English

Combinatorial isoperimetric inequality for the free factor complex

Group Theory 2025-04-16 v2 Geometric Topology

Abstract

We show that the free factor complex of the free group of rank greater than or equal to 4 does not satisfy a combinatorial isoperimetric inequality: that is, for every natural number N, there is a loop c_N of length 4 in the free factor complex such that the number of 2-simplices required to fill c_N grows at least as a linear function of N. To prove the result, we construct a coarsely Lipschitz function from the `upward link' of a free factor to the set of integers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2308.09973,
  title  = {Combinatorial isoperimetric inequality for the free factor complex},
  author = {Radhika Gupta},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.09973},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

10 pages, 5 figures, final version with shortened proof, to appear in Proc. Amer. Math. Soc

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:59:21.226Z