(k)$, where $k$ is a nonarchimedean local field, contains an undistorted subgroup isomorphic to the free product $\mathbb{Z}^2*\mathbb{Z}$. To our knowledge, the subgroups we construct give the…

We prove:(1) the existence, for every integer n > 3, of a noncompact smooth n-dimensional topological manifold whose diffeomorphism group contains an isomorphic copy of every finitely presented group; (2) a finiteness theorem on finite…

Let $M$ be complete nonpositively curved Riemannian manifold of finite volume whose fundamental group $\Gamma$ does not contain a finite index subgroup which is a product of infinite groups. We show that the universal cover $\tilde M$ is a…

For n>3 we study spaces obtained from finite volume complete real hyperbolic n-manifolds by removing a compact totally geodesic submanifold of codimension two. We prove that their fundamental groups are relative hyperbolic, co-Hopf,…

For a compact connected Lie group $G$ acting as isometries on a compact orientable Riemannian manifold $M^{n+1},$ and cohomogeneity not equal to 0 or 2, we prove the existence of a nontrivial embedded $G$-invariant minimal hypersurface,…

We study geodesically complete and locally compact Hadamard spaces X whose Tits boundary is a connected irreducible spherical building. We show that X is symmetric iff complete geodesics in X do not branch and a Euclidean building…

Let $M$ be a compact nonnegatively curved Riemannian manifold admitting an isometric action by a compact Lie group $\mathsf G$ in a way that the quotient space $M/\mathsf G$ has nonempty boundary. Let $\pi : M \to M/\mathsf G$ denote the…

We show that if H is a non-elementary hyperbolic commensurated subgroup of infinite index in a hyperbolic group G, then H is virtually a free product of hyperbolic surface groups and free groups. We prove that whenever a one-ended…

Our monograph presents the foundations of the theory of groups and semigroups acting isometrically on Gromov hyperbolic metric spaces. Our work unifies and extends a long list of results by many authors. We make it a point to avoid any…

We study spaces obtained from a complete finite volume complex hyperbolic n-manifold M by removing a compact totally geodesic complex (n-1)-submanifold. The main result is that the fundamental group of M-S is relatively hyperbolic, relative…

This is the fourth and last in a series of four papers (with research announcement posted on this arXiv) that develop a decomposition theory for subgroups of $\text{Out}(F_n)$. In this paper we develop general ping-pong techniques for the…

The main objects of study in this article are pairs $(G, \mathcal{H})$ where $G$ is a topological group with a compact open subgroup, and $\mathcal{H}$ is a finite collection of open subgroups. We develop geometric techniques to study the…

We show that hyperbolic 3-manifolds with finitely generated fundamental group are tame, that is the ends are products. We actually work in slightly greater generality with pinched negatively curved manifolds with hyperbolic cusps. This…

Let X be a hyperbolic surface and H the fundamental group of a hyperbolic 3-manifold that fibers over the circle with fiber X. Using the Birman exact sequence, H embeds in the mapping class group Mod(Y) of the surface Y obtained by removing…

Let X be a proper hyperbolic geodesic metric space and let G be a closed subgroup of the isometry group Iso(X) of X. We show that if G is not amenable then its second continuous bounded cohomology group with coefficients the regular…