On Thompson groups for Ważewski dendrites (Q6970141)

This article introduces and studies a new class of Thompson-like groups \(G_n\), defined as rearrangement groups acting on Wazewski dendrites \(D_n\), within the broader framework of fractal rearrangement groups introduced by \textit{J. Belk} and \textit{B. Forrest} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 372, No. 7, 4509--4552 (2019; Zbl 1480.20095)]. These dendrites are fractal-like continua with no simple closed curves, whose points have order \(1\), \(2\) or \(n\) and which arise as limit spaces of specific expanding replacement systems. The groups \(G_n\) are finitely generated (for \(n \ge 4\)), countable, dense in the full homeomorphism group \(\operatorname{Homeo}(D_n)\) and exhibit a rich algebraic structure interpolating between properties of Thompson's groups \(F\) and \(V\).\N\NA central result establishes that \(G_n\) is generated by a copy of Thompson's group \(F\) (acting on a canonical linear arc) and a symmetric group \(\operatorname{Sym}(n)\) (permuting the branches at a central branch point), yielding \(G_n = \langle H, K \rangle\) with \(H \cong F\), \(K \cong \operatorname{Sym}(n)\). The commutator subgroup \([G_n, G_n]\) is finitely generated and simple (for \(n \ge 4\)) and the abelianisation is isomorphic to \(\mathbb{Z}_2 \oplus \mathbb{Z}\). Several features are reminiscent of \(V\): for example, the groups are not invariably generated, contain non-abelian free subgroups and have solvable conjugacy problem.\N\NSection~5 proves the density of \(G_n\) in \(\operatorname{Homeo}(D_n)\) using tree approximations and a form of oligomorphic transitivity on branch points. Section 6 shows that the commutator subgroup shares this density property. The article also constructs analogues of Thompson's group \(F\) associated with rational arcs in \(D_n\), yielding numerous isomorphic embeddings of \(F\) into \(G_n\). Section~8 explores connections with the Airplane rearrangement group \(T_A\), shows that \(T_A\) is dense in \(\operatorname{Homeo}(D_\infty)\) and outlines generalizations to rearrangement groups of other dendrites \(D_S\).