82 research outputs found
Subset currents on free groups
We introduce and study the space of \emph{subset currents} on the free group
. A subset current on is a positive -invariant locally finite
Borel measure on the space of all closed subsets of consisting of at least two points. While ordinary geodesic currents
generalize conjugacy classes of nontrivial group elements, a subset current is
a measure-theoretic generalization of the conjugacy class of a nontrivial
finitely generated subgroup in , and, more generally, in a word-hyperbolic
group. The concept of a subset current is related to the notion of an
"invariant random subgroup" with respect to some conjugacy-invariant
probability measure on the space of closed subgroups of a topological group. If
we fix a free basis of , a subset current may also be viewed as an
-invariant measure on a "branching" analog of the geodesic flow space for
, whose elements are infinite subtrees (rather than just geodesic lines)
of the Cayley graph of with respect to .Comment: updated version; to appear in Geometriae Dedicat
Stabilizers of -trees with free isometric actions of
We prove that if is an -tree with a minimal free isometric
action of , then the -stabilizer of the projective class
is virtually cyclic.
For the special case where is the forward limit tree of an
atoroidal iwip element this is a consequence of the results
of Bestvina, Feighn and Handel, via very different methods.
We also derive a new proof of the Tits alternative for subgroups of
containing an iwip (not necessarily atoroidal): we prove that every
such subgroup is either virtually cyclic or contains a free
subgroup of rank two. The general case of the Tits alternative for subgroups of
is due to Bestvina, Feighn and Handel.Comment: corrected the proof of Proposition 4.1, plus several minor fixes and
updates; to appear in Journal of Group Theor
Intersection form, laminations and currents on free groups
Let be a free group of rank , let be a geodesic current
on and let be an -tree with a very small isometric action
of . We prove that the geometric intersection number is equal
to zero if and only if the support of is contained in the dual algebraic
lamination of . Applying this result, we obtain a generalization of
a theorem of Francaviglia regarding length spectrum compactness for currents
with full support. As another application, we define the notion of a
\emph{filling} element in and prove that filling elements are "nearly
generic" in . We also apply our results to the notion of \emph{bounded
translation equivalence} in free groups.Comment: revised version, to appear in GAF
Conjugacy in Baumslag's group, generic case complexity, and division in power circuits
The conjugacy problem belongs to algorithmic group theory. It is the
following question: given two words x, y over generators of a fixed group G,
decide whether x and y are conjugated, i.e., whether there exists some z such
that zxz^{-1} = y in G. The conjugacy problem is more difficult than the word
problem, in general. We investigate the complexity of the conjugacy problem for
two prominent groups: the Baumslag-Solitar group BS(1,2) and the
Baumslag(-Gersten) group G(1,2). The conjugacy problem in BS(1,2) is
TC^0-complete. To the best of our knowledge BS(1,2) is the first natural
infinite non-commutative group where such a precise and low complexity is
shown. The Baumslag group G(1,2) is an HNN-extension of BS(1,2). We show that
the conjugacy problem is decidable (which has been known before); but our
results go far beyond decidability. In particular, we are able to show that
conjugacy in G(1,2) can be solved in polynomial time in a strongly generic
setting. This means that essentially for all inputs conjugacy in G(1,2) can be
decided efficiently. In contrast, we show that under a plausible assumption the
average case complexity of the same problem is non-elementary. Moreover, we
provide a lower bound for the conjugacy problem in G(1,2) by reducing the
division problem in power circuits to the conjugacy problem in G(1,2). The
complexity of the division problem in power circuits is an open and interesting
problem in integer arithmetic.Comment: Section 5 added: We show that an HNN extension G = < H, b | bab^-1 =
{\phi}(a), a \in A > has a non-amenable Schreier graph with respect to the
base group H if and only if A \neq H \neq
A Bi-Hamiltonian Structure for the Integrable, Discrete Non-Linear Schrodinger System
This paper shows that the Ablowitz-Ladik hierarchy of equations (a well-known
integrable discretization of the Non-linear Schrodinger system) can be
explicitly viewed as a hierarchy of commuting flows which: (a) are Hamiltonian
with respect to both a standard, local Poisson operator J and a new non-local,
skew, almost Poisson operator K, on the appropriate space; (b) can be
recursively generated from a recursion operator R (obtained by composing K and
the inverse of J.) In addition, the proof of these facts relies upon two new
pivotal resolvent identities which suggest a general method for uncovering
bi-Hamiltonian structures for other families of discrete, integrable equations.Comment: 33 page
Conformal dimension and random groups
We give a lower and an upper bound for the conformal dimension of the
boundaries of certain small cancellation groups. We apply these bounds to the
few relator and density models for random groups. This gives generic bounds of
the following form, where is the relator length, going to infinity.
