A rigidity theorem for the solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups. (With an appendix by Daryl Cooper) (Q1385036)

In this paper, the authors obtain a quasi-isometric rigidity result for the solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups \(BS(1,n)\). These groups are defined by the presentation \(<a,b|aba^{-1}=b^n)\). For \(n\geq 2\), the group \(BS(1,n)\) is not a 3-manifold group, and it is not nonpositively curved in any sense of the word. These groups provide important examples and counter-examples in combinatorial group theory. For instance, they are the simplest groups with an exponential isoperimetric function. The authors use the fact that each group \(BS(1,n)\) acts isometrically, properly discontinuously and cocompactly on a certain metric 2-complex \(X_n\), which is equipped with a certain metric which presents aspects of both negative and positive curvature. The spaces \(BS(1,n)\) and \(X_n\) are quasi-isometric, and a basic object of study is the space of hyperbolic planes in \(X_n\), which the authors call the upper boundary of \(X_n\) and which is a self-similar Cantor set. They show in particular that a quasi-isometry of \(X_n\) induces a bilipschitz homeomorphism of the upper boundary. The main result of the paper is the following Theorem: Given integers \(m,n\geq 2\), the groups \(BS(1,m)\) and \(BS(1,n)\) are quasi-isometric if and only if they are commensurable, and this happens if and only if there exist integers \(r,j,k>0\) such that \(m=r^j\) and \(n=r^k\). The paper ends with an appendix by D. Cooper on bilipschitz homeomorphisms of self-similar Cantor sets.