A quantitative Neumann lemma for finitely generated groups
The paper under review deals with some classical topics of geometric group theory and combinatorial group theory, namely with the covering theory. This theory has largely influenced many areas of pure mathematics such as topology and algebra. Kontorovich, Kegel, Suzuki and Scorza Dragoni gave several contributions so that there exists a well developed covering theory for finite groups and for infinite groups. In particular, the authors focus on a classical result of \textit{B. H. Neumann} [J. Lond. Math. Soc. 29, 236--248 (1954; Zbl 0055.01604)] who proved what is known today as the ``Neumann Lemma, that is, an infinite discrete finitely generated group \(G\) cannot be covered by a finite number of cosets \(C=Hg\) of infinite index (here \(g\in G\) and \(H\) is a subgroup of \(G\)). In fact Bernhard Neumann gave the first characterization of the center-by-finite groups (i.e.: groups with center of finite index) by the presence of finite coverings consisting of abelian subgroups, developing from this lemma (along with \textit{R. Baer} [Duke Math. J. 15, 1021--1032 (1948; Zbl 0031.19705)]) the theory of the \(FC\)-groups, that is, the groups with finite conjugacy classes. In other words, controlling the presence of finite coverings of abelian groups one can say how far a group is from being abelian. \N\NThe authors of the present paper show that the original perspective of Bernhard Neumann is still powerful when we ask a quantitative version of the Neumann Lemma, that is, how many cosets of infinite index are needed to cover \(B_r(G, S)\), where \(B_r(G, S)\) denotes the ball of radius \(r\) in \(G\) with \(S\) finite symmetric set of generators of \(G\) ? Working on this problem with the methods of the geometric group theory means that we want to control the size of the so called ``coset covering function \(\mathfrak{C}_{G,S}(r)\), that is, the minimum positive integer \(N\) for which there exist cosets of infinite index \(C_1, C_2, \ldots, C_N\) such that their union covers \(B_r(G, S)\). Theorems 1, 2 and 3 (of the paper under review) show some natural restrictions for \(\mathfrak{C}_{G,S}(r)\), discussing their meaning in connection with the propery \((T)\) of Kazhdan and with the theory of the random walks.
- C^*-algebras and finite-dimensional approximations
- Asymptotic Enumeration of Spanning Trees
- Asymptotic isoperimetry on groups and uniform embeddings into Banach spaces
- Croissance polynomiale et périodes des fonctions harmoniques
- Finite-dimensional representations constructed from random walks
- Gaussian estimates for Markov chains and random walks on groups
- Groups Covered By Permutable Subsets
- Harmonic analysis, cohomology, and the large-scale geometry of amenable groups
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3934148 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3953933 (Why is no real title available?)
- Irreducible lattices, invariant means, and commensurating actions
- Isoperimetric inequalities, shapes of Følner sets and groups with Shalom's property \(H_{\mathrm{FD}}\)
- Isoperimetric profile and random walks on locally compact solvable groups
- Law of large numbers for the drift of the two-dimensional wreath product
- On the spectrum of Hecke type operators related to some fractal groups
- Random walks on discrete groups: Boundary and entropy
- The Degree of Polynomial Growth of Finitely Generated Nilpotent Groups
This page was built for publication: A quantitative Neumann lemma for finitely generated groups
Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q6635463)
