arXiv subjects

Gerald Williams

Publications and source records attributed to Gerald Williams.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

3-manifold spine cyclic presentations with seldom seen Whitehead graphs

We consider a family of cyclic presentations and show that, subject to certain conditions on the defining parameters, they are spines of closed 3-manifolds. These are new examples where the reduced Whitehead graphs are of the same type as those of the Fractional Fibonacci presentations; here the corresponding manifolds are often (but not always) hyperbolic. We also express a lens space construction in terms of a class of positive cyclic presentations that are spines of closed 3-manifolds. These presentations then furnish examples where the Whitehead graphs are of the same type as those of the positive cyclic presentations of type $\mathfrak{Z}$, as considered by McDermott.

math.GT↗

arXiv2024

All hyperbolic cyclically presented groups with positive length three relators

We consider the cyclically presented groups defined by cyclic presentations with $2m$ generators $x_i$ whose relators are the $2m$ positive length three relators $x_ix_{i+1}x_{i+m-1}$. We show that they are hyperbolic if and only if $m\in \{1,2,3,6,9\}$. This completes the classification of the hyperbolic cyclically presented groups with positive length three relators.

math.GR↗

arXiv2024

Smith forms of matrices in Companion Rings, with group theoretic and topological applications

Let $R$ be a commutative ring and $g(t) \in R[t]$ a monic polynomial. The commutative ring of polynomials $f(C_g)$ in the companion matrix $C_g$ of $g(t)$, where $f(t)\in R[t]$, is called the Companion Ring of $g(t)$. Special instances include the rings of circulant matrices, skew-circulant matrices, pseudo-circulant matrices, or lower triangular Toeplitz matrices. When $R$ is an Elementary Divisor Domain, we develop new tools for computing the Smith forms of matrices in Companion Rings. In particular, we obtain a formula for the second last non-zero determinantal divisor, we provide an $f(C_g) \leftrightarrow g(C_f)$ swap theorem, and a composition theorem. When $R$ is a principal ideal domain we also obtain a formula for the number of non-unit invariant factors. By applying these to families of circulant matrices that arise as relation matrices of cyclically presented groups, in many cases we compute the groups' abelianizations. When the group is the fundamental group of a three dimensional manifold, this provides the homology of the manifold. In other cases we obtain lower bounds for the rank of the abelianisation and record consequences for finiteness or solvability of the group, or for the Heegaard genus of a corresponding manifold.

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arXiv2021

Redundant relators in cyclic presentations of groups

A cyclic presentation of a group is a presentation with an equal number of generators and relators that admits a particular cyclic symmetry. We characterise the orientable, non-orientable, and redundant cyclic presentations and obtain concise refinements of these presentations. We show that the Tits alternative holds for the class of groups defined by redundant cyclic presentations and that if the number of generators of the cyclic presentation is greater than two then the corresponding group is large. Generalizing and extending earlier results of the authors we describe the star graphs of orientable and non-orientable cyclic presentations and classify the cyclic presentations whose star graph components are pairwise isomorphic incidence graphs of generalized polygons, thus classifying the so-called $(m,k,\nu)$-special cyclic presentations.

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arXiv2021

Cyclically presented groups as Labelled Oriented Graph groups

We use results concerning the Smith forms of circulant matrices to identify when cyclically presented groups have free abelianisation and so can be Labelled Oriented Graph (LOG) groups. We generalize a theorem of Odoni and Cremona to show that for a fixed defining word, whose corresponding representer polynomial has an irreducible factor that is not cyclotomic and not equal to $\pm t$, there are at most finitely many $n$ for which the corresponding $n$-generator cyclically presented group has free abelianisation. We classify when Campbell and Robertson's generalized Fibonacci groups $H(r,n,s)$ are LOG groups and when the Sieradski groups are LOG groups. We prove that amongst Johnson and Mawdesley's groups of Fibonacci type, the only ones that can be LOG groups are Gilbert-Howie groups $H(n,m)$. We conjecture that if a Gilbert-Howie group is a LOG group, then it is a Sieradski group, and prove this in certain cases (in particular, for fixed $m$, the conjecture can only be false for finitely many $n$). We obtain necessary conditions for a cyclically presented group to be a connected LOG group in terms of the representer polynomial and apply them to the Prishchepov groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2021

