Related papers: Asymptotic invariants of residually finite just in…

We present a new method to construct finitely generated, residually finite, infinite torsion groups. In contrast to known constructions, a profinite perspective enables us to control finite quotients and normal subgroups of these torsion…

We show that the first $L^2$-betti number of a finitely generated residually finite group can be estimated from below by using ordinary first betti numbers of finite index normal subgroups. As an application we construct a finitely…

We construct first examples of infinite finitely generated residually finite torsion groups with positive rank gradient. In particular, these groups are non-amenable. Some applications to problems about cost and $L^2$-Betti numbers are…

We show that there exist non-unitarizable groups without non-abelian free subgroups. Both torsion and torsion free examples are constructed. As a by-product, we show that there exist finitely generated torsion groups with non-vanishing…

In this note we study sets of normal generators of finitely presented residually $p$-finite groups. We show that if an infinite, finitely presented, residually $p$-finite group $G$ is normally generated by $g_1,\dots,g_k$ with order…

We generalize Luck's Theorem to show that the L^2-Betti numbers of a residually amenable covering space are the limit of the L^2-Betti numbers of a sequence of amenable covering spaces. We show that any residually amenable covering space of…

We prove that every finitely presented group with positive first $\ell^2$-Betti number that virtually surjects onto $\mathbb Z$ is acylindrically hyperbolic. In particular, this implies acylindrical hyperbolicity of finitely presented…

Let $G$ be a countable group and $k$ a positive integer, we show that the $L^2$-Betti numbers of the group $G$ vanish up to degree $k$ provided that there is some infinite index subgroup $H$ with finite $k$th $L^2$-Betti number containing a…

We introduce a new real valued invariant for finitely presented groups called residual deficiency. Its main property is the following. Let G be a finitely presented group. If the residual deficiency of G is greater than one, then G has a…

We show that an infinite residually finite boundedly generated group has an infinite chain of finite index subgroups with ranks uniformly bounded, and give (sublinear) upper bounds on the ranks of arbitrary finite index subgroups of…

We determine the L^2-Betti numbers of all one-relator groups and all surface-plus-one-relation groups (surface-plus-one-relation groups were introduced by Hempel who called them one-relator surface groups). In particular we show that for…

We generalize a result of R. Thomas to establish the non-vanishing of the first l2-Betti number for a class of finitely generated groups.

We observe a criterion for groups to have vanishing virtual first Betti number and use it to give infinitely many examples of torsion-free, finitely generated, residually finite groups which aren't virtually diffuse. This answers a question…

The \emph{normal rank} of a group is the minimal number of elements whose normal closure coincides with the group. We study the relation between the normal rank of a group and its first $\ell^2$-Betti number and conjecture that inequality…

We study a family of finitely generated residually finite groups. These groups are doubles $F_2*_H F_2$ of a rank-$2$ free group $F_2$ along an infinitely generated subgroup $H$. Varying $H$ yields uncountably many groups up to isomorphism.

We provide polynomial lower bounds for residual finiteness of residually finite, finitely generated solvable groups that admit infinite order elements in the Fitting subgroup of strict distortion at least exponential. For this class of…

In $2019$ Hyde and the second author constructed the first family of finitely generated, simple, left orderable groups. We prove that these groups are not finitely presentable, non-inner amenable, don't have Kazhdan's property $(T)$ (yet…

We show that the virtual second Betti number of a finitely generated, residually free group $G$ is finite if and only if $G$ is either free, free abelian or the fundamental group of a closed surface. We also prove a similar statement in…

We establish a connection between Dixmier's unitarisability problem and the expected degree of random forests on a group. As a consequence, a residually finite group is non-unitarisable if its first L2-Betti number is non-zero or if it is…

We show that every finitely generated residually finite torsion group $G$ embeds in a finitely generated torsion group $\Gamma$ that is residually finite simple. In particular we show the existence of finitely generated infinite torsion…