A relationship between twisted conjugacy classes and the geometric invariants \(\Omega^n\). (Q2430727)

For a given finitely generated group \(G\), the invariants \(\Omega^n\), \(n\geq 1\), were defined by \textit{N. Koban} [Topology Appl. 153, No. 12, 1975-1993 (2006; Zbl 1153.20041)] and are analogs of the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel-Renz invariants \(\Sigma^n\). In the paper under review the authors use succesfully these invariants to decide if certain groups have the \(R_\infty\) property, i.e. if for every automorphism \(\varphi\colon G\to G\) the number of \(\varphi\)-twisted conjugacy classes is infinite. They profit from the calculation of the invariants \(\Omega^n\) for certain groups. The main result of the paper is Theorem 4.3: Let \(n\) be a positive integer, and let \(G\) be a group of type \(F_n\) with \(0<\#\Omega^n(G)<\infty\). Suppose that \(\Omega^n(G)\) contains only rational points. (1) If \(\#\Omega^n(G)=1\), then \(G\) has property \(R_\infty\). (2) If \(\#\Omega^n(G)=2\), then there exists a normal subgroup \(N\triangleleft\Aut(G)\) with \([\Aut(G):N]=2\) such that \(R(\varphi)=\infty\) for every \(\varphi\in N\). As one application of the result above they prove Theorem 5.2: Let \(G=*_{i=1}^nA_i\) be a finite free product of \(n\) non-trivial freely indecomposable finitely generated groups, \(n\geq 2\). If one of the following conditions is satisfied then \(G\) has the property \(R_\infty\). (1) Each \(A_i\) is finite. (2) There exists \(j\), \(1\leq j\leq n\), such that \(A_j\in\mathcal O_1^m\) for \(i\neq j\), \(A_i\in\mathcal O_0^{k_i}\) with \(k_i\leq m\). (3) The direct product \(\overline G=\prod A_i\) has property \(R_\infty\) and \(A_i\) is Abelian and non-isomorphic to \(\mathcal Z\) for some \(i\). Here we denote by \(\mathcal O_i^k\) the family of finitely generated groups \(G\) such that \(\#\Omega^k(G)=i\).