arXiv research

In the present paper, we prove that no infinite group acts isometrically, effectively, and properly discontinuously on a certain class of Lorentzian manifolds that are not necessarily homogeneous.

This article gives an up-to-date account of the theory of discrete group actions on non-Riemannian homogeneous spaces. As an introduction of the motifs of this article, we begin by reviewing the current knowledge of possible global forms of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds with constant curvatures, and discuss what kind of …

We study the properly discontinuous and isometric actions on the unit sphere of infinite dimensional Hilbert spaces and we get some new examples of Hilbert manifold with costant positive sectional curvature. We prove some necessary conditions for a group to act isometrically and properly discontinuously and in the case…

In this article we study properly discontinuous actions on Hilbert manifolds giving new examples of complete Hilbert manifolds with nonnegative, respectively nonpositive, sectional curvature with infinite fundamental group. We also get examples of complete infinite dimensional Kähler manifolds with positive holomorphic…

We give a lower bound to the dimension of a contractible manifold on which a given group can act properly discontinuously. In particular, we show that the $n$-fold product of nonabelian free groups cannot act properly discontinuously on $\R^{2n-1}$.

We consider the deformation of a discontinuous group acting on the Euclidean space by affine transformations. A distinguished feature here is that even a `small' deformation of a discrete subgroup may destroy proper discontinuity of its action. In order to understand the local structure of the deformation space of disc…

Whenever a finitely generated group $G$ acts properly discontinuously by isometries on a metric space $X$, there is an induced uniform embedding (a Lipschitz and uniformly proper map) $ρ: G \rightarrow X$ given by mapping $G$ to an orbit. We study when there is a difference between a finitely generated group $G$ acting…

The study establishes conditions for groups acting on polygonal complexes to contain virtually free subgroups.

The paper constructs a free abelian group from Anosov representations on bundles.

A 2-manifold's group structure is deduced from orbit configuration spaces.

This paper proves the existence of a smooth embedding for symmetrical manifolds.

Study of groups acting on complex projective varieties.

We study the action of the group of polynomial automorphisms of C^n (n>2) which preserve the Markoff-Hurwitz polynomial H(x):= x_1^2 + x_2^2 + ... + x_n^2 - x_1 x_2 ... x_n. Our main results include the determination of the group, the description of a non-empty open subset of C^n on which the group acts properly discon…

Properly discontinuous actions of a surface group by affine automorphisms of $\mathbb R^d$ were shown to exist by Danciger-Gueritaud-Kassel. We show, however, that if the linear part of an affine surface group action is in the Hitchin component, then the action fails to be properly discontinuous. The key case is that o…

The paper studies proper discontinuity of actions on Weyl chamber flow spaces.

Crooked planes are piecewise linear surfaces that were introduced by Drumm in the early 1990s to construct fundamental domains for properly discontinuous actions of free groups on Minkowski 3-space. In a previous paper, we introduced analogues of these surfaces, called AdS crooked planes, in the 3-dimensional anti-de S…

Margulis space-times with parabolic holonomy elements are stable under sufficiently small deformations.

Every lattice H in a connected semi-simple Lie group G acts properly discontinuously by isometries on the contractible manifold G/K (K a maximal compact subgroup of G). We prove that if H acts on a contractible manifold W and if either 1) the action is properly discontinuous, or 2) W is equipped with a complete Riemann…

Sharpness of actions on reductive homogeneous spaces proven for various groups.

Geodesically complete affine manifolds are quotients of the Euclidean space through a properly discontinuous action of a subgroup of affine Euclidean transformations. An equivalent definition is that the tangent bundle of such a manifold admits a flat, symmetric and complete connection. If the completeness assumption i…

The Tits alternative applies to groups acting on specific CAT(0) spaces.

Paper finds surface groups can deform in reductive symmetric spaces.

New insights into the geometry of flows on 3-manifolds.

In this paper it is proved that if a finitely presented group acts properly discontinuously, cocompactly and by isometries on a simply connected Riemannian manifold, then the two Dehn functions, of the group and the manifold, respectively, are equivalent.

The action dimension of a group G is the minimal dimension of a contractible manifold that G acts on properly discontinuously. We show that if G acts properly and cocompactly on a thick Euclidean building, then the action dimension is bounded below by twice the dimension of the building. We also compute the action dime…

The study explores deformations of discrete subgroups in non-compact homogeneous spaces.

