A periodicity theorem for acylindrically hyperbolic groups (Q2218665)

Let \(G\) be a group generated by the (non-necessarily finite) set \(X\), fix an equivariant collection of geodesic segments \([u,v]\) for every \(u,v\) in the vertex set of the Cayley graph \(\Gamma(G,X)\). Assume that \(\Gamma(G,X)\) is Gromov-hyperbolic, and that \(G\) acts acylindrically on it. For \(g \in G\) denote by \(\Vert g \Vert\) its stable length, namely \(\Vert g \Vert = \lim_{n \to + \infty} d(x,g^nx)/n\), then there is a positive number \(\operatorname{inj}(G,X)\) (the injectivity radius) such that \(\Vert g \Vert \geqslant \operatorname{inj}(G,X)\) as soon as \(g\) is loxodromic [\textit{B. H. Bowditch}, Invent. Math. 171, No. 2, 281--300 (2008; Zbl 1185.57011)]. For \(x \in X\) and a loxodromic \(g \in G\) denote by \(L(x,g)\) (the image of) the concatenation of \(L(xg^n, xg^{n+1})\) for every \(n \in \mathbb{Z}\). The main result of the paper under review is the following (Theorem 1.4): There exists a constant \(\mathcal C\) only depending on the data above and a function \(f : [0,+\infty] \to [0,+\infty)\) so that if \(a,b\) are loxodromics in \(G\) which are shortest in their conjugacy class and such that \(\vert a \vert_X \geqslant \vert b \vert_X\), for every \(x,y \in X\) and for every \(r \geqslant 0\), if some \(p \subseteq L(x,a)\) contains at least \(f(r)\) consecutive segments \([xa^n, xa^{n+1}]\) and lies in the \(r\)-neighborhood of \(L(y,b)\), then there exisits nonzero integers \(s,t\) such that \(x^{-1}y\) conjugates \(a^s\) into \(b^t\). Moreover, one can take \(f(r) = \frac{2r}{\operatorname{inj}(G,X)}+\mathcal C\). The author observes that a more geometric counterpart could be given, however such a statement is not provided in the paper. The interest of this theorem resides in the fact that it interpolates between several known facts in combinatorial and geometric group theory. On the combinatorial side, it generalizes one of the variants of the periodicity lemma instrumental in producing counterexamples to the Burnside problem [\textit{S. I. Adian}, The Burnside problem and identities in groups. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1979; Zbl 0417.20001)]. On the geometric side, the geometric form generalizes notably Proposition 6(2) of [\textit{M. Bestvina} and \textit{K. Fujiwara}, Geom. Topol. 6, 69--89 (2002; Zbl 1021.57001)] where \(G\) acts with the weak proper discontinuity property, an ancestor of acylindrical hyperbolicity.