On the absence of McShane-type identities for the outer space (Q958988)

McShane's identity states that, for a complete finite volume hyperbolic metric on a once-punctured torus, one has \(\sum_\gamma 1/(e^{l(\gamma)} + 1) = 1/2\) where the sum is taken over the homotopy classes of all essential simple closed curves \(\gamma\) on the surface, and \(l(\gamma)\) denotes the length of a geodesic representative. This has been generalized to other hyperbolic surfaces and in various other contexts. In the present paper, the authors show that there is no reasonable analogue of such an identity for the so-called Culler-Vogtmann outer space associated to a free group \(F_k\) of rank \(k\) (whose elements are marked finite metric graphs of volume one, with fundamental groups identified with \(F_k\), and with an action of the outer automorphism group of \(F_k\) on it). In this free group context, instead of simple closed curves the authors consider alternatively either all conjugacy classes in \(F_k\), or only conjugacy classes or primitive elements, and show that, under some assumptions concerning convergence, there are no analogues of McShane's identity in either context. The idea of the proofs uses the notion of volume entropy for a metric structure on a wedge of \(k\) circles.