Related papers: Contractibility of deformation spaces of G-trees

Let G be a finitely generated group. Two simplicial G-trees are said to be in the same deformation space if they have the same elliptic subgroups (if H fixes a point in one tree, it also does in the other). Examples include…

We associate a contractible ``outer space'' to any free product of groups G=G_1*...*G_q. It equals Culler-Vogtmann space when G is free, McCullough-Miller space when no G_i is Z. Our proof of contractibility (given when G is not free) is…

We generalize the familiar notion of a Whitehead move from Culler and Vogtmann's Outer space to the setting of deformation spaces of G-trees. Specifically, we show that there are two moves, each of which transforms a reduced G-tree into…

The deformation space of a simplicial G-tree T is the set of G-trees which can be obtained from T by some collapse and expansion moves, or equivalently, which have the same elliptic subgroups as T. We give a short proof of a rigidity result…

We study a notion of deformation for simplicial trees with group actions (G-trees). Here G is a fixed, arbitrary group. Two G-trees are related by a deformation if there is a finite sequence of collapse and expansion moves joining them. We…

This note contains a newly streamlined version of the original proof that Outer space is contractible.

We prove that the road space of an R-special tree is contractible and that a locally metrizable space containing a copy of an uncountable $\omega_1$-compact subspace of a tree is not. We also raise some questions about possible…

We give a simple proof that the orbit space of the $p$-subgroup complex of a finite group is contractible using Brown-Forman discrete Morse theory. This result was originally conjectured by Webb and proved by Symonds.

We consider the space of embeddings of finitely many circles that bound disks in non-positively curved surfaces. We index the connected components of this space with finite rooted trees and show that the connected components are classifying…

We show that for every finite subgroup $G$ of $Aut(F_n)$, the fixed point subcomplex $X_n^G$ is contractible, where $F_n$ is the free group on $n$ letters and $X_n$ is the spine of ``auter space'' constructed by Hatcher and Vogtmann. In…

We construct an invariant deformation retract of a deformation space of G-trees. We show that this complex is finite dimensional in certain cases and provide an example that is not finite dimensional. Using this complex we compute the…

Numerably contractible spaces play an important role in the theory of homotopy pushouts and pullbacks. The corresponding results imply that a number of well known weak homotopy equivalences are genuine ones if numerably contractible spaces…

We extend Forester's rigidity theorem so as to give a complete characterization of rigid group actions on trees (an action is rigid if it is the only reduced action in its deformation space, in particular it is invariant under automorphisms…

Let $G$ be a countable group that splits as a free product of groups of the form $G=G_1\ast\dots\ast G_k\ast F_N$, where $F_N$ is a finitely generated free group. We identify the closure of the outer space…

For a given compact Hausdorff space $X$, we construct the space $OS_{f}(X)$ of normed, order-preserving, weakly additive, positively homogeneous and semi-additive functionals (for brevity, semi-additive functionals) and it is proved that…

We define the symmetric (outer) automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group and construct for it a (spine of) Outer space. This `symmetric spine' is a contractible cube complex upon which the symmetric outer automorphism group acts…

Let $G$ be a reductive group and $X$ a smooth projective curve. We prove that, for $G$ classical and $\sigma$ an arbitrary $G$-local system on $X$, the space $\overline{\operatorname{Op}}^{gen}_{G,\sigma}$ of generic extended oper…

We define an algebro-geometric model for the space of rational maps from a smooth curve X to an algebraic group G, and show that this space is homologically contractible. As a consequence, we deduce that the moduli space Bun(G) of G-bundles…

For a finitely generated free group F_n, of rank at least 2, any finite subgroup of Out(F_n) can be realized as a group of automorphisms of a graph with fundamental group F_n. This result, known as Out(F_n) realization, was proved by…

We present a construction, called the limit of a tree system of spaces (or, less formally, a tree of spaces). The construction is designed to produce compact metric spaces that resemble fractals, out of more regular spaces, such as closed…