Separating quasiconvex subgroups of right-angled Artin groups (Q699741)

Given a finite simple graph \(\Gamma\), the corresponding `graph group' (or `right-angled Artin group') is the group given by the presentation which has one generator for each vertex of \(\Gamma\), and for each edge of \(\Gamma\) a relation saying that the generators corresponding to the endpoints of the edge commute. If \(\Gamma\) is a tree, the group is called a `tree group'. The authors prove that if \(H\) is a finitely-generated subgroup of a tree group \(G\), and \(H\) is quasiconvex with respect to either the word metric on \(G\) or the \(\text{CAT}(0)\)-metric on the universal cover of the standard complex of \(G\), then \(H\) is separable (that is, it is the intersection of finite-index subgroups of \(G\)). The argument relies on the geometry of the universal cover of the standard complex of \(G\). The authors also give an example of a tree group which is not subgroup separable, and they show that their argument does not apply to the graph group whose associated graph is the square (although the question of whether their theorem is true for all graph groups is open). The paper finishes with a list of related open questions.