Related papers: Snowflake groups, Perron-Frobenius eigenvalues, an…

Let $X=S\times E \times B$ be the metric product of a symmetric space $S$ of noncompact type, a Euclidean space $E$ and a product $B$ of Euclidean buildings. Let $\Gamma$ be a discrete group acting isometrically and cocompactly on $X$. We…

Given a finitely presented group $G$ and a surjective homomorphism $G\to \mathbb{Z}^n$ with finitely presented kernel $K$, we give an upper bound on the Dehn function of $K$ in terms of an area-radius pair for $G$. As a consequence we…

We bound the higher-order Dehn functions and other filling invariants of certain Carnot groups using approximation techniques. These groups include the higher-dimensional Heisenberg groups, jet groups, and central products of two-step…

We establish the existence, finiteness, and uniqueness up to scaling of various isoperimetric profiles of a group, in all dimensions. We also show that these profiles all coincide in dimensions 4 and higher; in particular, the nth Dehn…

It is shown that there exist infinitely many non-integers $r>2$ such that the Dehn function of some finitely presented group is $\simeq n^r$. For each positive rational number $s$ we construct pairs of finitely presented groups $H\subset G$…

Consider the surface measure $\mu$ on a sphere in a nonvertical hyperplane on the Heisenberg group $\mathbb{H}^n$, $n\ge 2$, and the convolution $f*\mu$. Form the associated maximal function $Mf=\sup_{t>0}|f*\mu_t|$ generated by the…

In this thesis we investigate the Dehn functions of two different classes of groups: subdirect products, in particular subdirect products of limit groups; and Bestvina-Brady groups. Let D = \Gamma_1 \times ... \times \Gamma_n be a direct…

On the one hand, it is well known that the only subquadratic Dehn function of finitely presented groups is the linear one. On the other hand there is a huge class of Dehn functions $d(n)$ with growth at least $n^4$ (essentially all possible…

We introduce the notion of $n$-split for an epimorphism from a group to a finite rank free abelian group. This is used to provide bounds for the Dehn functions of certain coabelian subgroups of direct products of finitely presented groups.…

We address the problem of which functions can arise as Dehn functions of K\"ahler groups. We explain why there are examples of K\"ahler groups with linear, quadratic, and exponential Dehn function. We then proceed to show that there is an…

We introduce a \emph{spectral Dehn function} \[ \Lambda_{\mathcal{P}}(n):=\inf \lambda_1(\Delta), \] where $\lambda_1(\Delta)$ is the first Dirichlet eigenvalue of the random-walk Laplacian on a van Kampen diagram $\Delta$, and the infimum…

Suppose $\Gamma$ is an arithmetic group defined over a global field $K$, that the $K$-type of $\Gamma$ is $A_n$ with $n \geq 2$, and that the ambient semisimple group that contains $\Gamma$ as a lattice has at least two noncocompact…

We prove a Filling Theorem for the Heisenberg Groups $H^{2n+1}$: For a given $k$-cycle $a$ we construct a $(k+1)$-chain $b$ (the filling) with boundary $\partial b=a$ and controlled volume. For this filling $b$ we prove a uniform bound on…

The higher divergence of a metric space describes its isoperimetric behaviour at infinity. It is closely related to the higher-dimensional Dehn functions, but has more requirements to the fillings. We prove that these additional…

We exhibit novel geometric phenomena in the study of conjugacy problems for discrete groups. We prove that the snowflake groups $B_{pq}$, indexed by pairs of positive integers $p>q$, have conjugator length functions $\text{CL}(n)\simeq n$…

Subgroups of direct products of finitely many finitely generated free groups form a natural class that plays an important role in geometric group theory. Its members include fundamental examples, such as the Stallings-Bieri groups. This…

We study special functions on euclidean spaces from the viewpoint of riemannian symmetric spaces. Here the euclidean space $E^n = G/K$ where $G$ is the semidirect product $R^n \cdot K$ of the translation group with a closed subgroup $K$ of…

Given a space $Y$ in $X$, a cycle in $Y$ may be filled with a chain in two ways: either by restricting the chain to $Y$ or by allowing it to be anywhere in $X$. When the pair $(G,H)$ acts on $(X, Y)$, we define the $k$-volume distortion…

Denote by $Sp(k,l)$ the quaternionic symplectic group of signature $(k,l)$. We study the deformation rigidity of the embedding $Sp(k,l) \times Sp(1) \hookrightarrow H$, where $H$ is either $Sp(k+1,l)$ or $Sp(k,l+1)$, this is done by…

We investigate properties of some spherical fonctions defined on hyperbolic groups using boundary representations on the Gromov boundary endowed with the Patterson-Sullivan measure class. We prove sharp decay estimates for spherical…