Counting problems in graph products and relatively hyperbolic groups

Word problems, other decision problems, connections with logic and automata (group-theoretic aspects) (20F10) Reflection and Coxeter groups (group-theoretic aspects) (20F55) Geometric group theory (20F65) Hyperbolic groups and nonpositively curved groups (20F67) Dynamics induced by group actions other than (mathbb{Z}) and (mathbb{R}), and (mathbb{C}) (37C85) Global geometric and topological methods (à la Gromov); differential geometric analysis on metric spaces (53C23)

Abstract: We study properties of generic elements of groups of isometries of hyperbolic spaces. Under general combinatorial conditions, we prove that loxodromic elements are generic (i.e. they have full density with respect to counting in balls for the word metric) and translation length grows linearly. We provide applications to a large class of relatively hyperbolic groups and graph products, including right-angled Artin groups and right-angled Coxeter groups.

Review text

Let \(G=\langle S \rangle\) be a finitely generated group (\(S\) finite) and let \(B_{n}\) be the ball of radius \(n\) about \(1\) with respect to the word metric \(d\) determined by \(S\). When \(G\) is amenable and \(\mu\) is a measure in \(G\) with \(\mu(G)=1\), a subset \(P\) of \(G\) is in some sense typical if \(\mu(P)=1\). When \(G\) is not amenable, the word ``typical has no well defined meaning and depends heavily on the averaging procedure: a family of finitely supported measures exhausting \(G\). Although much is now known about measures generated from a random walk on \(G\), very little is known about counting with respect to balls in the word metric. If \(P \subseteq G\), the authors define \[ \delta(P)=\delta_{S}(P)= \lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{\#\{g \in B_{n} \mid g \in P\}}{\# B_{n}} \] and they say that the subset \(P\) is \textit{generic} if \(\delta(P)=1\). Assume that \(G\) acts by isometries on a hyperbolic geodesic metric space \(X\). An element \(g \in G\) is \textit{loxodromic} with respect to the action of \(G\) in \(X\) if and only if its translation length \[ \tau_{X}(g)=\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \frac{d_{X}(g, g^{n}x)}{n} \] is strictly positive. The authors have proven in [J. Topol. 11, No. 2, 379--419 (2018; Zbl 1436.20083)] that for any isometric action of a hyperbolic group \(G\) on a hyperbolic metric space \(X\), loxodromic elements are generic, and translation length grows linearly. However, the genericity of loxodromic elements is in general false when the hypothesis that \(G\) is hyperbolic is dropped. The main result of the paper under review is Theorem 1.1: Suppose that either (1) \(G\) is a finitely generated group which admits a geometrically finite action on a \(\mathrm{CAT}(-1)\) space with virtually abelian parabolic subgroups and \(S\) an admissible generating set, or (2) \(G\) is a right-angled Artin or Coxeter group which does not split as a direct product, and \(S\) is its standard vertex generating set. Then for any nonelementary isometric action \(G\) on a hyperbolic metric space \(X\) there is an \(L > 0\) such that \[ \#\frac{\{g \in B_{n} \mid \tau_{X}(g) \geq L n\}}{\# B_{n}} \longrightarrow 1 \;\;\; \mbox{ as } n \rightarrow \infty. \] In particular \(P=\{ g \in G \mid g \mbox{ is loxodromic}\}\) is generic. The authors also prove Theorem 1.2: Let the group \(G\) and generating set \(S\) be as in Theorem 1.1, and suppose that \(H\) is any infinite index subgroup of \(G\). Then \(\delta(H)=0\). That is, the proportion of elements of \(G\) of length less than \(n\) which lie in \(H\) goes to \(0\) as \(n \rightarrow \infty\). The interested reader should also look at other results and at Example 1 of a group \(G\) (acting on itself) in which the set \(P\) of loxodromic elements is such that \(\delta(P)=\frac{2}{3} \not =1\).

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