arXiv research

Study surfaces in 4-manifolds with cyclic fundamental group.

We use controlled topology applied to the action of the infinite dihedral group on a partially compactified plane and deduce two consequences for algebraic K-theory. The first is that the family in the K-theoretic Farrell-Jones conjecture can be reduced to only those virtually cyclic groups which admit a surjection wit…

The study explores smooth structures on specific four-manifolds with cyclic groups, finding many admit infinitely many smooth structures.

New definite 4-manifolds found with non-cyclic groups.

Generalized Baumslag-Solitar groups are defined as fundamental groups of graphs of groups with infinite cyclic vertex and edge groups. Forester proved (in "On uniqueness of JSJ decompositions of finitely generated groups", Comment. Math. Helv. 78 (2003) pp 740-751) that in most cases the defining graphs are cyclic JSJ …

We prove that there are finite area flat surfaces whose Veech group is an infinite cyclic group consisting of hyperbolic elements

We construct examples of free-by-cyclic hyperbolic groups which fiber in infinitely many ways over Z. The construction involves adding a specialized square 2-cell to a non-positively curved, squared 2-complex defined by labeled oriented graphs. The fundamental groups of the resulting complexes are hyperbolic, free-by-c…

Extends quantum annular homology to infinite sets.

We give a simple proof of a result originally due to Dimca and Suciu: a group that is both Kaehler and the fundamental group of a closed three-manifold is finite. We also prove that a group that is both the fundamental group of a closed three-manifold and of a non-Kaehler compact complex surface is infinite cyclic or t…

The paper solves the conjugacy problem in a specific braid group quotient and finds infinite virtually cyclic subgroups.

We classify the (finite and infinite) virtually cyclic subgroups of the pure braid groups $P_{n}(RP^2)$ of the projective plane. The maximal finite subgroups of $P_{n}(RP^2)$ are isomorphic to the quaternion group of order 8 if $n=3$, and to $\Z_{4}$ if $n\geq 4$. Further, for all $n\geq 3$, up to isomorphism, the foll…

We prove that $π_1(\text{Ham}(M))$ contains an infinite cyclic subgroup, where $\text{Ham}(M)$ is the Hamiltonian group of the one point blow up of ${\Bbb C}P^3$. We give a sufficient condition for the group $π_1(\text{Ham}(M))$ to contain an infinite cyclic subgroup, when $M$ is a general toric manifold.

We prove that the automorphism group of every infinitely-ended finitely generated group is acylindrically hyperbolic. In particular $\mathrm{Aut}(\mathbb{F}_n)$ is acylindrically hyperbolic for every $n\ge 2$. More generally, if $G$ is a group which is not virtually cyclic, and hyperbolic relative to a finite collectio…

We prove that on closed Riemannian manifolds with infinite abelian, but not cyclic, fundamental group, any isometry that is homotopic to the identity possesses infinitely many invariant geodesics. We conjecture that the result remains true if the fundamental group is infinite cyclic. We also formulate a generalization …

Uniform undistortion in cyclic subgroups of certain groups.

Two criteria for a closed connected definite 4-manifold with infinite cyclic fundamental group to be TOP-split are given. One criterion extends a sufficient condition made in a previous paper. The result is equivalent to a purely algebraic result on the question asking when a positive definite Hermitian form over the r…

Novikov theorem extended to rational Pontryagin classes for cyclic group $C_4$.

This paper computes the quadratic Witt groups (the Wall L-groups) of the polynomial ring Z[t] and the integral group ring of the infinite dihedral group, with various involutions. We show that some of these groups are infinite direct sums of cyclic groups of order 2 and 4. The techniques used are quadratic linking form…

We use assembly maps to study $\mathbf{TC}(\mathbb{A}[G];p)$, the topological cyclic homology at a prime $p$ of the group algebra of a discrete group $G$ with coefficients in a connective ring spectrum $\mathbb{A}$. For any finite group, we prove that the assembly map for the family of cyclic subgroups is an isomorphis…

The study shows that surface groups are the only non-free infinite index subgroups of certain hyperbolic groups.

Let Gamma be a finitely generated, amenable group. Using an idea of E Ghys, we prove that if Gamma has a nontrivial, orientation-preserving action on the real line, then Gamma has an infinite, cyclic quotient. (The converse is obvious.) This implies that if Gamma has a faithful action on the circle, then some finite-in…

Consider a one-ended word-hyperbolic group. If it is the fundamental group of a graph of free groups with cyclic edge groups then either it is the fundamental group of a surface or it contains a finitely generated one-ended subgroup of infinite index. As a corollary, the same holds for limit groups. We also obtain a ch…

We study knots in $S^3$ with infinitely many $SU(2)$-cyclic surgeries, which are Dehn surgeries such that every representation of the resulting fundamental group into $SU(2)$ has cyclic image. We show that for every such nontrivial knot $K$, its set of $SU(2)$-cyclic slopes is bounded and has a unique limit point, whic…

We associate to each infinite primitive Lie pseudogroup a Hopf algebra of `transverse symmetries', by refining a procedure due to Connes and the first author in the case of the general pseudogroup. The affiliated Hopf algebra can be viewed as a `quantum group' counterpart of the infinite-dimensional primitive Lie algeb…

We produce infinite families of exotic actions of finite cyclic groups on simply connected smooth 4-manifolds with nontrivial Seiberg-Witten invariants.

