An introduction to diagram groups

From MaRDI portal





This detailed survey presents a coherent and self-contained account of the theory of diagram groups, a class of groups associated to semigroup presentations via the fundamental group of the corresponding Squier complex. Starting from the early definitions by Meakin and Sapir (unpublished) and first investigated by \textit{V. Kilibarda} [Int. J. Algebra Comput. 7, No. 3, 313--338 (1997; Zbl 0879.20029)], the author outlines three equivalent formalisms: as obstructions to asphericity in semigroup presentations; as groupoids of semigroup diagrams modulo dipole reductions; and as second homotopy groupoids of directed \(2\)-complexes.\N\NA significant portion of the text is devoted to explicit constructions and examples, including Thompson's group \( F \), its commutator subgroup \( F' \), the wreath product \( \mathbb{Z} \wr \mathbb{Z} \), the pure planar braid groups and several right angled Artin groups. The stability of the class under operations such as free products, restricted wreath products and \(\Sigma\) and \(\Lambda\) products is discussed with explicit semigroup presentations.\N\NAlgorithmic aspects are treated in detail, particularly the computation of presentations for diagram groups over complete semigroup presentations, with connections to LOG groups (groups defined by labelled oriented graphs) and to the structure of the associated Squier complex. Several structural results are reviewed, including torsion freeness, bi-orderability, unique root extraction and the characterization of nilpotent and polycyclic subgroups.\N\NThe geometric part of the paper examines the actions of diagram groups on median graphs and CAT(0) cube complexes, with applications to subgroup separability, residual finiteness and Hilbert space compression. The final sections outline generalisations and open problems, including the diagram group recognition problem for right angled Artin groups.



Cites work









This page was built for publication: An introduction to diagram groups

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q6996151)