arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Francesco Fournier-Facio.
We exhibit a variety of groups that act properly and even cocompactly on median graphs (a.k.a. one-skeletons of CAT(0) cube complexes), with quasi-isometric groups that do not admit any proper action on a median graph. This answes a question of Niblo, Sageev and Wise. Our examples are all quasi-isometrically trivial central extensions of certain cubulated groups.
For a large class of groups, we exhibit an infinite-dimensional space of homogeneous quasimorphisms that are invariant under the action of the automorphism group. This class includes non-elementary hyperbolic groups, infinitely-ended finitely generated groups, some relatively hyperbolic groups, and a class of graph products of groups that includes all right-angled Artin and Coxeter groups that are not virtually abelian. This was known for $F_2$ by a result of Brandenbursky and Marcinkowski, but is new even for free groups of higher rank, settling a question of Miklós Abért. The case of graph products of finitely generated abelian groups settles a question of Michal Marcinkowski. As a consequence, we deduce that a variety of Aut-invariant norms on such groups are unbounded.
We provide new computations in bounded cohomology: A group is boundedly acyclic if its bounded cohomology with trivial real coefficients is zero in all positive degrees. We show that there exists a continuum of finitely generated non-amenable boundedly acyclic groups and construct a finitely presented non-amenable boundedly acyclic group. On the other hand, we construct a continuum of finitely generated groups, whose bounded cohomology has uncountable dimension in all degrees greater than or equal to~$2$, and a concrete finitely presented one. Countable non-amenable groups with these two extreme properties were previously known to exist, but these constitute the first finitely generated/finitely presented examples. Finally, we show that various algorithmic problems on bounded cohomology are undecidable.
We study quasimorphisms and bounded cohomology of a variety of braided versions of Thompson groups. Our first main result is that the Brin--Dehornoy braided Thompson group $bV$ has an infinite-dimensional space of quasimorphisms and thus infinite-dimensional second bounded cohomology. This implies that despite being perfect, $bV$ is not uniformly perfect, in contrast to Thompson's group $V$. We also prove that relatives of $bV$ like the ribbon braided Thompson group $rV$ and the pure braided Thompson group $bF$ similarly have an infinite-dimensional space of quasimorphisms. Our second main result is that, in stark contrast, the close relative of $bV$ denoted $\hat{bV}$, which was introduced concurrently by Brin, has trivial second bounded cohomology. This makes $\hat{bV}$ the first example of a left-orderable group of type $\operatorname{F}_\infty$ that is not locally indicable and has trivial second bounded cohomology. This also makes $\hat{bV}$ an interesting example of a subgroup of the mapping class group of the plane minus a Cantor set that is non-amenable but has trivial second bounded cohomology, behaviour that cannot happen for finite-type mapping class groups.
A group is boundedly acyclic if its bounded cohomology with trivial real coefficients vanishes in all positive degrees. Amenable groups are boundedly acyclic, while the first non-amenable examples were the group of compactly supported homeomorphisms of $\mathbb{R}^n$ (Matsumoto--Morita) and mitotic groups (Löh). We prove that binate (alias pseudo-mitotic) groups are boundedly acyclic, which provides a unifying approach to the aforementioned results. Moreover, we show that binate groups are universally boundedly acyclic. We obtain several new examples of boundedly acyclic groups as well as computations of the bounded cohomology of certain groups acting on the circle. In particular, we discuss how these results suggest that the bounded cohomology of the Thompson groups $F$, $T$, and $V$ is as simple as possible.
We study continuous bounded cohomology of totally disconnected locally compact groups with coefficients in a non-Archimedean valued field $K$. To capture the features of classical amenability that induce the vanishing of real bounded cohomology, we introduce the notion of normed $K$-amenability, of which we prove an algebraic characterization. It implies that normed $K$-amenable groups are locally elliptic, and it relates an invariant, the norm of a $K$-amenable group, to the order of its discrete finite $p$-subquotients, where $p$ is the characteristic of the residue field of $K$. Moreover, we prove a bounded-cohomological characterization for discrete groups. The algebraic characterization shows that normed $K$-amenability is a very restrictive condition, so the bounded cohomological one suggests that there should be plenty of groups with rich bounded cohomology with trivial $K$ coefficients. We explore this intuition by studying the injectivity and surjectivity of the comparison map, for which surprisingly general statements are available. Among these, we show that if either $K$ has positive characteristic or its residue field has characteristic 0, then the comparison map is injective in all degrees. If $K$ is a finite extension of $\mathbb{Q}_p$, we classify quasimorphisms of a group and relate them to its subgroup structure. For discrete groups, we show that suitable finiteness conditions imply that the comparison map is an isomorphism. A motivation as to why the comparison map is often an isomorphism, in stark contrast with the real case, is given by moving to topological spaces. We show that over a non-Archimedean field, bounded cohomology is a cohomology theory in the sense of Eilenberg--Steenrod, except for a weaker version of the additivity axiom which is however equivalent for finite disjoint unions. In particular there exists a Mayer--Vietoris sequence.
We provide the first example of a finitely presented (in fact, type $F_\infty$) group with elements whose stable commutator length is algebraic and irrational, answering a question of Calegari. Our example is the lift to the real line of the \emph{golden ratio Thompson group} $T_τ$: the circle analogue of the Cleary's golden ratio Thompson group $F_τ$ which acts on the interval.
We study a class of quasimorphisms of the free group that can be expressed as infinite sums of Brooks quasimorphisms with some nice properties. We then review Heuer's framework of decompositions developed in arXiv:1710.03193, and put these quasimorphisms in that context. This allows us to prove triviality of a number of cup products in the bounded cohomology of the free group with trivial real coefficients. Finally, we introduce free products of decompositions and relate them to Rolli's quasimorphisms of free products. A technical result concerning these, which remains an open question, implies a strong triviality result for the cup product.
This document is a collection of comments that I wrote down while reading the first four chapters of the book "Discrete Groups, Expanding Graphs and Invariant Measures" by Alexander Lubotzky. Most of them are more detailed versions of proofs. Some imprecisions are pointed out and discussed, and some facts referenced in the book are proven. In the appendix we discuss topics of interest in relation to this book, which are however not necessary for its understanding. The aim of this document, which is not quite complete in that respect, is to provide, together with Lubotzky's book, a self-contained read.