Distortion and entropy for automorphisms of free groups (Q2654552)

From the author's abstract: Recently, several numerical invariants have been introduced to characterize the distortion induced by automorphisms of a free group. We unify these by interpreting them in terms of an entropy function of a kind familiar in thermodynamic ergodic theory. We draw an analogy between this approach and the Manhattan curve associated to a pair of hyperbolic surfaces. Let \(F\) be a free group of rank \(n\) on \(n\) free generators \(\{a_1,\dots,a_n\}=\mathcal A\). If \(\varphi\) is an automorphism of \(F\), then certain invariants in terms of \(\varphi\) are introduced. Let \(|x|\) be the usual length of \(x\in F\) in terms of \(a_1,\dots,a_n\) and \(\|w\|=\min\{|x|:x\in w\}\), \(w\in \mathcal C(F)\), \(\mathcal C(F)\) being the set of nontrivial conjugacy classes in \(F\). Let \(\mathcal D_\varphi=\{\frac{\|\varphi (w)\|}{\|w\|}:w\in\mathcal C(F)\}\). One of the main results is in terms of the Manhattan curve \(\mathfrak M_\varphi\) which is the boundary of the set \[ \{(a,b)\in \mathbb R^2:\sum_{w\in\mathcal C(F)}e^{-a|w|-b|\varphi(w)|}<+\infty\}. \] Thus this theorem goes as follows: (i) \(\mathfrak M_\varphi\) is a straight line if and only if \(\varphi\) is simple. (ii) \(\mathfrak M_\varphi\) is real analytic. (iii) \(\mathfrak M_\varphi\) has asymptotes whose normals have slopes equal to the \(\max\mathcal D_\varphi\) and \(\min\mathcal D_\varphi\). (iv) \(\mathfrak M_\varphi\) passes through \((\log(2k-1),0)\), where its normal has slope equal to the generic stretch \(\lambda(\varphi)\). (v) There is a unique point \((a,b)\in\mathfrak M_\varphi\) where the normal has slope 1 and \(a+b=\mathfrak h(1)\). Here an automorphism \(\varphi\) is called simple if it is the product of an inner automorphism and a permutation automorphism. A permutation automorphism is one that sends each generator to some generator or the inverse of some generator, \(\lambda(\varphi)=\lim _{n\to+\infty }\frac{|\varphi(x_0x_1\cdots x_{n-1}|}{n}\), \(x_i\in\mathcal A\cap\mathcal A^{-1}\) and \(\mathfrak h\) a strictly concave analytic function \(\mathfrak h:\text{int}(\overline{\mathcal D(\varphi)})\to\mathbb R^+\).