Subgroups of direct products of two limit groups

If S is a subgroup of a direct product of two limit groups, and S is of type FP(2) over the rationals, then S has a subgroup of finite index that is a direct product of at most two limit groups.Comment: 18 pages, no figure

Residually free 3-manifolds

We classify those compact 3-manifolds with incompressible toral boundary whose fundamental groups are residually free. For example, if such a manifold $M$ is prime and orientable and the fundamental group of $M$ is non-trivial then $M \cong \Sigma\times S^1$, where $\Sigma$ is a surface.Comment: 19 pages, referee's comments incorporated, to appear in Algebraic & Geometric Topolog

Subgroups of direct products of elementarily free groups

We exploit Zlil Sela's description of the structure of groups having the same elementary theory as free groups: they and their finitely generated subgroups form a prescribed subclass E of the hyperbolic limit groups. We prove that if $G_1,...,G_n$ are in E then a subgroup $\Gamma\subset G_1\times...\times G_n$ is of type \FP_n if and only if $\Gamma$ is itself, up to finite index, the direct product of at most $n$ groups from $\mathcal E$. This answers a question of Sela.Comment: 19 pages, no figure

Normalisers in Limit Groups

Let \G be a limit group, S\subset\G a subgroup, and $N$ the normaliser of $S$. If $H_1(S,\mathbb Q)$ has finite \Q-dimension, then $S$ is finitely generated and either $N/S$ is finite or $N$ is abelian. This result has applications to the study of subdirect products of limit groups.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Subgroups of direct products of limit groups

If $G_1,...,G_n$ are limit groups and $S\subset G_1\times...\times G_n$ is of type \FP_n(\mathbb Q) then $S$ contains a subgroup of finite index that is itself a direct product of at most $n$ limit groups. This settles a question of Sela.Comment: 20 pages, no figures. Final version. Accepted by the Annals of Mathematic