Cyclohedra are a well-known infinite familiy of finite-dimensional polytopes that can be constructed from centrally symmetric triangulations of even-sided polygons. In this article we introduce an infinite-dimensional analogue and prove that the group of symmetries of our construction is a semidirect product of a degre…

Let $Γ$ be either the infinite cyclic group $\mathbb{Z}$ or the Baumslag-Solitar group $\mathbb{Z} \ltimes \mathbb{Z}[\frac{1}{2}]$. Let $K$ be a slice knot admitting a slice disc $D$ in the 4-ball whose exterior has fundamental group $Γ$. We classify the $Γ$-homotopy ribbon slice discs for $K$ up to topological ambien…

We classify $SU(2)$-cyclic and $SU(2)$-abelian 3-manifolds, for which every representation of the fundamental group into $SU(2)$ has cyclic or abelian image respectively, among geometric 3-manifolds which are not hyperbolic. As an application, we give examples of hyperbolic 3-manifolds which do not admit degree-1 maps …

The paper studies mapping class groups of cyclic covers and their liftable counterparts.

The existence or non-existence of Einstein metrics on 4-manifolds with non-trivial fundamental group and the relation with the underlying differential structure are analyzed. For most points $(n,m)$ in a large region of the integer lattice, the manifold $n\mathbb C \mathbb P^2\#m \overline{\mathbb C \mathbb P^2}$ is sh…

Consider the cyclic group C_2 of order two acting by complex-conjugation on the unit circle S^1. The main result is that a finitely dominated manifold W of dimension > 4 admits a cocompact, free, discontinuous action by the infinite dihedral group D_\infty if and only if W is the infinite cyclic cover of a free C_2-man…

As a corollary of work of Ozsvath and Szabo [math.GT/0301149], it is shown that the classical concordance group of algebraically slice knots has an infinite cyclic summand and in particular is not a divisible group.

We study automorphisms of a relatively hyperbolic group G. When G is one-ended, we describe Out(G) using a preferred JSJ tree over subgroups that are virtually cyclic or parabolic. In particular, when G is toral relatively hyperbolic, Out(G) is virtually built out of mapping class groups and subgroups of GL_n(Z) fixing…

We show that the commutator subgroup G' of a classical knot group G need not have subgroups of every finite index, but it will if G' has a surjective homomorphism to the integers and we give an exact criterion for that to happen. We also give an example of a smoothly knotted n-sphere in the (n+2)-sphere for all n at le…

There is a question asking whether a handle-irreducible summand of every stable-ribbon surface-link is a unique ribbon surface-link. This question for the case of a trivial surface-link is affirmatively answered. That is, a handle-irreducible summand of every stably trivial surface-link is only a trivial 2-link. By com…

We provide infinitely many rational homology 3-spheres with weight-one fundamental groups which do not arise from Dehn surgery on knots in $S^3$. In contrast with previously known examples, our proofs do not require any gauge theory or Floer homology. Instead, we make use of the $SU(2)$ character variety of the fundame…

We present an algorithm that computes Bowditch's canonical JSJ decomposition of a given one-ended hyperbolic group over its virtually cyclic subgroups. The algorithm works by identifying topological features in the boundary of the group. As a corollary we also show how to compute the JSJ decomposition of such a group o…

We give a topological interpretation of the core group invariant of a surface embedded in S^4. We show that the group is isomorphic to the free product of the fundamental group of the double branch cover of S^4 with the surface as a branched set, and the infinite cyclic group. We present a generalization for unoriented…

It is known that if any prime power branched cyclic cover of a knot in the 3-sphere is a homology sphere, then the knot has vanishing Casson-Gordon invariants. We construct infinitely many examples of (topologically) non-slice knots in the 3-sphere whose prime power branched cyclic covers are homology spheres. We show …

The girth of a finitely generated group G is the supremum of the girth of Cayley graphs for G over all finite generating sets. Let G be a finitely generated subgroup of the mapping class group Mod(S), where S is a compact orientable surface. Then, either G is virtually abelian or it has infinite girth; moreover, if we …

This paper uses Brin and Thickstun's theory of end reductions of non-compact 3-manifolds to study groups of covering translations of irreducible contractible open 3-manifolds W which are not homeomorphic to R^3. We associate to W an object S(W) called the simplicial complex of minimal R^2-irreducible end reductions of …

Study subgroups of pro-$p$ PD^3 groups, finding specific conditions.

Given a TQFT in dimension d+1, and an infinite cyclic covering of a closed (d+1)-dimensional manifold M, we define an invariant taking values in a strong shift equivalence class of matrices. The notion of strong shift equivalence originated in R. Williams' work in symbolic dynamics. The Turaev-Viro module associated to…

Knots generating infinite subgroup bound rational homology balls.

For $Γ$ a relatively hyperbolic group, we construct a model for the universal space among $Γ$-spaces with isotropy on the family VC of virtually cyclic subgroups of $Γ$. We provide a recipe for identifying the maximal infinite virtually cyclic subgroups of Coxeter groups which are lattices in $O^+(n,1)= \iso(\mathbb H^…

Paper solves isomorphism problem for specific Baumslag-Solitar groups.

The Baumslag-Solitar groups: BS(m,n)=<x,y| x y^{m} x^{-1} = y^{n}> are some of the simplest interesting infinite groups which are not lattices in Lie groups. They have been studied in depth from the point of view of combinatorial group theory. It is natural to ask if the geometric approach to the theory of infinite gro…

In this article we give combinatorial criteria to decide whether a transitive cyclic combinatorial d-manifold can be generalized to an infinite family of such complexes, together with an explicit construction in the case that such a family exists. In addition, we substantially extend the classification of combinatorial…