The boundary of the outer space of a free product

Let $G$ be a countable group that splits as a free product of groups of the form $G=G_1\ast\dots\ast G_k\ast F_N$, where $F_N$ is a finitely generated free group. We identify the closure of the outer space $P\mathcal{O}(G,\{G_1,\dots,G_k\})$ for the axes topology with the space of projective minimal, \emph{very small} $(G,\{G_1,\dots,G_k\})$-trees, i.e. trees whose arc stabilizers are either trivial, or cyclic, closed under taking roots, and not conjugate into any of the $G_i$'s, and whose tripod stabilizers are trivial. Its topological dimension is equal to $3N+2k-4$, and the boundary has dimension $3N+2k-5$. We also prove that any very small $(G,\{G_1,\dots,G_k\})$-tree has at most $2N+2k-2$ orbits of branch points.Comment: v3: Final version, to appear in the Israel Journal of Mathematics. Section 3, regarding the definition and properties of geometric trees, has been rewritten to improve the exposition, following a referee's suggestio

A compactification of outer space which is an absolute retract

We define a new compactification of outer space $CV_N$ (the \emph{Pacman compactification}) which is an absolute retract, for which the boundary is a $Z$-set. The classical compactification $\overline{CV_N}$ made of very small $F_N$-actions on $\mathbb{R}$-trees, however, fails to be locally $4$-connected as soon as $N\ge 4$. The Pacman compactification is a blow-up of $\overline{CV_N}$, obtained by assigning an orientation to every arc with nontrivial stabilizer in the trees.Comment: Final version. To appear in Annales de l'Institut Fourie

Spectral theorems for random walks on mapping class groups and Out(FN)\text{Out}(F_N)

We establish spectral theorems for random walks on mapping class groups of connected, closed, oriented, hyperbolic surfaces, and on $\text{Out}(F_N)$. In both cases, we relate the asymptotics of the stretching factor of the diffeomorphism/automorphism obtained at time $n$ of the random walk to the Lyapunov exponent of the walk, which gives the typical growth rate of the length of a curve -- or of a conjugacy class in $F_N$ -- under a random product of diffeomorphisms/automorphisms. In the mapping class group case, we first observe that the drift of the random walk in the curve complex is also equal to the linear growth rate of the translation lengths in this complex. By using a contraction property of typical Teichm\"uller geodesics, we then lift the above fact to the realization of the random walk on the Teichm\"uller space. For the case of $\text{Out}(F_N)$, we follow the same procedure with the free factor complex in place of the curve complex, and the outer space in place of the Teichm\"uller space. A general criterion is given for making the lifting argument possible.Comment: 45 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1506.0724

Spectral rigidity for primitive elements of FNF_N

Two trees in the boundary of outer space are said to be \emph{primitive-equivalent} whenever their translation length functions are equal in restriction to the set of primitive elements of $F_N$. We give an explicit description of this equivalence relation, showing in particular that it is nontrivial. This question is motivated by our description of the horoboundary of outer space for the Lipschitz metric. Along the proof, we extend a theorem due to White about the Lipschitz metric on outer space to trees in the boundary, showing that the infimal Lipschitz constant of an $F_N$-equivariant map between the metric completion of any two minimal, very small $F_N$-trees is equal to the supremal ratio between the translation lengths of the elements of $F_N$ in these trees. We also provide approximation results for trees in the boundary of outer space.Comment: 56 pages, 22 figue