Related papers: The geometry of surface-by-free groups

Let $\Gamma$ be a word hyperbolic group with a cyclic JSJ decomposition that has only rigid vertex groups, which are all fundamental groups of closed surface groups. We show that any group $H$ quasi-isometric to $\Gamma$ is abstractly…

Two groups have a common model geometry if they act properly and cocompactly by isometries on the same proper geodesic metric space. The Milnor-Schwarz lemma implies that groups with a common model geometry are quasi-isometric; however, the…

A finitely presented, torsion free, abelian-by-cyclic group can always be written as an ascending HNN extension Gamma_M of Z^n, determined by an n x n integer matrix M with det(M) \ne 0. The group Gamma_M is polycyclic if and only if…

These notes are the English version of the paper "Hyperbolicit\'e du graphe des rayons et quasi-morphismes sur un gros groupe modulaire". The mapping class group Gamma of the complement of a Cantor set in the plane arises naturally in…

A well known question of Gromov asks whether every one-ended hyperbolic group $\Gamma$ has a surface subgroup. We give a positive answer when $\Gamma$ is the fundamental group of a graph of free groups with cyclic edge groups. As a result,…

A simple surface amalgam is the union of a finite collection of surfaces with precisely one boundary component each and which have their boundary curves identified. We prove if two fundamental groups of simple surface amalgams act properly…

Let $G$ be a hyperbolic group that splits as a graph of free groups with cyclic edge groups. We prove that, unless $G$ is isomorphic to a free product of free and surface groups, every finite abelian group $M$ appears as a direct summand in…

We introduce the co-surface graph $\mathcal{CS}$ of a finitely generated free group $\mathbb{F}$ and use it to study the geometry of hyperbolic group extensions of $\mathbb{F}$. Among other things, we show that the Gromov boundary of the…

Let $\Gamma$ be the fundamental group of a surface of finite type and Comm$(\Gamma)$ be its abstract commensurator. Then Comm$(\Gamma)$ contains the solvable Baumslag--Solitar groups $\langle a ,b : a b a^{-1} = b^n \rangle$ for any $n >…

We prove several rigidity properties for random quotients of mapping class groups of surfaces, namely whose kernel is normally generated by the n-th steps of finitely many independent random walks. Firstly, we generalise a celebrated…

Let $\Gamma$ be a torsion-free hyperbolic group. We study $\Gamma$--limit groups which, unlike the fundamental case in which $\Gamma$ is free, may not be finitely presentable or geometrically tractable. We define model $\Gamma$--limit…

Given any countable group $G$, we construct uncountably many quasi-isometry classes of proper geodesic metric spaces with quasi-isometry group isomorphic to $G$. Moreover, if the group $G$ is a hyperbolic group, the spaces we construct are…

The mapping class group $\Gamma$ of the complement of a Cantor set in the plane arises naturally in dynamics. We show that the ray graph, which is the analog of the complex of curves for this surface of infinite type, has infinite diameter…

Consider a one-ended word-hyperbolic group. If it is the fundamental group of a graph of free groups with cyclic edge groups then either it is the fundamental group of a surface or it contains a finitely generated one-ended subgroup of…

A group $\Gamma$ with a family of subgroups $\mathbb{P}$ is relatively hyperbolic if $\Gamma$ admits a cusp-uniform action on a proper $\delta$--hyperbolic space. We show that any two such spaces for a given group pair are quasi-isometric,…

Let Gamma be a torsion-free group which is hyperbolic relative to a collection of free abelian subgroups. We construct Makanin-Razborov diagrams for Gamma. We also prove that every system of equations over Gamma is equivalent to a finite…

We prove that an infinite-ended group whose one-ended factors have finite-index subgroups and are in a family of groups with a nonzero multiplicative invariant is not quasi-isometrically rigid. Combining this result with work of the first…

We study the quasi-isometric rigidity of a large family of finitely generated groups that split as graphs of groups with virtually free vertex groups and two-ended edge groups. Let $G$ be a group that is one-ended, hyperbolic relative to…

Two groups are virtually isomorphic if they can be obtained one from the other via a finite number of steps, where each step consists in taking a finite extension or a finite index subgroup (or viceversa). Virtually isomorphic groups are…

Let $\Gamma$ be a connected, triangle-free, planar graph with at least five vertices that has no separating vertices or edges. If the graph $\Gamma$ is $\mathcal{CFS}$, we prove that the right-angled Coxeter group $G_\Gamma$ is virtually a…