Aut-invariant norms and Aut-invariant quasimorphisms on free and surface groups (Q2301915)

The authors study norms on groups \(G\) which are invariant under the automorphism group \(\mathrm{ Aut}(G)\) of \(G\). An example is the word norm with respect to an \(\mathrm{ Aut}(G)\)-invariant generating set (the minimal number of generators needed to express an element); under some mild assumptions, up to bi-Lipschitz equivalence there is only one \(\mathrm{ Aut}(G)\)-invariant word norm. In the present paper, the authors consider surface groups and free groups (where the Aut-norm counts the minimal number of simple loops resp. primitive elements needed to express an element). The main result of the paper is a complete characterization of distorted and undistorted elements in the corresponding Aut-invariant word metrics (recall that an element \(x\) is undistorted with respect to a norm if there exists \(C > 0\) such that \(|x^n| > Cn\)). In particular, this answers a question of Calegari about the growth of simple loops and reproves Stalling's theorem on Whitehead graphs of separable elements in free groups. Finally, answering an open problem posed by M. Abért, the authors construct infinitely many quasimorphisms on the free group \(F_2\) of rank 2 that are \(\mathrm{ Aut}(F_2)\)-invariant.