Fibers of word maps and some applications. (Q448392)

A word \(w\) is an element of the free group \(F_d\) on \(d\) generators \(x_1,x_2,\dots,x_d\). Given any group \(G\) the word \(w\) gives rise to a word map \(\widetilde w=w_G\colon G^d\to G\) induced by substitution and \(\mathrm{Ker}(\widetilde w)\) is defined as the set \(\{g\in G\mid\widetilde w(g)=1\}\). Finally, for a finite group \(G\), define \(P_G(\widetilde w)=|\mathrm{Ker}(\widetilde w)|/|G^d|\); it is interesting to observe that if \(w=[x_1,x_2]\) (the commutator word), then \(P_G(\widetilde w)=k(G)/|G|\), where \(k(G)\) is the number of conjugacy classes of \(G\). If \(w\neq 1\) it follows from \textit{G. A. Jones} [J. Aust. Math. Soc. 17, 163-173 (1974; Zbl 0286.20028)] that \(P_G(\widetilde w)<1\) provided \(|G|\) is large enough (given \(w\)). The first result of this paper is: Theorem 1.1. For every word \(w\neq 1\) there exist \(\varepsilon=\varepsilon(w)>0\) and \(N=N(w)>0\) such that every non-Abelian finite simple group \(G\) of order at least \(N\) satisfies \(P_G(\widetilde w)\leq|G|^{-\varepsilon}\) (and this bound is best possible). Theorem 1.1 is a consequence of the more general Theorem 1.2 in which the authors study general fibres of word maps, and not just the fiber above \(1\). These results are then applied in the context of subgroup growth and representation varieties.