Normal form and parabolic dynamics for quadratically growing automorphisms of free groups

arXiv1705.04110MaRDI QIDQ6286540FDOQ6286540

Publication date: 11 May 2017

Abstract: We present a normal form for outer automorphisms

p h i

of a non-abelian free group

F_{N}

which grow quadratically (measured through the maximal growth of conjugacy classes in

F_{N}

under iteration of

p h i

). In analogy to the known normal form for linearly growing automorphisms as efficient Dehn twist, our normal form for

p h i

is given in terms of a 2-level Dehn twist on a graph-of-groups

c a l G

with

p i_{1} c a l G c o n g F_{N}

, where a conjugacy class of

F_{N}

grows at most linearly if and only if it is contained in a vertex group of

c a l G

. Our proof is based on earlier work of the second author and on a new cancellation result, which also allows us to show that the dynamics of the induced

p h i

-action on Outer space

C V_{N}

consists entirely of parabolic orbits, with limit points all assembled in the simplex

D e l t a_{c a l G} s u b s e t p a r t i a l C V_{N}

determined by

c a l G

.

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