Related papers: The Tits alternative for visibility spaces

Let $\Gamma$ be a finitely generated group equipped with a symmetric and nondegenerate probability measure $\mu$ with finite second moment, and $Y$ a CAT(0) space which is either proper or of finite telescopic dimension. We show that if an…

We show that if a group $G$ acts geometrically by type-preserving automorphisms on a building, then $G$ satisfies the weak Tits alternative, namely, that $G$ is either virtually abelian or contains a non-abelian free group.

We obtain a sufficient condition for lattices in the automorphism group of a finite dimensional CAT(0) cube complex to have infinite girth. As a corollary, we get a version of Girth Alternative for groups acting geometrically: any such…

We prove a version of the Tits alternative for groups acting on complete, finite rank median spaces. This shows that group actions on finite rank median spaces are much more restricted than actions on general median spaces. Along the way,…

Let k be a local field, and G a linear group over k. We prove that either G contains a relatively open solvable subgroup, or it contains a relatively dense free subgroup. This result has applications in dynamics, Riemannian foliations and…

We show that for every integer $d$, there is a constant $N(d)$ such that if $K$ is any field and $F$ is a finite subset of $GL_d(K)$, which generates a non amenable subgroup, then $F^{N(d)}$ contains two elements, which freely generate a…

This is the second of two papers but has been written so as to have minimal dependence on the first paper (which is also on this archive). Let G be a group and let M be a CAT(0) proper metric space (e.g. a simply connected complete…

We prove an analog of the Tits alternative for rational functions. In particular, we show that if $S$ is a finitely generated semigroup of rational functions over the complex numbers, then either $S$ has polynomially bounded growth or $S$…

Given a finitely generated group $\Gamma$, we study the space ${\rm Isom}(\Gamma,{\mathbb Q\mathbb U})$ of all actions of $\Gamma$ by isometries of the rational Urysohn metric space ${\mathbb Q\mathbb U}$, where ${\rm Isom}(\Gamma,{\mathbb…

In this paper, we prove a quantitative version of the Tits alternative for negatively pinched manifolds $X$. Precisely, we prove that a nonelementary discrete isometry subgroup of $\mathrm{Isom}(X)$ generated by two non-elliptic isometries…

Let $\Gamma'<\Gamma$ be two discrete groups acting properly by isometries on a Gromov-hyperbolic space $X$. We prove that their critical exponents coincide if and only if $\Gamma'$ is co-amenable in $\Gamma$, under the assumption that the…

Let $\Gamma$ be a finitely generated torsion free nilpotent group, and let $A^\omega$ be the space of infinite words over a finite alphabet $A$. We investigate two types of self-similar actions of $\Gamma$ on $A^\omega$, namely the…

In this paper, we investigate finitely generated groups of isometries of CAT(0) spaces containing some central hyperbolic isometry, and study CAT(0) groups. We show that every CAT(0) group $\Gamma$ has the semi-direct product structure…

We show that for any finitely generated group of matrices that is not virtually solvable, there is an integer m such that, given an arbitrary finite generating set for the group, one may find two elements a and b that are both products of…

We prove that every finitely generated, residually finite group $G$ embeds into a finitely generated perfect branch group $\Gamma$ such that many properties of $G$ are preserved under this embedding. Among those are the properties of being…

In this note we show that many subgroups of mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces without boundary have trivial centers, including all normal subgroups. Using similar techniques, we show that every nontrivial normal subgroup of a…

We prove a dynamical variant of the Tits alternative for the group of almost automorphisms of a locally finite tree $\mathcal{T}$: a group of almost automorphisms of $\mathcal{T}$ either contains a nonabelian free group playing ping-pong on…

Let G be a one-ended group acting discretely and co-compactly on a CAT(0) space X. We show that the boundary of X has no cut points and that one can detect splittings of $G$ over two-ended groups and recover its JSJ decomposition from the…

We prove that there exist finitely presented, residually finite groups that are profinitely rigid in the class of all finitely presented groups but not in the class of all finitely generated groups. These groups are of the form $\Gamma…

We prove the Tits alternative for an almost coherent $PD(3)$ group which is not virtually properly locally cyclic. In particular, we show that an almost coherent $PD(3)$ group which cannot be generated by fewer than four elements always…