Generalized polygons and star graphs of cyclic presentations of groups

Groups defined by presentations for which the components of the corresponding star graph are the incidence graphs of generalized polygons are of interest as they are small cancellation groups that - via results of Edjvet and Vdovina - are fundamental groups of polyhedra with the generalized polygons as links and so act on Euclidean or hyperbolic buildings; in the hyperbolic case the groups are SQ-universal. A cyclic presentation of a group is a presentation with an equal number of generators and relators that admits a particular cyclic symmetry. We obtain a classification of the non-redundant cyclic presentations where the components of the corresponding star graph are generalized polygons. The classification reveals that both connected and disconnected star graphs are possible and that only generalized triangles (i.e. incidence graphs of projective planes) and regular complete bipartite graphs arise as the components. We list the presentations that arise in the Euclidean case and show that at most two of the corresponding groups are not SQ-universal (one of which is not SQ-universal, the other is unresolved). We obtain results that show that many of the SQ-universal groups are large.

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arXiv2020

Fractional Fibonacci groups with an odd number of generators

The Fibonacci groups $F(n)$ are known to exhibit significantly different behaviour depending on the parity of $n$. We extend known results for $F(n)$ for odd $n$ to the family of Fractional Fibonacci groups $F^{k/l}(n)$. We show that for odd $n$ the group $F^{k/l}(n)$ is not the fundamental group of an orientable hyperbolic 3-orbifold of finite volume. We obtain results concerning the existence of torsion in the groups $F^{k/l}(n)$ (where $n$ is odd) paying particular attention to the groups $F^k(n)$ and $F^{k/l}(3)$, and observe consequences concerning asphericity of relative presentations of their shift extensions. We show that if $F^{k}(n)$ (where $n$ is odd) and $F^{k/l}(3)$ are non-cyclic 3-manifold groups then they are isomorphic to the direct product of the quaternion group $Q_8$ and a finite cyclic group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2020

Hyperbolic groups of Fibonacci type and T(5) cyclically presented groups

Building on previous results concerning hyperbolicity of groups of Fibonacci type, we give an almost complete classification of the (non-elementary) hyperbolic groups within this class. We are unable to determine the hyperbolicity status of precisely two groups, namely the Gilbert-Howie groups H(9,4), H(9,7). We show that if H(9,4) is torsion-free then it is not hyperbolic. We consider the class of T(5) cyclically presented groups and classify the (non-elementary) hyperbolic groups and show that the Tits alternative holds.

math.GR↗

arXiv2020

Hyperbolicity of T(6) Cyclically Presented Groups

We consider groups defined by cyclic presentations where the defining word has length three and the cyclic presentation satisfies the T(6) small cancellation condition. We classify when these groups are hyperbolic. When combined with known results, this completely classifies the hyperbolic T(6) cyclically presented groups.

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arXiv2019

Matrices in companion rings, Smith forms, and the homology of 3-dimensional Brieskorn manifolds

We study the Smith forms of matrices of the form $f(C_g)$ where $f(t),g(t)\in R[t]$, $C_g$ is the companion matrix of the (monic) polynomial $g(t)$, and $R$ is an elementary divisor domain. Prominent examples of such matrices are circulant matrices, skew-circulant matrices, and triangular Toeplitz matrices. In particular, we reduce the calculation of the Smith form of the matrix $f(C_g)$ to that of the matrix $F(C_G)$, where $F,G$ are quotients of $f(t),g(t)$ by some common divisor. This allows us to express the last non-zero determinantal divisor of $f(C_g)$ as a resultant. A key tool is the observation that a matrix ring generated by $C_g$ -- the companion ring of $g(t)$ -- is isomorphic to the polynomial ring $Q_g=R[t]/ $. We relate several features of the Smith form of $f(C_g)$ to the properties of the polynomial $g(t)$ and the equivalence classes $[f(t)]\in Q_g$. As an application we let $f(t)$ be the Alexander polynomial of a torus knot and $g(t)=t^n-1$, and calculate the Smith form of the circulant matrix $f(C_g)$. By appealing to results concerning cyclic branched covers of knots and cyclically presented groups, this provides the homology of all Brieskorn manifolds $M(r,s,n)$ where $r,s$ are coprime.

