Counting problems in graph products and relatively hyperbolic groups (Q2190052)

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 \(\delta(P)=\frac{2}{3} \not =1\).