Twisted conjugacy and commensurability invariance (Q2078818)

Let $\phi \,:\,G\,\,\longrightarrow\,G$ be a group endomorphism. An action of the group $G$ on itself it is defined by $g\cdot a\,=\,ga(\phi (a))^{-1}$. The set of its orbits is denoted by $\mathcal{R}(\phi )$ and it is called the set of Reidemeister classes. The cardinality of $\mathcal{R}(\phi )$ is called the Reidemeister number $R(\phi ) $ of $\phi$. A group $G$ is said to have the property $R_{\infty}$ if $R(\phi )\,=\,\infty$, for every automorphism $\phi $ of $G$. The $R_{\infty}$ property has been studied extensively, but there are many unanswered questions. In geometric group theory, it is natural to ask if the $R_{\infty}$ property is geometric. Namely if it is invariant under quasi-isometry. In [\textit{G. Levitt} and \textit{M. Lustig}, Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér. (4) 33, No. 4, 507--517 (2000; Zbl 0997.20043)], it is proved that finitely generated non-elementary word hyperbolic groups have the $R_{\infty}$ property. Therefore it is implied that $R_{\infty}$ is invariant under quasi-isometry for the family of finitely generated non-elementary word hyperbolic groups. In general, $R_{\infty}$ is not even invariant under commensurability and hence not invariant under quasi-isometry. (The groups $G_{1}$ and $G_{2}$ are called commensurable, if there are $H\leq G_{1}$, $K\leq G_{2}$ of finite index which are isomorphic). In the present paper, the authors ask the general question: For what classes of groups $R_{\infty}$ is a commensurability property? They try a general approach of the $R_{\infty}$ involving the $\Sigma$-theory, i.e. the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariant developed in [\textit{R. Bieri} et al., Invent. Math. 90, 451--477 (1987; Zbl 0642.57002)] and give conditions under which the $R_{\infty}$ property is invariant under commensurability. To obtain this, they introduce a stronger notion of $R_{\infty}$. A group $G$, not necessarily finitely generated, is said to have property $R_{\infty}^{\mathcal{X}}$ if there exists a non-trivial character $\mathcal{X}\,:\,G\,\longrightarrow\,\mathbb{R}$ such that $\mathcal{X}\circ \phi\,=\,\mathcal{X}$ for all $\phi \in \Aut (G)$. Note that if G has property $R_{\infty}^{\mathcal{X}}$, then it necessarily must have property $R_{\infty}$. On the other hand, there are groups (see Example 2.7 in the paper) which have the property $R_{\infty}$ but not satisfy the property $R_{\infty}^{\mathcal{X}}$. Also, a class $\mathcal{S}$ of groups is defined (see Definition 3.2 and the relevant terminology in the paper) which play crucial role in the sequel. Let $\tilde{\mathcal{S}}$ denote the class of groups $G$ having a characteristic subgroup $K$ with $G/K \in \mathcal{S}$. Theorem A. If $G\in \tilde{\mathcal{S}}$, then $G$ has property $R_{\infty}^{\mathcal{X}}$. Theorem B. Let $G$ be a finitely generated group. Suppose that every finite index subgroup $H$ has the property that $b_{1}(H)\,=\,b_{1}(G)$ ($b_{1}(G)$ denotes the first Betti number of the group $G$). If $G\in \mathcal{S}$, then every group $\hat{G}$ commensurable to $G$ also has property $R_{\infty}^{\mathcal{X}}$. The rest of the paper is devoted to find examples/classes of groups which satisfy the assumtions of Theorem B. So they have property $R_{\infty}$. Here, some of them are quoted. It is known [\textit{C. Bleak} et al., Pac. J. Math. 238, No. 1, 1--6 (2008; Zbl 1169.20017)] that the Thompson group $F$ has the property $R_{\infty}$. Proposition. Every group commensurable to the Thompson group $F$ has the property $R_{\infty}$. Under some, rather restricted, conditions on the groups $G$ and $H$, sufficient conditions for the direct product $G\times H$ and the free product $G\ast H$ to have the property $R_{\infty}^{\mathcal{X}}$ or the property $R_{\infty}$ are given (see Propositions 5.1 and 5.2 in the paper).