(a) 1 + 1/C < \Cdim(\bdry G) < C l / \log(l), for the few relator model,
and
(b) 1 + l / (C\log(l)) < \Cdim(\bdry G) < C l, for the density model, at
densities .
In particular, for the density model at densities , as the relator
length goes to infinity, the random groups will pass through infinitely
many different quasi-isometry classes.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figures. v2: Final version. Main result improved to
density < 1/16. Many minor improvements. To appear in GAF
Twisted geometries: A geometric parametrisation of SU(2) phase space
A cornerstone of the loop quantum gravity program is the fact that the phase
space of general relativity on a fixed graph can be described by a product of
SU(2) cotangent bundles per edge. In this paper we show how to parametrize this
phase space in terms of quantities describing the intrinsic and extrinsic
geometry of the triangulation dual to the graph. These are defined by the
assignment to each triangle of its area, the two unit normals as seen from the
two polyhedra sharing it, and an additional angle related to the extrinsic
curvature. These quantities do not define a Regge geometry, since they include
extrinsic data, but a looser notion of discrete geometry which is twisted in
the sense that it is locally well-defined, but the local patches lack a
consistent gluing among each other. We give the Poisson brackets among the new
variables, and exhibit a symplectomorphism which maps them into the Poisson
brackets of loop gravity. The new parametrization has the advantage of a simple
description of the gauge-invariant reduced phase space, which is given by a
product of phase spaces associated to edges and vertices, and it also provides
an abelianisation of the SU(2) connection. The results are relevant for the
construction of coherent states, and as a byproduct, contribute to clarify the
connection between loop gravity and its subset corresponding to Regge
geometries.Comment: 28 pages. v2 and v3 minor change
Length functions on currents and applications to dynamics and counting
The aim of this (mostly expository) article is twofold. We first explore a
variety of length functions on the space of currents, and we survey recent work
regarding applications of length functions to counting problems. Secondly, we
use length functions to provide a proof of a folklore theorem which states that
pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms of closed hyperbolic surfaces act on the space of
projective geodesic currents with uniform north-south dynamics.Comment: 35pp, 2 figures, comments welcome! Second version: minor corrections.
To appear as a chapter in the forthcoming book "In the tradition of Thurston"
edited by V. Alberge, K. Ohshika and A. Papadopoulo
Limits of Gaudin algebras, quantization of bending flows, Jucys--Murphy elements and Gelfand--Tsetlin bases
Gaudin algebras form a family of maximal commutative subalgebras in the
tensor product of copies of the universal enveloping algebra U(\g) of a
semisimple Lie algebra \g. This family is parameterized by collections of
pairwise distinct complex numbers . We obtain some new commutative
subalgebras in U(\g)^{\otimes n} as limit cases of Gaudin subalgebras. These
commutative subalgebras turn to be related to the hamiltonians of bending flows
and to the Gelfand--Tsetlin bases. We use this to prove the simplicity of
spectrum in the Gaudin model for some new cases.Comment: 11 pages, references adde
Primitive Words, Free Factors and Measure Preservation
Let F_k be the free group on k generators. A word w \in F_k is called
primitive if it belongs to some basis of F_k. We investigate two criteria for
primitivity, and consider more generally, subgroups of F_k which are free
factors.
The first criterion is graph-theoretic and uses Stallings core graphs: given
subgroups of finite rank H \le J \le F_k we present a simple procedure to
determine whether H is a free factor of J. This yields, in particular, a
procedure to determine whether a given element in F_k is primitive.
Again let w \in F_k and consider the word map w:G x G x ... x G \to G (from
the direct product of k copies of G to G), where G is an arbitrary finite
group. We call w measure preserving if given uniform measure on G x G x ... x
G, w induces uniform measure on G (for every finite G). This is the second
criterion we investigate: it is not hard to see that primitivity implies
measure preservation and it was conjectured that the two properties are
equivalent. Our combinatorial approach to primitivity allows us to make
progress on this problem and in particular prove the conjecture for k=2.
It was asked whether the primitive elements of F_k form a closed set in the
profinite topology of free groups. Our results provide a positive answer for
F_2.Comment: This is a unified version of two manuscripts: "On Primitive words I:
A New Algorithm", and "On Primitive Words II: Measure Preservation". 42
pages, 14 figures. Some parts of the paper reorganized towards publication in
the Israel J. of Mat
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