A topological equivalence relation for finitely presented groups

DOI10.1016/J.JPAA.2019.106300MaRDI QIDQ2301463zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Francisco F. Lasheras, Ranja Roy, Manuel Cárdenas, Antonio Quintero

Publication date 24 February 2020

Published in Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.01209

finitely presented group proper homotopy quasi-isometry

2-dimensional topology (including mapping class groups of surfaces, Teichmüller theory, curve complexes, etc.) (57K20) Topological methods in group theory (57M07) Covering spaces and low-dimensional topology (57M10)

Abstract: In this paper, we consider an equivalence relation within the class of finitely presented discrete groups attending to their asymptotic topology rather than their asymptotic geometry. More precisely, we say that two finitely presented groups

G

and

H

are "proper

2

-equivalent" if there exist (equivalently, for all) finite

2

-dimensional CW-complexes

X

and

Y

, with

p i_{1} (X) c o n g G

and

p i_{1} (Y) c o n g H

, so that their universal covers

w i d e t i l d e X

and

w i d e t i l d e Y

are proper

2

-equivalent. It follows that this relation is coarser than the quasi-isometry relation. We point out that finitely presented groups which are

1

-ended and semistable at infinity are classified, up to proper

2

-equivalence, by their fundamental pro-group, and we study the behaviour of this relation with respect to some of the main constructions in combinatorial group theory. A (finer) similar equivalence relation may also be considered for groups of type

F_{n}, n g e q 3

, which captures more of the large-scale topology of the group. Finally, we pay special attention to the class of those groups

G

which admit a finite

2

-dimensional CW-complex

X

with

p i_{1} (X) c o n g G

and whose universal cover

w i d e t i l d e X

has the proper homotopy type of a

3

-manifold. We show that if such a group

G

is

1

-ended and semistable at infinity then it is proper

2

-equivalent to either

m a t h b b Z i m e s m a t h b b Z i m e s m a t h b b Z

,

m a t h b b Z i m e s m a t h b b Z

or

{m a t h b b F}_{2} i m e s m a t h b b Z

(here,

{m a t h b b F}_{2}

is the free group on two generators). As it turns out, this applies in particular to any group

G

fitting as the middle term of a short exact sequence of infinite finitely presented groups, thus classifying such group extensions up to proper

2

-equivalence.

Review text

A \textit{proper map} is a map with the property that the inverse image of every compact subset is compact. Thus, two locally finite CW-complexes are said to be \textit{proper homotopy equivalent} if they are homotopy equivalent and all homotopies involved are proper. A proper cellular map \(f : X\to Y\) between finite-dimensional locally finite CW-complexes is a \textit{proper \(n\)-equivalence} if there is another proper cellular map \(g : Y \to X\) such that the restrictions \(g\circ f|_{X_{n-1}}\) and \(f\circ g|_{Y_{ n-1}}\) are proper homotopic to the inclusion maps \(X_{n-1} \subseteq X\) and \(Y_{n-1}\subseteq Y\). Two finitely presented groups \(G\) and \(H\) are \textit{proper 2-equivalent} if there exist (equivalently, for all) finite 2-dimensional CW-complexes \(X\) and \(Y\), with \(\pi_1(X)=G\) and \(\pi_1(Y)=H\), so that their universal covers \(\tilde X\) and \(\tilde Y\) are proper 2-equivalent. It follows that this relation is coarser than the quasi-isometry relation. Finitely presented groups which are 1-ended and semistable at infinity are classified, up to proper 2-equivalence, by their fundamental pro-group. The authors study the behavior of this relation with respect to some of the main constructions in combinatorial group theory. A (finer) similar equivalence relation may also be considered for groups of type \(F_n, n \ge 3\), which captures more of the large-scale topology of the group. Assume a group \(G\) which admits a finite 2-dimensional CW-complex \(X\) with \(\pi_1(X)=G\) such that the universal cover \(\tilde X\) has the proper homotopy type of a 3-manifold. It is shown that if such a \(G\) is 1-ended and semistable at infinity then it is proper 2-equivalent to either \(Z \times Z \times Z, Z \times Z\) or \(F_2\times Z\), where \(F_2\) is the free group on two generators. As it turns out, this applies in particular to any group \(G\) fitting as the middle term of a short exact sequence of infinite finitely presented groups, thus classifying such group extensions up to proper 2-equivalence.

Recommendations

Cites work

Cited in

(9)

This page was built for publication: A topological equivalence relation for finitely presented groups

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2301463)