Weakly maximal subgroups of branch groups

Let \(T\) be a root tree and \(G\) a subgroup of \(\Aut(T)\) acting spherically transitively. The stabilizers of rays \(\mathrm{Stab}_{G}(\xi )\) for \(T\) called parabolic subgroups.\N\NA generalized parabolic subgroup of a group \(G\leq \Aut(T)\) is the setwise stabilizer \(\mathrm{SStab}_{G}(C)\) of some closed non-open subset \(C\) of \( \partial T\) such that \(\mathrm{SStab}_{G}(C)\) acts minimally on \(C\).\N\NLet \(v\) be a vertex of \(T\), the rigid stabilizers of \(v\), \(\mathrm{Risr}_{G}(v)\), is the pointwise stabilizer of \(T \backslash T_{v}\), that is the subgroup of elements acting trivially outside \(T_{v}\).\N\NLet \(T\) be a root tree and \(G\) subgroup of automorphisms of \(T\) acting spherically transitively. It is a branch group if all rigid stabilizers of \(G\) have finite index in \(G\). It is said weakly branch group, if all rigid stabilizers of \(G\) are non-trivial (which implies that they are infinite).\N\NA subgroup \(H \subseteq G\) of a group \(G\) is weakly maximal if it is maximal among subgroups of infinite index. In particular, every maximal subgroup of infinite index is weakly maximal, but in general they are far from the only examples.\N\NBranch groups have an interesting subgroup structure and some of them,\Nbut not all, do not have maximal subgroups of infinite index. This is the case, for example, of the first Grigorchuk group and of the torsion GGS (Grigorchuk-Gupta-Sidki) groups.\N\NThe next step in understanding the subgroup structure of branch groups is to study weakly maximal subgroups. The study of such subgroups began with a result of \textit{L. Bartholdi} and \textit{R. I. Grigorchuk} on parabolic subgroups [in: Dynamical systems, automata and infinite groups. Transl. from the Russian. Moscow: MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica Publishing. 1--41 (2000; Zbl 1172.37305); translation from Tr. Mat. Inst. Steklova 231, 5--45 (2000)].\N\NThe study of weakly maximal subgroups continued with an example of \textit{E. L. Pervova} [in: Dynamical systems, automata, and infinite groups. Transl. from the Russian. Moscow: MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica Publishing. 339--350 (2000; Zbl 1018.20019); translation from Tr. Mat. Inst. Steklova 231, 356--367 (2000); Int. J. Algebra Comput. 15, No. 5--6, 1129--1150 (2005; Zbl 1109.20032); J. Algebra 310, No. 2, 858--879 (2007; Zbl 1129.20020)]\Nexhibiting a non-parabolic weakly maximal subgroup of the first Grigorchuk group [\textit{R. I. Grigorchuk}, Proc. Steklov Inst. Math. 273, 64--175 (2011; Zbl 1268.20027); translation from Tr. Mat. Inst. Steklova 273, 72--191 (2011), Proposition 8.7], answering a question of Grigorchuk about the existence of such subgroups.\N\NAfter that, \textit{K. Bou-Rabee} et al. [J. Algebra 455, 347--357 (2016; Zbl 1347.20026)] proved two interesting results. These results, speaking casually, could be summarized: Let \(G\leq\Aut(T)\), where \(T\) is a regular rooted tree, then small subgroups are contained in many weakly maximal subgroups.\N\NLet \(G\) be the first Grigorchuk group or a branch GGS group then big subgroups (vertex\Nstabilizers) contain many weakly maximal subgroup.\N\NIn the present paper, the author continues the effort for a better understanding of weakly maximal subgroups in general branch groups as well as a full description of weakly maximal subgroups for the particular cases of the first Grigorchuk group and of the GGS torsion groups.\N\NHere, we glean some of his results referring in the paper for definitions and relevant comments.\N\NLemma 1.4. Let \(G\leq \Aut(T)\) be a group with \(\mathrm{Rist}_{G}(v)\) infinite for all \(v\). Then every weakly maximal subgroup of \(G\) is infinite.\N\NTheorem 1.5. Let \(T\) be a rooted tree and \(G\leq \Aut(T)\) be a branch group. Then all generalized parabolic subgroups of \(G\) are weakly maximal and pairwise distinct\N\NThis theorem is a generalization of Bartholdi and Grigorchuks results [loc. cit.].\N\NFrom this result are obtained generalizations of previous results by Bou-Rabee et al. [loc. cit.]. See Corollaries 1.6, 1.7, 1.8.\N\NA slight generalization of Corollary 1.8 is obtained in Proposition 4.17.\N\NA strong version of Theorem 1.5 is Corollary 3.10.\N\NIn Corollary 3.11 generalizations of Corollaries 1.6, 1.7 and the first part of Corollary 1.8 are obtained.\N\NTheorem 1.9. Let \(G\leq \Aut(T)\) be a self-replicating branch group and let \(W\) be a weakly maximal subgroup of \(G\). For any vertex \(v\) there exists a weakly maximal subgroup \(W^{v}\) contained in \(mathrm{Stab}_{G}(v)\) such that the section of \(W^{v}\) at \(v\) is equal to \(W\).\N\NThis theorem results as an application of Proposition 5.9, which it can also be useful in the more general context of self-replicating families of groups and as a direct corollary a generalization of Theorem 1.9 is obtained (Corollary 5.10).\N\NTheorem 1.12. Let \(G\) be either the first Grigorchuk group or a torsion GGS group. Let \(W\) be a weakly maximal subgroup of \(G\). Then the following properties are equivalent:\N\N(1) \(W\) has a block structure.\N\N(2) There exists \(n\) such that \(\pi _{v}(\mathrm{Stab}_{W}(v))\) has finite index in \(G\) for every vertex of level \(n\).\N\N(3) There exists \(n\) such that \(\pi _{v}(\mathrm{Stab}_{W}(v)) = G\) for every vertex of level \(n\).\N\N(4) There exists a vertex \(v\) with \(\mathrm{Rist}_{W}(v) = 1\).\N\N(5) \( W \curvearrowright \partial T\) has finitely many orbit-closures.\N\N(6) \(W\) is not generalized parabolic.\N\N(7) \(W\) is finitely generated.\N\NThis theorem, in fact, is contained in the Theorem 6.18, which constitute a structural theorem for weakly maximal subgroups of branch groups.\N\NAs a corollary of Theorem 6.18, Proposition 1.10 is proved, which says that, in some sense, if \(G\) is either the first Grigorchuk group, or a torsion GGS group, then it has also as many finitely generated weakly maximal subgroups as possible.\N\NThe author comments on Theorem 6.18 and askes relevant questions (Questions 6.20, 6.21).\N\NIn Section 8, the author focuses on weakly maximal subgroups of the first Grigorchuk group and, as applications of the previous results, obtains interesting results for this class of groups.\N\NThe paper concludes with comments on a recent work by \textit{R. Grigorchuk} and \textit{Y. Vorobets} [``On maximal subgroups of ample groups, Preprint, \url{arXiv:2403.16364}] where a correlation between results on maximal subgroups of ample groups and the results obtained about weakly maximal subgroups of branch groups is attempted.

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