Limits of Baumslag-Solitar groups and dimension estimates in the space of marked groups. (Q454402)

The paper studies several natural and interesting questions about the groups which are limits of Baumslag-Solitar groups \(B(m,n)\), denoted by \(\overline{BS}(m,\xi)\), as presented by \textit{Y. Stalder} [Bull. Belg. Math. Soc. - Simon Stevin 13, No. 2, 221-233 (2006; Zbl 1148.20018)]. Here \(\xi\) is an \(m\)-adic integer. They exhibit infinite presentations of these groups, classify them up to isomorphism, describe their automorphisms, discuss the word and conjugacy problem, and show the non-vanishing of the Hausdorff dimension in the space of marked groups on two generators. Also it is shown that they are non-linear Hopfian \(C^*\)-simple groups with infinitely many twisted conjugacy classes. One relevant step to obtain the results is the result that these groups are HNN extensions of a free Abelian group of infinite countable rank where the conjugated subgroups are also free Abelian groups of infinite countable rank. This is Theorem A. To illustrate in more detail some of the results, let \(\mathbb G_2\) be the class of marked groups on \(2\) generators. They show Theorem C. Let \(m,m'\in\mathbb Z\setminus\{0\}\) and let \(\xi\in\mathbb Z_m\), \(\xi'\in\mathbb Z_{m'}\). Then \(\overline{BS}(m,\xi)\) is abstractly isomorphic to \(\overline{BS}(m',\xi')\) if and only if there is \(\varepsilon\in\{\pm 1\}\) and \(d\in\mathbb N\) such that \(m=\varepsilon m'\), \(d=\gcd(m,\xi)=\gcd(m',\xi')\) and the \(m\)-adic numbers \(\xi/d\), \(\varepsilon\xi'/d\) project onto the same element of \(\mathbb Z_{m/d}\) via the canonical map \(\mathbb Z_m\to\mathbb Z_{m/d}\). Corollary 6.6. The Hausdorff dimension of \(\mathbb G_2\) with respect to \(d(.,.)\) satisfies \(\dim_H(\mathbb G_2)\geq\log(2)/6\). In particular, the Hausdorff dimension of \(\mathbb G_2\) with respect to any equivalent Hölder matrix does not vanish.