Ideal boundary of 7-systolic complexes and groups. (Q2471686)

Given an integer \(k\geq 6\), a \(k\)-systolic complex is a simply connected simplicial complex satisfying a certain combinatorial condition which, roughly speaking, says that there is a lower bound for the lengths of essential closed paths in a one-skeleton of every link. This notion is a combinatorial analogue of nonpositive curvature. It was introduced independently by \textit{F. Haglund} [in ``Complexes simpliciaux hyperboliques de grande dimension'', Orsay preprint (2003)] and by \textit{T. Januskiewicz} and \textit{J. Świątkowski} [in Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 104, 1-85 (2006; Zbl 1143.53039)]. A group acting properly discontinuously and cocompactly by simplicial automorphisms of a \(k\)-systolic complex is called a \(k\)-systolic group. One important feature of 7-systolic complexes, proved by Januskiewicz and Świątkowski, is that their one-dimensional skeleta are \(\delta\)-hyperbolic (with \(\delta=2.5\)). 7-systolic groups are word hyperbolic. In the paper under review, the main result is the following Theorem: The ideal boundary of a 7-systolic group is a strongly hereditarily aspherical compactum. Roughly speaking, a space is said to be strongly hereditarily aspherical if each of its closed subsets is aspherical. This notion was introduced by \textit{R. J. Daverman} [in his paper Topology Appl. 41, No. 3, 247-254 (1991; Zbl 0772.54026)], and its importance stems from the fact that a cell-like map defined on a strongly hereditarily aspherical compactum does not rise dimension.