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D. B. McReynolds

Publications and source records attributed to D. B. McReynolds.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2016

Zariski Closures and Subgroup Separability

The main result of this article is a refinement of the well-known subgroup separability results of Hall and Scott for free and surface groups. We show that for any finitely generated subgroup, there is a finite dimensional representation of the free or surface group that separates the subgroup in the induced Zariski topology. As a corollary, we establish a polynomial upper bound on the size of the quotients used to separate a finitely generated subgroup in a free or surface group.

math.GR↗
arXiv2016

Decision problems, complexity, traces, and representations

In this article, we study connections between representation theory and efficient solutions to the conjugacy problem on finitely generated groups. The main focus is on the conjugacy problem in conjugacy separable groups, where we measure efficiency in terms of the size of the quotients required to distinguish a distinct pair of conjugacy classes.

math.GR↗
arXiv2016

A vanishing theorem for the homology of discrete subgroups of $\mathrm{Sp}(n,1)$ and $\mathrm{F}_4^{-20}$

For any discrete, torsion-free subgroup $Γ$ of $\mathrm{Sp}(n,1)$ (resp.\ $\mathrm{F}_4^{-20}$) with no parabolic elements, we prove that $H_{4n-1}(Γ;V)=0$ (resp.\ $H_i(Γ;V)=0$ for $i=13,14,15$) for any $Γ$--module $V$. The main technical advance is a new bound on the $p$--Jacobian of the barycenter map of Besson--Courtois--Gallot. We also apply this estimate to obtain an inequality between the critical exponent and homological dimension of $Γ$, improving on work of M.~Kapovich.

math.GT↗
arXiv2014

Geometric spectra and commensurability

The work of Reid, Chinburg--Hamilton--Long--Reid, Prasad--Rapinchuk, and the author with Reid have demonstrated that geodesics or totally geodesic submanifolds can sometimes be used to determine the commensurability class of an arithmetic manifold. The main results of this article show that generalizations of these results to other arithmetic manifolds will require a wide range of data. Specifically, we prove that certain incommensurable arithmetic manifolds arising from the semisimple Lie groups of the form $(\SL(d,\R))^r \times (\SL(d,\C))^s$ have the same commensurability classes of totally geodesic submanifolds coming from a fixed field. This construction is algebraic and shows the failure of determining, in general, a central simple algebra from subalgebras over a fixed field. This, in turn, can be viewed in terms of forms of $\SL_d$ and the failure of determining the form via certain classes of algebraic subgroups.

math.GT↗
arXiv2013

Extremal behavior of divisibility functions

In this short article, we study the extremal behavior $F_Γ(n)$ of divisibility functions $D_Γ$ introduced by the first author for finitely generated groups $Γ$. We show finitely generated subgroups of $\GL(m,K)$ for an infinite field $K$ have at most polynomial growth for the function $F_Γ(n)$. Consequently, we obtain a dichotomy for the growth rate of $\log F_Γ(n)$ for finitely generated subgroups of $\GL(n,\C)$. We also show that if $F_Γ(n) \preceq \log \log n$, then $Γ$ is finite. In contrast, when $Γ$ contains an element of infinite order, $\log n \preceq F_Γ(n)$. We end with a brief discussion of some geometric motivation for this work.

math.GR↗
arXiv2012

Collisions at infinity in hyperbolic manifolds

For a complete, finite volume real hyperbolic n-manifold M, we investigate the map between homology of the cusps of M and the homology of $M$. Our main result provides a proof of a result required in a recent paper of Frigerio, Lafont, and Sisto.

math.GT↗
arXiv2010

Asymptotic growth and least common multiples in groups

In this article we relate word and subgroup growth to certain functions that arise in the quantification of residual finiteness. One consequence of this endeavor is a pair of results that equate the nilpotency of a finitely generated group with the asymptotic behavior of these functions. The second half of this article investigates the asymptotic behavior of two of these functions. Our main result in this arena resolves a question of Bogopolski from the Kourovka notebook concerning lower bounds of one of these functions for nonabelian free groups.

math.GR↗
arXiv2009

Bertrand's postulate and subgroup growth

In this article we investigate the L^1-norm of certain functions on groups called divisibility functions. Using these functions, their connection to residual finiteness, and integration theory on profinite groups, we define the residual average of a finitely generated group. One of the main results in this article is the finiteness of residual averages on finitely generated linear groups. Whether or not the residual average is finite depends on growth rates of indices of finite index subgroups. Our results on index growth rates are analogous to results on gaps between primes, and provide a variant of the subgroup growth function, which may be of independent interest.

math.GR↗
arXiv2009

Isospectral locally symmetric manifolds

In this article we construct closed, isospectral, non-isometric locally symmetric manifolds. We have three main results. First, we construct arbitrarily large sets of closed, isospectral, non-isometric manifolds. Second, we show the growth of size these sets of isospectral manifolds as a function of volume is super-polynomial. Finally, we construct pairs of infinite towers of finite covers of a closed manifold that are isospectral and non-isometric at each stage.

math.DG↗
arXiv2009

Controlling manifold covers of orbifolds

In this article we prove a generalization of Selberg's lemma on the existence of torsion free, finite index subgroups of arithmetic groups. Some of the geometric applications are the resolution a conjecture of Nimershiem and answers to questions of Long-Reid and the author.

math.GT↗
arXiv2009

The genus spectrum of a hyperbolic 3-manifold

In this article we study the spectrum of totally geodesic surfaces of a finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifold. We show that for arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifolds that contain a totally geodesic surface, this spectrum determines the commensurability class. In addition, we show that any finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifold has many pairs of non-isometric finite covers with identical spectra. Forgetting multiplicities, we can also construct pairs where the volume ratio is unbounded.

math.GT↗
arXiv2009

Graphs of subgroups of free groups

We construct an efficient model for graphs of finitely generated subgroups of free groups. Using this we give a very short proof of Dicks's reformulation of the strengthened Hanna Neumann Conjecture as the Amalgamated Graph Conjecture. In addition, we answer a question of Culler and Shalen on ranks of intersections in free groups. The latter has also been done independently by R. P. Kent IV.

math.GR↗
arXiv2007

Arithmetic cusp shapes are dense

In this article we verify an orbifold version of a conjecture of Nimershiem from 1998. Namely, for every flat $n$-manifold $M$, we show that the set of similarity classes of flat metrics on $M$ which occur as a cusp cross-section of a hyperbolic $(n+1)$-orbifold is dense in the space of similarity classes of flat metrics on $M$. The set used for density is precisely the set of those classes which arise in arithmetic orbifolds.

math.GT↗
arXiv2007

Arithmetic lattices and weak spectral geometry

This note is an expansion of three lectures given at the workshop "Topology, Complex Analysis and Arithmetic of Hyperbolic Spaces" held at Kyoto University in December of 2006 and will appear in the proceedings for this workshop.

math.DG↗
arXiv2007

Cusps of Hilbert modular varieties

Motivated by a question of Hirzebruch on the possible topological types of cusp cross-sections of Hilbert modular varieties, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for a manifold M to be diffeomorphic to a cusp cross-section of a Hilbert modular variety. Specialized to Hilbert modular surfaces, this proves that every Sol 3-manifold is diffeomorphic to a cusp cross-section of a (generalized) Hilbert modular surface. We also deduce an obstruction to geometric bounding in this setting. Consequently, there exist Sol 3-manifolds that cannot arise as a cusp cross-section of a 1-cusped nonsingular Hilbert modular surface.

math.GT↗