On the graded quotients of the rings of Fricke characters of free groups. (Q2339485)

Let \(G\) be a group generated by the elements \(x_1,\ldots,x_n\). If \(R(G)=\Hom(G,\text{SL}(2,\mathbb C))\) is the set of all group homomorphisms from \(G\) to \(\text{SL}(2,\mathbb C)\), then it is defined (in the usual way) the \(\mathbb C\)-algebra \(\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)=\{\chi\colon R(G)\to\mathbb C\}\) of all complex-valued functions of \(R(G)\). For any \(x\in G\) it is defined the element \(\text{tr\,}x\in\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\) to be \((\text{tr\,}x)(\rho)=\text{tr}(\rho(x))\) for any \(\rho\in R(G)\). The element \(\text{tr\,}x\) of \(\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\) is called the Fricke character of \(x\in G\). The group of automorphisms \(\Aut G\) acts on \(\text{tr\,}x\) by \(\sigma\cdot\text{tr\,}x=\text{tr\,}x^\sigma\), for any \(\sigma\in\Aut G\). Let \(\mathcal X(G)\) be the \(\mathbb Z\)-submodule of \(\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\) generated by all \(\text{tr\,}x\) for \(x\in G\). It is proved that \(\mathcal X(G)\) is an ideal of \(\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\). (More precisely it is proved [in \textit{R. D. Horowitz}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 25, 635-649 (1972; Zbl 1184.20009)] that \(\mathcal X(G)\) is the image of an ideal of \(\mathbb Z[t]\) under the ring homomorphism \(\pi\colon\mathbb Z[t]\to\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\), where \(\mathbb Z[t]\) is the integral polynomial ring \(\mathbb Z[t]=\mathbb Z[t_{i_1\cdots i_l}\mid 1\leq l\leq n,\;1\leq i_1<i_2<\cdots<i_l\leq n]\) and \(\pi\) is defined by \(\pi(1)=\frac{1}{2}(\text{tr\,}1_G)\), \(\pi(t_{i_1\cdots i_l})=\text{tr\,}x_{i_1}\cdots x_{i_l}\).) If \(I=\text{Ker}(\pi)\), then the quotient ring \(\mathbb Z[t]/I\) (called by the authors the ring of Fricke characters of \(G\) over \(\mathbb Z\)) can be considered as a subring of \(\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\) and can be endowed with an \(\Aut(G)\)-module action such that the induced, by \(\pi\), homomorphism is \(\Aut(G)\)-equivariant injective. Let \(\zeta\colon\Aut(G)\to\Aut(\mathbb Z[t]/I)\) be the induced homomorphism from the action above. It is proved [in \textit{R. D. Horowitz}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 208, 41-50 (1975; Zbl 0306.20027)], in the case of the free group \(F_n\), that \(\text{Ker\,}\zeta=\text{Inn}(F_n)\). However, since \(\mathbb Z[t]/I\) is not finitely generated, the representations \(\Aut(F_n)\to\Aut(\mathbb Z[t]/I)\) and \(\text{Out}(F_n)\to\Aut(\mathbb Z[t]/I)\) are not so easy to handle. For this reason the authors consider the rationalization of the situation above. Let \(\mathcal X_{\mathbb Q}(G)\) be the \(\mathbb Q\)-subspace of \(\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\) generated by all \(\text{tr\,}x\), \(x\in G\) and \(\mathbb Q[t]=\mathbb [t_{i_1\cdots i_l}\mid 1\leq l\leq 3,\;1\leq i_1<i_2<\cdots<i_l\leq n]\) be a rational polynomial ring of \(n+{n\choose 