Direct products of free groups in \(\Aut(F_N)\) (Q6614091)

The main purpose in the paper under review is to give a complete classification of the maximal rank direct products of free groups in \(\Aut(F_{N})\) and \(\operatorname{Out}(F_{N})\). More generally, the authors work with maximal commuting families of full-sized groups (groups that contain non-abelian free subgroups). In a previous paper [Geom. Funct. Anal. 34, No. 5, 1310--1336 (2024; Zbl 07921920)] the authors used this classification, in connection with a preprint by \textit{M. Bestvina} and the first author [``Rigidity of the free factor complex'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:2306.05941}] to prove that \(\Aut(F_{N})\) and its Torelli subgroup are commensurator rigid if \(N \geq 3\).\N\NThe main step in the proof is Theorem A: Let \(N \geq 3\) and suppose \(D < \operatorname{Out}(F_{N})\) is generated by a commuting family of \(2N-4\) full-sized subgroups. Then there is a unique collapsed rose with \(N-2\) petals that is fixed by \(D\).\N\NLet \(\{ a_{1},a_{2},x_{1},\ldots,x_{N-2}\}\) be a basis of \(F_{N}\) and \(D\) the direct product of the \(2N-4\) copies of \(F_{2}\) in \(\operatorname{Out}(F_{N})\) obtained by multiplying the elements \(x_{1},\ldots,x_{N-2}\) on the left and right by elements of \(A=\langle a_{1},a_{2}\rangle\). The group \(D\) fixes a graph-of-groups decomposition of \(F_{N}\) with a single vertex group given by \(A\) and \(N-2\) loops with trivial edge stabilizers. The Bass-Serre tree associated to any such decomposition determines an open simplex in the boundary of \textit{M. Culler} and \textit{K. Vogtmann}'s outer space [Invent. Math. 84, 91--119 (1986; Zbl 0589.20022)]; the authors call such a graph of groups a collapsed rose with \(N-2\) petals.\N\NFrom Theorem A, the authors deduce Theorem B: Let \(N \geq 3\) and suppose \(D < \Aut(F_{N})\) is generated by a commuting family of \(2N-3\) full-sized subgroups. Then, the image of \(D\) in \(\operatorname{Out}(F_{N})\) fixes a unique collapsed rose with \(N-2\) petals and \(D\) acts on the Bass-Serre tree of this collapsed rose with a unique global fixed point.\N\NTheorem C describes the subgroups of \(\Aut(F_{N})\) that contain a conjugate of \(D\), the direct product of \(2N-3\) nonabelian free groups (\(N \geq 3\)). (The statement is too complex to be reported here.) The authors prove that every direct product of \(2N-4\) nonabelian free groups in \(\operatorname{Out}(F_{N})\) is contained in the image of one of the subgroups listed in Theorem C.\N\NA further consequence of Theorem C is that the centralizer of the direct product \(D\) is cyclic and when it is non-trivial it is generated by a Nielsen automorphism. This yields the following rigidity result. Theorem F: Let \(\Gamma\) be a finite-index subgroup of \(\Aut(F_{N})\) with \(N \geq 3\) and let \(f : \Gamma \rightarrow \Aut(F_{N})\) be an injective homomorphism. Every power of a Nielsen automorphism is mapped to a power of a Nielsen automorphism under \(f\).