arXiv research

We describe a procedure which verifies that a group given by generators and relators is word-hyperbolic. This procedure always works with a group which is word-hyperbolic, provided there is sufficient memory and time devoted to the problem. If the group is not word-hyperbolic, the procedure continues indefinitely. We a…

A longstanding question of Gromov asks whether every one-ended word-hyperbolic group contains a subgroup isomorphic to the fundamental group of a closed hyperbolic surface. An infinite family of word-hyperbolic groups can be obtained by taking doubles of free groups amalgamated along words that are not proper powers. W…

Groups satisfy linear surface isoperimetric functions.

We examine residual properties of word-hyperbolic groups, adapting a method introduced by Darren Long to study the residual properties of Kleinian groups.

Proves restrictions on projective Anosov representations of hyperbolic groups.

We prove an equivariant version of the fact that word-hyperbolic groups have finite asymptotic dimension. This is important in connection with our forthcoming proof of the Farrell-Jones conjecture in algebraic K-theory for every word-hyperbolic group G and every coefficient ring R.

Proves involutions on Right-angled Coxeter groups without fixed points.

New findings on algebraic structure of hyperbolic graph braid groups.

The notions of stable and Morse subgroups of finitely generated groups generalize the concept of a quasiconvex subgroup of a word-hyperbolic group. For a word-hyperbolic group $G$, Kapovich provided a partial algorithm which, on input a finite set $S$ of $G$, halts if $S$ generates a quasiconvex subgroup of $G$ and run…

New spectral Dehn function characterizes word-hyperbolic groups.

We prove the Borel Conjecture for a class of groups containing word-hyperbolic groups and groups acting properly, isometrically and cocompactly on a finite dimensional CAT(0)-space.

Let S be a closed surface of genus at least 2. We show that a finitely generated group G which is an extension of the fundamental group H of S is word hyperbolic if and only the orbit map of the quotient group G/H on the complex of curves is a quasi-isometric embedding.This in turn is equivalent to G/H being convex coc…

There are certain families of words and word sequences (words in the generators of a two-generator group) that arise frequently in the Teichm{ü}ller theory of hyperbolic three-manifolds and Kleinian and Fuchsian groups and in the discreteness problem for two generator matrix groups. We survey some of the families of su…

The paper characterizes convex co-compact groups with one-dimensional boundary faces.

Let (W,S) be a finite rank Coxeter system with W infinite. We prove that the limit weak order on the blocks of infinite reduced words of W is encoded by the topology of the Tits boundary of the Davis complex X of W. We consider many special cases, including W word hyperbolic, and X with isolated flats. We establish tha…

Exponential proportion of pseudo-Anosovs in mapping class groups.

The Manhattan curve connects metrics of hyperbolic groups, showing rigidity.

We define the notion of affine Anosov representations of word hyperbolic groups into the affine group $\mathsf{SO}^0(n+1,n)\ltimes\mathbb{R}^{2n+1}$. We then show that a representation $ρ$ of a word hyperbolic group is affine Anosov if and only if its linear part $\mathtt{L}_ρ$ is Anosov in $\mathsf{SO}^0(n+1,n)$ with …

The study shows that certain groups can be uniquely identified by their finite abelian summands.

We show that for a hyperbolic knot complement, all but at most 12 Dehn fillings are irreducible with infinite word-hyperbolic fundamental group.

We investigate the average-case complexity of decision problems for finitely generated groups, in particular the word and membership problems. Using our recent results on ``generic-case complexity'' we show that if a finitely generated group $G$ has the word problem solvable in subexponential time and has a subgroup of…

New hyperbolic 3-pseudomanifolds with unique properties.

Abstract Coxeter groups have growth rates that are Perron numbers.

We give a complete classification of complex hyperbolic $(n_1, n_2, n_3)$-triangle groups by types defined according to the ellipticity of two particular words of short length. This improves the Schwartz conjecture proved by Grossi.

Each free homotopy class of directed closed curves on a surface with boundary can be described by a cyclic reduced word in the generators of the fundamental group and their inverses. The word length is the number of letters of the cyclic word. If the surface has a hyperbolic metric with geodesic boundary, the geometric…

Let $G$ be a word hyperbolic group. We prove that the algebraic $K$-theory groups of $\dbZ [G]$, $K_n(\dbZ[G])$, have finite rank for all $n\in \dbZ$. For a few classes of groups, we give explicit formulas for the ranks of the algebraic $K$-theory groups of their group rings.

Characterizes Coxeter groups with specific boundary shapes.

