Related papers: The commutator subgroups of free groups and surfac…

A classification of the ways in which an element of a free group can be expressed as a product of commutators or as a product of squares is given. This is then applied to some particular classes of elements. Finally, a question about…

We present obstruction results for self-similar groups regarding the generation of free groups. As a main consequence of our main results, we solve an open problem posed by Grigorchuk by showing that in an automaton group where a…

Known and new results on free Boolean topological groups are collected. An account of properties which these groups share with free or free Abelian topological groups and properties specific of free Boolean groups is given. Special emphasis…

Proving a conjecture of Dennis Johnson, we show that the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group has a finite generating set whose size grows cubically with respect to the genus of the surface. Our main tool is a new space called the…

We give an alternative description of the top algebra of the free crossed square of algebras on 2-construction data in terms of tensors and coproducts of crossed modules of commutative algebras.

A free semigroupoid algebra is the closure of the algebra generated by a TCK family of a graph in the weak operator topology. We obtain a structure theory for these algebras analogous to that of free semigroup algebra. We clarify the role…

We give a method for constructing dense and free subgroups in real Lie groups. In particular we show that any dense subgroup of a connected semisimple real Lie group G contains a free group on two generators which is still dense in G, and…

We construct finitely generated simple torsion-free groups with strong homological control. Our main result is that every subset of $\mathbb{N} \cup \{\infty\}$, with some obvious exceptions, can be realized as the set of dimensions of…

We give a topological interpretation of the free metabelian group, following the plan described in [Ver1,Ver2]. This interpretation is based on considering the Caley graph of a finitely generated group G as one-dimensional complex; its…

We provide sufficient conditions for two subgroups of a hierarchically hyperbolic group to generate an amalgamated free product over their intersection. The result applies in particular to certain geometric subgroups of mapping class groups…

A self-contained exposition is given of the topological and Galois-theoretic properties of the category of combinatorial 1-complexes, or graphs, very much in the spirit of Stallings. A number of classical, as well as some new results about…

A natural topology on the space of left orderings of an arbitrary semi-group is introduced. It is proved that this space is compact and that for free abelian groups it is homeomorphic to the Cantor set. An application of this result is a…

We show that every bounded automaton group can be embedded in a finitely generated, simple amenable group. The proof is based on the study of the topological full groups associated to the Schreier dynamical system of the mother groups. We…

We construct a commutative version of the group ring and show that it allows one to translate questions about the normal generation of groups into questions about the generation of ideals in commutative rings. We demonstrate this with an…

We show that every Grigorchuk group $G_\omega$ embeds in (the commutator subgroup of) the topological full group of a minimal subshift. In particular, the topological full group of a Cantor minimal system can have subgroups of intermediate…

Let G be a word-hyperbolic group, obtained as a graph of free groups amalgamated along cyclic subgroups. If H_2(G;Q) is nonzero, then G contains a closed hyperbolic surface subgroup. Moreover, the unit ball of the Gromov-Thurston norm on…

We prove the definability, and actually the finiteness of the commutator width, of many commutator subgroups in groups definable in o-minimal structures. It applies in particular to derived series and to lower central series of solvable…

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 give a new proof of the theorem of Birman-Powell that the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface of genus at least 3 is generated by simple homeomorphisms known as bounding pair maps. The key…

We propose a generalization of the concept of a Ribbon graph suitable to provide combinatorial models for marked surfaces equipped with a G-structure. Our main insight is that the necessary combinatorics is neatly captured in the concept of…