A class of finitely generated groups with irrational translation numbers (Q1383610)

Let \(G\) be a finitely generated group equipped with a word metric, and let \(x\in X\). Then, the translation number \(\tau(x)\) of \(x\) is defined as \[ \tau(x)=\liminf_{n\to\infty}{\| x^n\|\over n}, \] where \(\| . \|\) denotes the distance to the identity. Gromov has shown that the translation numbers in a word-hyperbolic group are all rational, and the question has arisen as to whether there are finitely generated groups equipped with a word metric for which some element has an irrational translation number. The author answers this question in the affirmative, and the main result of this paper is the description of a class of groups having word metrics with irrational translation numbers. More precisely, the author proves that if \(\phi\) is a matrix in \(\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\), \(n\geq 3\), which is irreducible and which has exactly two eigenvalues of unit modulus and if \(G=\mathbb{Z}^n\times_\phi\mathbb{Z}\), then every word metric on \(G\) induces a translation function which takes on irrational values. Furthermore, the paper contains an explicit computation for the translation numbers. The author proves also that if \(G=\mathbb{Z}^n\times_\gamma\mathbb{Z}\) with \(\gamma\in\text{GL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\), \(n\geq 2\), is an irreducible matrix having an eigenvalue of unit modulus, then there is a cocompact faithful action of \(G\) by translations on \(\mathbb{R}^3\).