We study properties of generic elements of groups of isometries of hyperbolic spaces. Under general combinatorial conditions, we prove that loxodromic elements are generic (i.e. they have full density with respect to counting in balls for the word metric) and translation length grows linearly. We provide applications t…

It is shown that a hyperbolic knot in the 3-sphere admits at most nine integral surgeries yielding 3-manifolds which are reducible or whose fundamental groups are not infinite word-hyperbolic.

For word-equations in groups, we find a logarithmic bound on non-solutions.

Let $G$ be a non-elementary word-hyperbolic group acting as a convergence group on a compact metrizable space $Z$ so that there exists a continuous $G$-equivariant map $i:\partial G\to Z$, which we call a \emph{Cannon-Thurston map}. We obtain two characterzations (a dynamical one and a geometric one) of conical limit p…

New examples show embeddings not approximated by Anosov representations.

For relatively hyperbolic groups, we investigate conditions guaranteeing that the subgroup generated by two relatively quasiconvex subgroups $Q_1$ and $Q_2$ is relatively quasiconvex and isomorphic to $Q_1 \ast_{Q_1 \cap Q_2} Q_2$. The main theorem extends results for quasiconvex subgroups of word-hyperbolic groups, an…

Let G be a word-hyperbolic group, obtained as a graph of free groups amalgamated along cyclic subgroups. If H_2(G;Q) is nonzero, then G contains a closed hyperbolic surface subgroup. Moreover, the unit ball of the Gromov-Thurston norm on H_2(G;R) is a finite-sided rational polyhedron.

We prove a rigidity theorem for the geometry of the unit ball in random subspaces of the scl norm in B_1^H of a free group. In a free group F of rank k, a random word w of length n (conditioned to lie in [F,F]) has scl(w)=log(2k-1)n/6log(n) + o(n/log(n)) with high probability, and the unit ball in a subspace spanned by…

Extends growth properties of hyperbolic groups to their extensions.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that very many Dehn fillings on a cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold yield a 3-manifold which is irreducible, atoroidal and not Seifert fibred, and which has infinite, word hyperbolic fundamental group. We establish an extension of the Thurston-Gromov $2π$ theorem by showing that if ea…

We study a notion of convex cocompactness for discrete subgroups of the projective general linear group acting (not necessarily irreducibly) on real projective space, and give various characterizations. A convex cocompact group in this sense need not be word hyperbolic, but we show that it still has some of the good pr…

The paper constructs hyperbolic elements in multiple spaces.

The study of geometric group theory has suggested several theorems related to subdivision tilings that have a natural hyperbolic structure. However, few examples exist. We construct subdivision tilings for the complement of every nonsingular, prime alternating link. These tilings define a combinatorial space at infinit…

Let $Γ$ be a word hyperbolic group with a cyclic JSJ decomposition that has only rigid vertex groups, which are all fundamental groups of closed surface groups. We show that any group $H$ quasi-isometric to $Γ$ is abstractly commensurable with $Γ$.

We develop a theory of convex cocompact subgroups of the mapping class group MCG of a closed, oriented surface S of genus at least 2, in terms of the action on Teichmuller space. Given a subgroup G of MCG defining an extension L_G: 1--> pi_1(S) --> L_G --> G -->1 we prove that if L_G is a word hyperbolic group then G i…

New method constructs non-quasiconvex subgroups in hyperbolic groups.

We give a criterion in terms of the boundary for the existence of a proper cocompact action of a word-hyperbolic group on a CAT(0) cube complex. We describe applications towards lattices and hyperbolic 3-manifold groups. In particular, by combining the theory of special cube complexes, the surface subgroup result of Ka…

Thurston conjectured that a closed triangulated 3-manifold in which every edge has degree 5 or 6, and no two edges of degree 5 lie in a common 2-cell, has word-hyperbolic fundamental group. We establish Thurston's conjecture by proving that such a manifold admits a piecewise Euclidean metric of non-positive curvature a…

A subset of a group is characteristic if it is invariant under every automorphism of the group. We study word length in fundamental groups of closed hyperbolic surfaces with respect to characteristic generating sets consisting of a finite union of orbits of the automorphism group, and show that the translation length o…

We prove that the rank problem is decidable in the class of torsion-free word-hyperbolic Kleinian groups. We also show that every group in this class has only finitely many Nielsen equivalence classes of generating sets of a given cardinality.

Let $G$ be a word hyperbolic group in the sense of Gromov and $P$ its associated Rips complex. We prove that the fixed point set $P^H$ is contractible for every finite subgroups $H$ of $G$. This is the main ingredient for proving that $P$ is a finite model for the universal space $e.g.$ of proper actions. As a corollar…