Geometry of pseudocharacters. (Q2388865)

A pseudocharacter of a group \(G\) is a function \(f\colon G\to\mathbb{R}\) which is a quasicharacter, meaning that \(f(xy)-f(x)-f(y)\) is uniformly bounded, and which is a homomorphism on every cyclic subgroup of \(G\). It has been shown by D. Calegari that if a pseudocharacter of the fundamental group of a \(3\)-manifold satisfies some geometric hypotheses, then the \(3\)-manifold satisfies a weak version of the Geometrization Conjecture. In the paper under review, the author explores pseudocharacters in considerable depth, obtaining several results of interest. A pseudocharacter \(f\) of a finitely presented group \(G\) extends naturally to any Cayley graph of \(G\), by extending linearly on the \(1\)-simplices. The author first defines the set \(E(f)\) of ends of \(G\) relative to \(f\). Very roughly speaking, if one thinks of the Cayley graph as divided up into thick slabs of group elements all sent to roughly the same real values, an end is a ray out to infinity in the Cayley graph, whose values under \(f\) limit to \(\infty\) or to \(-\infty\), with two such rays considered equivalent if they pass to infinity through the same connected components of these slabs. The ends are topologized, shown to be independent of the choice of Cayley graph, and it is proven that \(G\) acts on \(E(f)\) by homeomorphisms. Moreover, if \(g\) is a group element for which \(f(g)\neq 0\), then \(g\) has exactly two fixed points in \(E(f)\), one attracting and one repelling. The ends can be partitioned into \(E(f)^+\) and \(E(f)^-\), according to whether the values of \(f\) on a representative ray are ultimately positive or negative. When \(E(f)\) consists of two points, \(f\) is called uniform. When \(E(f)^+\) or \(E(f)^-\) consists of one point, but \(f\) is not uniform, \(f\) is called unipotent. In all remaining cases, \(f\) is called bushy. The first main result is that if \(G\) admits a bushy pseudocharacter, then \(G\) contains a nonabelian free subgroup. This is a rather quick consequence of the dynamics of the action of \(G\) on \(E(f)\), using the Ping-Pong Lemma. The author next utilizes pseudocharacters in the study of actions on quasi-trees, that is, geodesic metric spaces which are quasi-isometric to simplicial trees. A homomorphism \(\chi\colon G\to\mathbb{R}\) determines a \(G\)-action on \(\mathbb{R}\) defined by \(g(x)=x+\chi(g)\), and in the same way a pseudocharacter gives rise to a quasi-action on \(\mathbb{R}\). The author uses the pseudocharacter to define a graph \(X\) which is a quasitree and on which \(G\) acts simplicially and coboundedly (the translates of some metric ball cover \(X\)). This action is used to show that the quasi-action of \(G\) on \(\mathbb{R}\) lifts, in a certain sense, to a quasi-action on a simplicial tree. Further results concern the space of pseudocharacters; in particular, if \(G\) admits one bushy pseudocharacter then the space of pseudocharacters on \(G\) has uncountable dimension. This is proven by establishing that the action of \(G\) on the graph \(X\) is a Bestvina-Fujiwara action. In a final section of examples, the author details an example due to K. Whyte of a quasi-action of a finitely presented group on a bushy tree which is not quasi-conjugate to an action by isometries on an \(\mathbb{R}\)-tree. He also shows that all but finitely many fillings of the figure-\(8\) knot complement have fundamental groups which admit bushy characters. On the other hand, since all but finitely many of these fillings are non-Haken, infinitely many of them admit no nontrivial isometric action on a tree.