The minimal genus problem for right angled Artin groups (Q6093590)

Given a finite simple graph \(\Gamma\) with vertex set \(V(\Gamma)\) and edge set \(E(\Gamma)\), the corresponding right angled Artin group (RAAG) \(A_\Gamma\) is the group given by the presentation \[ \langle V(\Gamma)\ | \ st=ts\ \forall \{s,t\} \in E(\Gamma)\rangle. \] The second integral homology \(H_2(A_\Gamma)\) can be identified with \(\mathbb{Z}^{E(\Gamma)}\) and the \textit{support} of the homology class \(\alpha \in H_2(A_\Gamma)\) is the union of edges whose corresponding entries in \(\alpha \in \mathbb{Z}^{E(\Gamma)}\) are not zero. A continuous map \(f:\Sigma \rightarrow X\) from a compact oriented surface \textit{represents a second homology class} \(\alpha\) of a space \(X\) if the induced map on homology sends the fundamental class \([\Sigma] \in H_2(\Sigma)\) to \(\alpha\). The \textit{minimal genus} of \(\alpha\), \(\mathrm{gen}(\alpha)\), is the minimal genus of a surface representing \(\alpha\) and the minimal genus of a second homology class of a group \(G\) refers to the minimal genus of a second homology class in the classifying space for the group. Given a space \(X\) and \(\alpha \in H_2(X)\), the \textit{cap product} map of \(\alpha\) is the map \[\alpha \cap - : H^1(X) \rightarrow H_1(X).\] For any RAAG \(A_\Gamma\), the authors introduce a diagrammatic description of a class \(\alpha \in H_2(A_\Gamma)\), which provides a matrix description of \(\alpha \cap -\), called the \textit{connection matrix} \(M_\alpha\). They obtain a lower bound for the minimal genus of a second homology class, called the \textit{cap product inequality}; namely \(\mathrm{rank}(\alpha \cap -) /2 \leq \mathrm{gen} (\alpha)\) or equivalently \(\mathrm{rank}(M_\alpha)/2\leq \mathrm{gen}(\alpha)\). In general the cap inequality is not an equality, but the authors observe (Theorem A) that it is an equality in the case of the free abelian group \(\mathbb{Z}^n\) (the RAAG \(A_\Gamma\), where \(\Gamma\) is the complete graph on \(n\) vertices); moreover, the minimal genus is always realized by a disjoint union of tori. This prompts the authors to consider if these properties hold for every RAAG. That is: (1) Is the cap product inequality an equality for every RAAG? and (2) Does every class in the second homology of a RAAG have a minimal genus representative that is a disjoint union of tori? Theorem B shows that (1) and (2) both have positive answers for \(A_\Gamma\) when \(\Gamma\) is a complete bipartite graph or a tree. Corollary C shows that the same is true for any 3-manifold \(X\) whose fundamental group is a RAAG. The authors are not able to answer (1) in general; however, they use the cap bound to prove Theorem D, which gives that a non-trivial second homology class \(\alpha \in H_2(A_\Gamma)\) is representable by a single torus if and only if \(\mathrm{rank}(M_\alpha)=2\) and, moreover, the support of such a homology class is a complete \(n\)-partite graph. Theorem E provides a negative answer to (2) by showing that there exists \(A_\Gamma\) (the example given is the case when \(\Gamma\) is a pentagon) with a second homology class whose minimal genus representative cannot be realised by a disjoint union of tori. The authors conjecture that the answer to (1) is ``yes'' and discuss some variants and restricted versions of question (2).