Aut-invariant quasimorphisms on free products (Q6081643)

For a group \(G\), a function \(\psi :G\to \mathbb{R}\) is called a \textit{quasimorphism} if there exists a constant \(D\geq 0\) such that \(|\psi(x)+\psi(y)-\psi(xy)|\leq D\) for all \(x,y\in G\). A quasimorphism \(\psi \) is called \begin{itemize} \item[1)] \textit {\(Aut\)-invariant} if \(\psi (\phi (g)) = \psi (g)\) for all \(g\in G, \phi \in Aut(G)\); \item[2)] \textit {homogeneous} if \(\psi (g^n) = n\psi (g)\) for all \(g\in G, n\in \mathbb{Z}\). \end{itemize} A bounded function \(\psi \) is trivially a quasimorphism so one is naturally interested in finding unbounded examples. Brook [\textit{R. Brooks}, Ann. Math. Stud. None, 53--63 (1981; Zbl 0457.55002)] produces a variety of examples on free groups \(\mathbb{F}_n\). In [Groups Geom. Dyn. 4, No. 1, 59--90 (2010; Zbl 1227.20040)], \textit{D. Calegari} and \textit{K. Fujiwara} constructed unbounded quasimorphisms on non-elementary word-hyperbolic groups. In this paper, the author proves (see Theorem 1) that if \(G = A\ast B\) is a free product of two non-trivial freely indecomposable groups \(A\) and \(B\), and \(G\) is not the infinite dihedral group \((\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})\ast (\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})\), then \(G\) admits infinitely many linearly independent homogeneous \(Aut\)-invariant quasimorphisms. Moreover, these constructed quasimorphisms vanish on single letters, i.e. on elements which belong to either \(A\) or \(B\). For a group \(G\), a function \(\nu :G\to [0, \infty )\) is called a \textit{norm} if for all \(x,y\in G\), the ``triangle inequality'' \(\nu (xy)\leq \nu (x)+\nu (y)\) holds and \(\nu (x) = 0\) if and only if \(x\) is the identity element. A norm \(\nu \) is called \textit{\(Aut\)-invariant} if \(\nu (\phi (g)) = \nu (g)\) for all \(g\in G, \phi \in Aut(G)\). Norms may or may not be bounded, but if there exists \(g\in G\) with \(\lim\limits_{n\to \infty}\frac{\nu (g^n)}{n} > 0\), then the norm \(\nu \) is called \textit{stably unbounded}. A meaningful example of a norm in groups is the word length (Cayley metric) with respect to a given generating set. Whether this norm on a given group is stably unbounded, is indeed an interesting question. In the paper, the author provides a (short) construction which allows to obtain a stably unbounded \(Aut\)-invariant norm out of an unbounded quasimorphisms \(\psi :G\to \mathbb{R}\) which is bounded on a generating set \(S\) of \(G\). Using these constructions, the author obtains a corollary of Theorem 1 which states that, other than the infinite dihedral group, a free product of two non-trivial freely indecomposable groups admit stably unbounded \(Aut\)-invariant norms. The constructions in the paper are also applied to \textit{\(Aut\)-invariant stable commutator length}, which was recently introduced by \textit{M. Kawasaki} and \textit{M. Kimura} in [Isr. J. Math. 247, No. 2, 845--871 (2022; Zbl 1509.53082)], denoted as \(\mathrm{scl}_{\mathrm{Aut}}\), to show the following: Let \(G = A \ast B\) be a free product of non-trivial freely indecomposable groups and assume that \(G\) is not the infinite dihedral group. Then there always exist elements \(g \in G\) with positive \(Aut\)-invariant stable commutator length.