Thompson's group \(F\) is not SCY (Q2347655)

Thompson's group \(F\) is a group that admits the finite presentation \[ F=\langle x_0,x_1| [x_0x_1^{-1},x_0^{-1}x_1x_0]=1,[x_0x_1^{-1},x_0^{-2}x_1 x_0^2]=1\rangle. \] ``This group has a number of peculiar features, that make it a natural testing ground for conjectures and speculations. We should mention that \textit{S. Bauer} asked (cf. [J. Differ. Geom. 79, No. 1, 25--32 (2008; Zbl 1144.57027), Question 1.5]) if another of Thompson's groups, \(T\) (which is a finitely presented simple group) is SCY, in this case with \(b_1=0\); that question partly motivated the present note'' (the authors). The notation SCY group is a shorthand for the fundamental group of a symplectic Calabi-Yau manifold, i.e., a symplectic 4-manifold with trivial canonical class. To answer Bauer's question, the authors appeal to the following constraints that apply to the fundamental group \(G=\pi_1(M)\) of a Calabi-Yau 4-manifold \(M\) with \(b_1(M)=b_1(G)>0\): (1) \(2\leq b_1(G)\leq vb_1(G)\leq 4\), where \(vb_1(G)=\) sup\(\{b_1(G_i)|G_i\leq _{f.i.}G\}\) denotes the supremum of the first Betti numbers of all finite index subgroups of \(G\); (2) if the first \(L^2\)-Betti number \(b_1^{(2)}\) vanishes, then \(q(G)=0\), where the Hausmann-Weinberger invariant \(q(G)=\)inf\(\{\chi(X)|\pi_1(X)=G\}\) is defined as the infimum of the Euler characteristic among all 4-manifolds whose fundamental group is \(G\) (cf. [\textit{J.-C. Hausmann} and \textit{S. Weinberger}, Comment. Math. Helv. 60, 139--144 (1985; Zbl 0566.57011)]). Then the authors answer Bauer's question by proving the following two results. {Proposition}. Thomson's group \(F\) satisfies \(b_1(F)=vb_1(F)=2\). {Theorem}. The Hausmann-Weinberger invariant of Thomson's group \(F\) satisfies \(0<q(F)\leq 2\). Therefore, due to constraint (2), \(F\) is not a SCY group.