Spherical subcomplexes of spherical buildings

Let B be a thick spherical building equipped with its natural CAT(1) metric and let M be a proper, convex subset of B. If M is open or if M is a closed ball of radius pi/2, then the maximal subcomplex supported by the complement of M is spherical and non contractible.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figure

Deformation and rigidity of simplicial group actions on trees

We study a notion of deformation for simplicial trees with group actions (G-trees). Here G is a fixed, arbitrary group. Two G-trees are related by a deformation if there is a finite sequence of collapse and expansion moves joining them. We show that this relation on the set of G-trees has several characterizations, in terms of dynamics, coarse geometry, and length functions. Next we study the deformation space of a fixed G-tree X. We show that if X is `strongly slide-free' then it is the unique reduced tree in its deformation space. These methods allow us to extend the rigidity theorem of Bass and Lubotzky to trees that are not locally finite. This yields a unique factorization theorem for certain graphs of groups. We apply the theory to generalized Baumslag-Solitar groups and show that many have canonical decompositions. We also prove a quasi-isometric rigidity theorem for strongly slide-free G-trees.Comment: Published in Geometry and Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol6/paper8.abs.htm

A (very short) introduction to buildings

These lectures are an informal elementary introduction to buildings. They are written for, and by, a non-expert. The aim is to get to the definition of a building and feel that it is an entirely natural thing. To maintain the lecture style examples have replaced proofs. The notes at the end indicate where these proofs can be found. Most of what we say has its origins in the work of Jacques Tits, and our account borrows heavily from the books of Abramenko and Brown and of Ronan. Lecture 1 illustrates all the essential features of a building in the context of an example, but without mentioning any building terminology. In principle anyone could read this. Lectures 2-4 firm-up and generalize these specifics: Coxeter groups appear in Lecture 2, chambers systems in Lecture 3 and the definition of a building in Lecture 4. Lecture 5 addresses where buildings come from by describing the first important example: the spherical building of an algebraic group.Comment: Minor improvements and some new pictures; 23 page

Presentations for the punctured mapping class groups in terms of Artin groups

Consider an oriented compact surface F of positive genus, possibly with boundary, and a finite set P of punctures in the interior of F, and define the punctured mapping class group of F relatively to P to be the group of isotopy classes of orientation-preserving homeomorphisms h: F-->F which pointwise fix the boundary of F and such that h(P) = P. In this paper, we calculate presentations for all punctured mapping class groups. More precisely, we show that these groups are isomorphic with quotients of Artin groups by some relations involving fundamental elements of parabolic subgroups.Comment: Published by Algebraic and Geometric Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/agt/AGTVol1/agt-1-5.abs.htm

Richardson Varieties Have Kawamata Log Terminal Singularities

Let $X^v_w$ be a Richardson variety in the full flag variety $X$ associated to a symmetrizable Kac-Moody group $G$. Recall that $X^v_w$ is the intersection of the finite dimensional Schubert variety $X_w$ with the finite codimensional opposite Schubert variety $X^v$. We give an explicit \bQ-divisor $\Delta$ on $X^v_w$ and prove that the pair $(X^v_w, \Delta)$ has Kawamata log terminal singularities. In fact, $-K_{X^v_w} - \Delta$ is ample, which additionally proves that $(X^v_w, \Delta)$ is log Fano. We first give a proof of our result in the finite case (i.e., in the case when $G$ is a finite dimensional semisimple group) by a careful analysis of an explicit resolution of singularities of $X^v_w$ (similar to the BSDH resolution of the Schubert varieties). In the general Kac-Moody case, in the absence of an explicit resolution of $X^v_w$ as above, we give a proof that relies on the Frobenius splitting methods. In particular, we use Mathieu's result asserting that the Richardson varieties are Frobenius split, and combine it with a result of N. Hara and K.-I. Watanabe relating Frobenius splittings with log canonical singularities.Comment: 15 pages, improved exposition and explanation. To appear in the International Mathematics Research Notice

A Quasi Curtis-Tits-Phan theorem for the symplectic group

We obtain the symplectic group \SP(V) as the universal completion of an amalgam of low rank subgroups akin to Levi components. We let \SP(V) act flag-transitively on the geometry of maximal rank subspaces of $V$. We show that this geometry and its rank $\ge 3$ residues are simply connected with few exceptions. The main exceptional residue is described in some detail. The amalgamation result is then obtained by applying Tits' lemma. This provides a new way of recognizing the symplectic groups from a small collection of small subgroups