Isometric endomorphisms of free groups.

zbMATH Open1262.20043arXiv1101.4055MaRDI QIDQ416766FDOQ416766

Authors: Danny Calegari, Alden Walker 

Publication date: 10 May 2012

Published in: The New York Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: An arbitrary homomorphism between groups is nonincreasing for stable commutator length, and there are infinitely many (injective) homomorphisms between free groups which strictly decrease the stable commutator length of some elements. However, we show in this paper that a random homomorphism between free groups is almost surely an isometry for stable commutator length for every element; in particular, the unit ball in the scl norm of a free group admits an enormous number of exotic isometries. Using similar methods, we show that a random fatgraph in a free group is extremal (i.e. is an absolute minimizer for relative Gromov norm) for its boundary; this implies, for instance, that a random element of a free group with commutator length at most n has commutator length exactly n and stable commutator length exactly n-1/2. Our methods also let us construct explicit (and computable) quasimorphisms which certify these facts.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1101.4055

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zbMATH Keywords

quasimorphismsfree groupsGromov normstable commutator lengthsfatgraphsinjective homomorphismsisometric endomorphismsrandom homomorphisms

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Free nonabelian groups (20E05) Automorphisms of infinite groups (20E36) Geometric group theory (20F65) Asymptotic properties of groups (20F69) Topological methods in group theory (57M07) Commutator calculus (20F12) Probabilistic methods in group theory (20P05)

Cited In (7)

• Statistics and compression of scl
• Surface subgroups from linear programming
• Gaps in scl for amalgamated free products and RAAGs
• Endomorphisms preserving an orbit in a relatively free metabelian group
• Random rigidity in the free group.
• Scl in graphs of groups
• Scl in free products

Uses Software

• scallop
• wallop
• sss

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