Embedding finitely generated free-by-cyclic groups in \(\{\)finitely generated free\(\}\)-by-cyclic groups (Q6853973)

The paper refines techniques of \textit{M.~Feighn} and \textit{M.~Handel} [Ann. Math. (2) 149, No. 3, 1061--1077 (1999; Zbl 0938.20022)] for finitely generated subgroups of mapping tori, specialized here to free-by-cyclic groups \(G=F\rtimes_\psi \mathbb Z\) without assuming that \(F\) is finitely generated. It develops a graph-theoretic framework of \(\psi\)-bi-invariant graph triples together with a tightening procedure. A key technical statement is an HNN-extension description read off from minimal bi-invariant graph triples (Theorem 4.1), yielding an HNN splitting in which the associated subgroups are free factors.\N\NThe main algebraic characterization (Theorem 1.1) states that \(G\) is finitely generated if and only if \(F\) admits a free product decomposition \(F=A\ast \big (\ast_{i\in\mathbb Z} C_i \big )\) with \(A\) and \(C_0\) finitely generated and \(C_i=\psi^i(C_0)\) for all \(i\in\mathbb Z\). Using this, the second main result (Theorem 1.2) proves that every finitely generated free-by-\(\mathbb Z\) group embeds in a finitely generated free-by-\(\mathbb Z\) group as a retract, with relative hyperbolicity properties. Consequently, such groups satisfy a quadratic isoperimetric inequality; in the hyperbolic case, one obtains an embedding as a quasi-convex subgroup of a hyperbolic finitely generated free-by-\(\mathbb Z\) group.