We prove that if a finitely presented group acts properly discontinuously, cocompactly and by isometries on a simply connected Riemannian manifold, then the Dehn function of the group and the corresponding filling function of the manifold are equivalent, in a sense described below.

Motivated by the work of McCarthy and Papadopoulos for subgroups of mapping class groups, we construct domains of proper discontinuity in the compactified Outer space and in the projectivized space of geodesic currents for any "sufficiently large" subgroup of $Out(F_N)$ (that is, a subgroup containing a hyperbolic iwip…

Study on conformal transformations of Cahen-Wallach spaces, focusing on fixed points and discontinuous groups.

We use the combinatorial harmonic map theory to study the isometric actions of discrete groups on Hadamard spaces. Given a finitely generated group acting by automorphisms, properly discontinuously and cofinitely on a simplicial complex and its isometric action on a Hadamard space, we formulate criterions for the actio…

We survey recent work on the dynamics of the outer automorphism group of a word hyperbolic group on spaces of (conjugacy classes of) representations ofthe group into a semi-simple Lie group G. All these results are motivated by the fact that the mapping class group of a closed surface acts properly discontinuously on t…

Previously one of the authors constructed uncountable families of groups of type $FP$ and of $n$-dimensional Poincaré duality groups for each $n\geq 4$. We strengthen these results by showing that these groups comprise uncountably many quasi-isometry classes. We deduce that for each $n\geq 4$ there are uncountably many…

This article discusses the existence problem of a compact quotient of a symmetric space by a properly discontinuous group with emphasis on the non-Riemannian case. Discontinuous groups are not always abundant in a homogeneous space $G/H$ if $H$ is non-compact. The first half of the article elucidates general machinery …

Let N be a simply connected, connected real nilpotent Lie group of finite dimension n. We study subgroups $Γ$ in $\Aff (N)=N\rtimes \Aut (N)$ acting properly discontinuously and cocompactly on N. This situation is a natural generalization of the so-called affine crystallographic groups. We prove that for all dimensions…

Morse inequalities for noncompact manifolds with group action.

Study stabilizes representations of hyperbolic groups, finding new characterizations.

Cube complexes allow hyperbolic groups to have Anosov representations.

We describe smooth compactifications of certain families of reductive homogeneous spaces such as group manifolds for classical Lie groups, or pseudo-Riemannian analogues of real hyperbolic spaces and their complex and quaternionic counterparts. We deduce compactifications of Clifford-Klein forms of these homogeneous sp…

We discuss a problem posed by Gersten: Is every automatic group which does not contain Z+Z subgroup, hyperbolic? To study this question, we define the notion of "n-tracks of length n", which is a structure like Z+Z, and prove its existence in the non-hyperbolic automatic groups with mild conditions. As an application, …

Study vector fields on non-compact manifolds with group action.

Holomorphic actions on complex spaces for nilpotent groups.

This note introduces and studies an open set of PSL(2,C) characters of a nonabelian free group, on which the action of the outer automorphism group is properly discontinuous, and which is strictly larger than the set of discrete, faithful convex-cocompact (i.e. Schottky) characters. This implies, in particular, that th…

Study foliations in PSL(4,R)-Teichmüller theory, proving two invariant foliations.

The notion of Anosov representations has been introduced by Labourie in his study of the Hitchin component for SL(n,R). Subsequently, Anosov representations have been studied mainly for surface groups, in particular in the context of higher Teichmueller spaces, and for lattices in SO(1,n). In this article we extend the…

For covering spaces and properly discontinuous actions with compatible diffusion processes, we discuss Lyons-Sullivan discretizations of the processes and the associated function theory.

We prove that a Kähler group which is cubulable, i.e. which acts properly discontinuously and cocompactly on a CAT(0) cubical complex, has a finite index subgroup isomorphic to a direct product of surface groups, possibly with a free Abelian factor. Similarly, we prove that a closed aspherical Kähler manifold with a cu…

We find a canonical decomposition of a geodesic current on a surface of finite type arising from a topological decomposition of the surface along special geodesics. We show that each component either is associated to a measured lamination or has positive systole. For a current with positive systole, we show that the in…

Proves the bending map is proper for hyperbolic 3-manifolds.