Related papers: The Tits alternative for Out(F_n) I: Dynamics of e…
The proof of the Tits alternative for $Out(F_n)$ is completed. The main tool is a Kolchin type theorem, proved in this paper. It states that a finitely generated subgroup of $Out(F_n)$ consisting of unipotent automorphisms can be conjugated…
Let $G=G_1\ast\dots\ast G_k\ast F$ be a countable group which splits as a free product, where all groups $G_i$ are freely indecomposable and not isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}$, and $F$ is a finitely generated free group. If for all…
This paper, which is the last of a series of three papers, studies dynamical properties of elements of $\mathrm{Out}(F_{\tt n})$, the outer automorphism group of a nonabelian free group $F_{\tt n}$. We prove that, for every subgroup $H$ of…
The main result of this paper is an algorithmic answer to the question raised in the title, up to replacing the given $\hat{\phi} \in Out(F_n)$ by a positive power. In order to provide this algorithm, it is shown that every polynomially…
This is the second in a series of four papers (with research announcement posted on this arXiv) that together develop a decomposition theory for subgroups of Out(F_n). In this paper we relativize the "Kolchin-type theorem" from the work of…
This is the introduction to a series of four papers that develop a decomposition theory for subgroups of Out(F_n) which generalizes the theory for elements of Out(F_n) found in the work of Bestvina, Feighn, and Handel on the Tits…
The so-called Tits class, associated to an adjoint absolutely almost simple algebraic group, provides a cohomological obstruction for this group to admit an outer automorphism. If the group has inner type, this obstruction is the only one.…
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 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…
We will survey the work on the topology of $Out(F_n)$ in the last 20 years or so. Much of the development is driven by the tantalizing analogy with mapping class groups. Unfortunately, $Out(F_n)$ is more complicated and less well-behaved.…
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…
A recent article of J.P. Bell, K. Huang, W. Peng and T.J. Tucker establishes an analog of the Tits alternative for semigroups of endomorphisms of the projective line. The proof involves a ping-pong argument on arithmetic height functions.…
A companion result of the the Tits alternative for $Out(F_n)$ is proved: Every solvable subgroup of $Out(F_n)$ is finitely generated and virtually abelian.
This paper, which is the second of a series of three papers, studies dynamical properties of elements of $\mathrm{Out}(F_{\tt n})$, the outer automorphism group of a nonabelian free group $F_{\tt n}$. We prove that, for every exponentially…
We discuss various types of Tits Alternative for subgroups of graph products of groups, and prove that, under some natural conditions, a graph product of groups satisfies a given form of Tits Alternative if and only if each vertex group…
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 toric affine algebraic variety $X$ and a collection of one-parameter unipotent subgroups $U_1,\ldots,U_s$ of $\mathop{\rm Aut}(X)$ which are normalized by the torus acting on $X$, we show that the group $G$ generated by…
A fully irreducible outer automorphism phi of the free group F_n of rank n has an expansion factor which often differs from the expansion factor of the inverse of phi. Nevertheless, we prove that the ratio between the logarithms of the…
We study the speed of growth of iterates of outer automorphisms of virtually special groups, in the Haglund-Wise sense. We show that each automorphism grows either polynomially or exponentially, and that its stretch factor is an algebraic…
We show that the automorphism group of a one-dimensional full shift (the group of reversible cellular automata) does not satisfy the Tits alternative. That is, we construct a finitely-generated subgroup which is not virtually solvable yet…