2}+{n\choose 3}\) indeterminates. Similarly, as above, are defined the homomorphism \(\pi_{\mathbb Q}\colon\mathbb Q\to\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\) with \(\text{Ker}(\pi_{\mathbb Q})=I_{\mathbb Q}\) and the homomorphism \(\zeta_{\mathbb Q}\colon\Aut(G)\to\Aut(\mathbb Q[t]/I)\) induced from the action of \(\Aut(G)\) on \(\mathbb Q[t]/I\) observing that \(\text{Im}(\pi_{\mathbb Q})=\mathcal X_{\mathbb Q}(G)\), although \(\text{Im}(\pi)\neq\mathcal X(G)\). Setting \(t'_{t_{i_1\cdots i_l}}=t_{t_{i_1\cdots i_l}}-2\in\mathbb Q[t]\) they consider the ideal \(J\) of \(\mathbb Q[t]/I_{\mathbb Q}\) generated by the images of \(t'_{t_{i_1\cdots i_l}}\) and reprove a result of \textit{W. Magnus} [in Math. Z. 170, 91-103 (1980; Zbl 0433.20033)] that, for \(n=3\) the ideal \(J\) is \(\Aut(G)\)-invariant (Lemma 4.3). Considering the descending filtration \(J\subset J^2\subset J^3\subset\cdots\) of \(\mathbb Q[t]/I_{\mathbb Q}\) the authors obtain finite dimensional representations \(\zeta_{k,\mathbb Q}\colon\Aut(G)\to\Aut(\text{gr}^k(J))\), where \(g^k(J)=J^k/J^{k+1}\) and study relations among \(\text{tr}'x=\text{tr\,}x-2\in\mathcal F(R(G),\mathbb C)\), \(x\in G\), which are useful in the proof of their main result. For any \(k\geq 1\), let \(\mathcal E_G(k)=\text{Ker}(\Aut(G)\to\Aut(J/J^{k+1}))\). So, it is defined a descending filtration \(\mathcal E_G(1)\subset\mathcal E_G(2)\subset\mathcal E_G(3)\subset\cdots\) of \(\Aut(G)\). The rest of the paper is devoted to the study of this filtration. More precisely it is proved. Proposition: (5.3 in the paper) For any \(k,l\geq 1\), \([\mathcal E_G(k),\mathcal E_G(l)]\subset\mathcal E_G(k+l)\). Namely that this filtration is central. In the case where \(G=F_n\), the free group of rank \(n\), the authors study the group \(\mathcal E_n(1)=\mathcal E_{F_n}(1)\) and compare it with the Andreadakis-Johnson filtration. (For the definition and properties of Andreadakis-Johnson filtration they refer to [\textit{S. Andreadakis}, Proc. Lond. Math. Soc., III. Ser. 15, 239-268 (1965; Zbl 0135.04502); \textit{T. Satoh}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 361, No. 4, 2085-2107 (2009; Zbl 1171.20024); and \textit{T. Satoh}, A survey of the Johnson homomorphisms of the automorphism groups of free groups and related topics, \url{arXiv:1204.0876}].) Their main results can be summarized in Theorem: (5.12 and 5.13 in the paper) (1) \(\mathcal E_n(1)=\text{Inn\,}F_n\cdot\mathcal A_n(2)\). (2) \(\mathcal A_n(2k)\subset\mathcal E_n(k)\). Here \(\mathcal A_n(k)\) is the \(k\)-term of Andreadakis-Johnson filtration. Namely the kernel of the homomorphism \(\Aut(F_n)\to\Aut(F_n/\Gamma_n(k+1))\), \(\Gamma_n(k+1)\) being the \(k\)-term of lower central series of \(F_n\). Some properties of the graded quotients \(\text{gr}^k(\mathcal E_n)=\mathcal E_n(k)/\mathcal E_n(k+1)\) are studied at the end of the paper and it is proved. Theorem: (5.15 in the paper) For any \(n\geq 3\), (1) each of \(\text{gr}^k(\mathcal E_n)\) is torsion free. (2) \(\dim_{\mathbb Q}(\text{gr}^k(\mathcal E_n)\otimes_{\mathbb Z}\mathbb Q)<\infty\).