On the one-endedness of graphs of groups. (Q745099)

A finitely generated group \(G=\langle S\rangle\) is \textit{one-ended} if the Cayley graph corresponding to the generator set \(S\) cannot be separated into two or more infinite components by removing a finite subset. The author presents a technical result which essentially characterizes one-ended graphs of groups. This result has several corollaries. A first one describes conditions under which a graph of groups with one-ended vertex groups and virtually cyclic edge groups is one-ended. Given any graph of groups, the author shows that if its fundamental group is not one-ended, then vertex groups can be blown up to graphs of groups with simpler vertex and edge groups. As an application, a theorem of Swarup is generalized to decompositions of virtually free groups.