No label defined (Q4946213)

We recall the notion of an angle between two subgroups of a given group. Let \(G\) be a group and let \(A\) and \(B\) be subgroups of \(G\). Let \(w\) be an element of the amalgamated product \(A*_{A\cap B}B\). If \(w\) is not in \(A\cap B\), then the alternating length of \(w\) is defined as the (unique) integer \(n\) such that \(w=g_1\cdots g_n\) with the \(g_i\) alternating between \(A\setminus A\cap B\) and \(B\setminus A\cap B\). Otherwise, the alternating length of \(w\) is defined to be 0. Consider now the kernel \(K=\ker(A*_{A\cap B}B\to G)\). If \(K=\{1\}\), then we say that the angle between \(A\) and \(B\) is 0. If \(K\not=\{1\}\), then the angle is equal to \(2\pi/N\), where \(N\) is the minimum alternating length of non-trivial elements of \(K\). The definition of the angle between subgroups has been introduced by S. Gersten and J. Stallings. \textit{J.~R.~Stallings} investigated [in his paper in: Groups - Korea '94, de Gruyter, 295-301 (1995; Zbl 0869.20022)] the case where \(G\) is a free group, and he gave a partial algorithm to compute the angle between finitely generated subgroups of such a group. In this paper the author proves the following Theorem. Let \(G\) be a word hyperbolic group and let \(A\) and \(B\) be quasi-convex subgroups of \(G\), equipped with finite systems of generators. Suppose that the join of \(A\) and \(B\) is also quasi-convex. Then, the angle between \(A\) and \(B\) is computable. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0930.00042].