Commability of groups quasi-isometric to trees

Abstract

Commability is the finest equivalence relation between locally compact groups such that $G$ and $H$ are equivalent whenever there is a continuous proper homomorphism $G \to H$ with cocompact image. Answering a question of Cornulier, we show that all non-elementary locally compact groups acting geometrically on locally finite simplicial trees are commable, thereby strengthening previous forms of quasi-isometric rigidity for trees. We further show that 6 homomorphisms always suffice, and provide the first example of a pair of locally compact groups which are commable but without commation consisting of less than 6 homomorphisms. Our strong quasi-isometric rigidity also applies to products of symmetric spaces and Euclidean buildings, possibly with some factors being trees.