English

CAT(-1) metrics on small cancellation groups

Group Theory 2016-07-13 v2

Abstract

We give a proof that groups satisfying the "uniform C'(1/6)" small cancellation condition admit a geometric action on a CAT(-1) space. It follows that random groups at density <1/12 are CAT(-1). The proof consists of a direct construction of a piecewise hyperbolic structure on the presentation complex of such a group, together with folding moves to make the complex negatively curved. The argument was originally suggested by Gromov.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1607.02580,
  title  = {CAT(-1) metrics on small cancellation groups},
  author = {Samuel Brown},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1607.02580},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

12 pages. Since completing the first version, we have become aware that the main theorem is originally due to Gromov, and that the argument has been previously described by Alexandre Martin in the more general setting of small cancellation theory over graphs of groups (see http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.6847). We hope that our short account of the proof in the classical setting will still be useful

R2 v1 2026-06-22T14:49:52.576Z