Normalisers in limit groups. (Q863417)

Limit groups have been studied extensively both under the name limit groups as well as under the name fully residually free groups. They are those finitely generated groups \(\Gamma\) such that for each infinite subset \(T\subset\Gamma\) there is a homomorphism from \(\Gamma\) to a free group that is injective on \(T\). Examples of limit groups include finitely generated free or free Abelian groups, and the fundamental groups of surfaces with Euler characteristic \(\leq -2\). A free product of finitely many limit groups is again a limit group. The paper under review considers the subgroup structure of limit groups. The main results of the paper are the following. If \(H\) is a finitely generated nontrivial subgroup of a limit group \(\Gamma\) then either \(H\) has finite index in its normalizer or else the normalizer of \(H\) is Abelian (Theorem 1). If \(S\) is a subgroup of a limit group \(\Gamma\) and \(H_1(S,\mathbb{Q})\) has finite \(\mathbb{Q}\)-dimension then \(S\) is finitely generated (and hence is itself a limit group) (Theorem 2). The authors use Bass-Serre theory in their construction of a class that contains all non-Abelian limit groups and show that within this class every finitely generated normal subgroup has finite index. So, to prove Theorem 1, it remains to show that if \(H\subset\Gamma\) is a finitely generated subgroup, then the normalizer of \(H\) in \(\Gamma\) is finitely generated. This is shown to follow from Theorem 2. The authors use Theorem 1 in their studies of subdirect products of limit groups [Geom. Funct. Anal. 17, No. 2, 385-403 (2007; Zbl 1127.20027), Math. Res. Lett. 14, No. 4, 547-558 (2007; Zbl 1193.20052)]. In this paper, the authors prove the following result on subdirect products: Suppose that \(\Gamma_1,\dots,\Gamma_n\) are limit groups and \(S\subset\Gamma_1\times\cdots\times\Gamma_n\) is an arbitrary subgroup; if \(L_i=\Gamma_i\cap S\) is non-Abelian and finitely generated for \(i\leq r\) then a subgroup \(S_0\subset S\) of finite index splits as \(S_0=L_1\times\cdots\times L_r\times (S_0\cap(\Gamma_{r+1}\times\cdots\times\Gamma_n))\). This reduces the study of subdirect products of limit groups to the case where all normal subgroups \(L_i\triangleleft S\) are infinitely generated.