On simplicial resolutions of groups (Q2150975)

This paper studies a variety of conditions on manifolds and simplicial complexes which say that the space is well behaved at infinity. The questions in this area have connections to many things in low dimensional topology, like the Poincaré conjecture and related tameness results. One of the main concepts is that of a simplicial resolution. Briefly, a map \(f:X\to M\) is a simplicial resolution of the aspherical manifold \(M\) if \(X\) is a simplicial complex, \(f\) is ``essentially surjective'', and the map \(f\) is ``zippable''. Here zippable is a technical condition which means approximately that the set of singularities and double points of \(f\) is well-behaved. The idea is that we might be able to construct a simplicial resolution where \(X\) has some nice property, and this might imply that the target space \(M\) has the same, or a similar, property. The first main result of the paper concerns the Tucker property: a simplicial complex \(X\) is Tucker if for any finite subcomplex \(K\) we have \(\pi_1(X-K)\) finitely generated. I.e. the complex \(X\) is not too complicated at infinity. A finitely presented group is Tucker if there is a compact polyhedron with the given fundamental group where the universal covering space is Tucker. The result is that if \(X\) and \(W\) are simplicial complexes in dimension \(2\) or \(3\) with a map \(f:X\to W\) which is zippable and for which the set of double points of \(f\) is closed, then \(X\) being Tucker implies \(W\) is Tucker. (This is a much more general version of a previous result about simplicial resolutions.) A corollary of this theorem is that a finitely presented group with a Tucker simplicial resolution is Tucker itself. The remaining two results involve finite geometric rank, which for a manifold means that there is some handlebody decomposition of the manifold with finitely many \(1\)-handles. The first theorem is that if a finitely presented group \(\Gamma\) admits an easy (a technical niceness condition) and finite geometric rank simplicial decomposition, then \(\Gamma\) has finite geometric rank. The last theorem is kind of a converse: for any finitely presented group \(\Gamma\) of finite geometric rank, there is a \(2\)-dimensional simplicial resolution \(X\) of \(\Gamma\) where \(X\) has finite geometric rank and the image of \(X\) and its double points are both closed. The paper ends with some discussion and open questions. It is important to note that the paper does an excellent job of providing background, context, and a very readable discussion. It is certainly recommended for anyone interested in low-dimensional topology and related questions in group theory.