Packing subgroups in solvable groups

We show that any subgroup of a (virtually) nilpotent-by-polycyclic group satisfies the bounded packing property of Hruska-Wise. In particular, the same is true about metabelian groups and linear solvable groups. However, we find an example of a finitely generated solvable group of derived length 3 which admits a finitely generated subgroup without the bounded packing property. In this example the subgroup is a metabelian retract also. Thus we obtain a negative answer to Problem 2.27 of Hruska-Wise. On the other hand, we show that polycyclic subgroups of solvable groups satisfy the bounded packing property.Comment: 8 pages, no figur

Which groups are amenable to proving exponent two for matrix multiplication?

The Cohn-Umans group-theoretic approach to matrix multiplication suggests embedding matrix multiplication into group algebra multiplication, and bounding $\omega$ in terms of the representation theory of the host group. This framework is general enough to capture the best known upper bounds on $\omega$ and is conjectured to be powerful enough to prove $\omega = 2$, although finding a suitable group and constructing such an embedding has remained elusive. Recently it was shown, by a generalization of the proof of the Cap Set Conjecture, that abelian groups of bounded exponent cannot prove $\omega = 2$ in this framework, which ruled out a family of potential constructions in the literature. In this paper we study nonabelian groups as potential hosts for an embedding. We prove two main results: (1) We show that a large class of nonabelian groups---nilpotent groups of bounded exponent satisfying a mild additional condition---cannot prove $\omega = 2$ in this framework. We do this by showing that the shrinkage rate of powers of the augmentation ideal is similar to the shrinkage rate of the number of functions over $(\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z})^n$ that are degree $d$ polynomials; our proof technique can be seen as a generalization of the polynomial method used to resolve the Cap Set Conjecture. (2) We show that symmetric groups $S_n$ cannot prove nontrivial bounds on $\omega$ when the embedding is via three Young subgroups---subgroups of the form $S_{k_1} \times S_{k_2} \times \dotsb \times S_{k_\ell}$---which is a natural strategy that includes all known constructions in $S_n$. By developing techniques for negative results in this paper, we hope to catalyze a fruitful interplay between the search for constructions proving bounds on $\omega$ and methods for ruling them out.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur

Approximate groups, III: the unitary case

By adapting the classical proof of Jordan's theorem on finite subgroups of linear groups, we show that every approximate subgroup of the unitary group U_n(C) is almost abelian.Comment: 19 pages, several revisions in the light of very helpful comments from the referee, including a simplification of the main argumen

Approximate groups and their applications: work of Bourgain, Gamburd, Helfgott and Sarnak

This is a survey of several exciting recent results in which techniques originating in the area known as additive combinatorics have been applied to give results in other areas, such as group theory, number theory and theoretical computer science. We begin with a discussion of the notion of an approximate group and also that of an approximate field, describing key results of Freiman-Ruzsa, Bourgain-Katz-Tao, Helfgott and others in which the structure of such objects is elucidated. We then move on to the applications. In particular we will look at the work of Bourgain and Gamburd on expansion properties of Cayley graphs on SL_2(F_p) and at its application in the work of Bourgain, Gamburd and Sarnak on nonlinear sieving problems.Comment: 25 pages. Survey article to accompany my forthcoming talk at the Current Events Bulletin of the AMS, 2010. A reference added and a few small changes mad

On the asymptotic geometry of abelian-by-cyclic groups

A finitely presented, torsion free, abelian-by-cyclic group can always be written as an ascending HNN extension Gamma_M of Z^n, determined by an n x n integer matrix M with det(M) \ne 0. The group Gamma_M is polycyclic if and only if |det(M)|=1. We give a complete classification of the nonpolycyclic groups Gamma_M up to quasi-isometry: given n x n integer matrices M,N with |det(M)|, |det(N)| > 1, the groups Gamma_M, Gamma_N are quasi-isometric if and only if there exist positive integers r,s such that M^r, N^s have the same absolute Jordan form. We also prove quasi-isometric rigidity: if Gamma_M is an abelian-by-cyclic group determined by an n x n integer matrix M with |det(M)| > 1, and if G is any finitely generated group quasi-isometric to Gamma_M, then there is a finite normal subgroup K of G such that G/K is abstractly commensurable to Gamma_N, for some n x n integer matrix N with |det(N)| > 1.Comment: 65 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Acta Mathematic

Stallings graphs for quasi-convex subgroups

We show that one can define and effectively compute Stallings graphs for quasi-convex subgroups of automatic groups (\textit{e.g.} hyperbolic groups or right-angled Artin groups). These Stallings graphs are finite labeled graphs, which are canonically associated with the corresponding subgroups. We show that this notion of Stallings graphs allows a unified approach to many algorithmic problems: some which had already been solved like the generalized membership problem or the computation of a quasi-convexity constant (Kapovich, 1996); and others such as the computation of intersections, the conjugacy or the almost malnormality problems. Our results extend earlier algorithmic results for the more restricted class of virtually free groups. We also extend our construction to relatively quasi-convex subgroups of relatively hyperbolic groups, under certain additional conditions.Comment: 40 pages. New and improved versio