math.AT↗

arXiv2019

Planar Whitehead graphs with cyclic symmetry arising from the study of Dunwoody manifolds

A fundamental theorem in the study of Dunwoody manifolds is a classification of finite graphs on $2n$ vertices that satisfy seven conditions (concerning planarity, regularity, and a cyclic automorphism of order $n$). Its significance is that if the presentation complex of a cyclic presentation is a spine of a 3-manifold then its Whitehead graph satisfies the first five conditions (the remaining conditions do not necessarily hold). In this paper we observe that this classification relies implicitly on an unstated, and unnecessary, 8th condition and that this condition is not necessary for such a presentation complex to be the spine of a 3-manifold. We expand the scope of Dunwoody's classification by classifying all graphs that satisfy the first five conditions.

math.GT↗

arXiv2018

Aspherical Relative Presentations All Over Again

The concept of asphericity for relative group presentations was introduced twenty five years ago. Since then, the subject has advanced and detailed asphericity classifications have been obtained for various families of one-relator relative presentations. Through this work the definition of asphericity has evolved and new applications have emerged. In this article we bring together key results on relative asphericity, update them, and exhibit them under a single set of definitions and terminology. We describe consequences of asphericity and present techniques for proving asphericity and for proving non-asphericity. We give a detailed survey of results concerning one-relator relative presentations where the relator has free product length four.

math.GR↗

arXiv2018

A class of digraph groups defined by balanced presentations

We consider groups defined by non-empty balanced presentations with the property that each relator is of the form R(x,y), where x and y are distinct generators and R(.,.) is determined by some fixed cyclically reduced word R(a,b) that involves both a and b. To every such presentation we associate a directed graph whose vertices correspond to the generators and whose arcs correspond to the relators. Under the hypothesis that the girth of the underlying undirected graph is at least 4, we show that the resulting groups are non-trivial and cannot be finite of rank 3 or higher. Without the hypothesis on the girth it is well known that both the trivial group and finite groups of rank 3 can arise.

math.GR↗

arXiv2018

An investigation into the cyclically presented groups with length three positive relators

We continue research into the cyclically presented groups with length three positive relators. We study small cancellation conditions and SQ-universality, we obtain the Betti numbers of the groups' abelianisations, we calculate the orders of the abelianisations of some groups, and we study isomorphism classes of the groups. Through computational experiments we assess how effective the abelianisation is as an invariant for distinguishing non-isomorphic groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2017

Generalized Fibonacci groups H(r,n,s) that are connected Labelled Oriented Graph groups

The class of connected LOG (Labelled Oriented Graph) groups coincides with the class of fundamental groups of complements of closed, orientable 2-manifolds embedded in S^4, and so contains all knot groups. We investigate when Campbell and Robertson's generalized Fibonacci groups H(r,n,s) are connected LOG groups. In doing so, we use the theory of circulant matrices to calculate the Betti numbers of their abelianizations. We give an almost complete classification of the groups H(r,n,s) that are connected LOG groups. All torus knot groups and the infinite cyclic group arise and we conjecture that these are the only possibilities. As a corollary we show that H(r,n,s) is a 2-generator knot group if and only if it is a torus knot group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2016

Efficient Finite Groups Arising in the Study of Relative Asphericity

We study a class of two-generator two-relator groups, denoted $J_n(m,k)$, that arise in the study of relative asphericity as groups satisfying a transitional curvature condition. Particular instances of these groups occur in the literature as finite groups of intriguing orders. Here we find infinite families of non-elementary virtually free groups and of finite metabelian non-nilpotent groups, for which we determine the orders. All Mersenne primes arise as factors of the orders of the non-metacyclic groups in the class, as do all primes from other conjecturally infinite families of primes. We classify the finite groups up to isomorphism and show that our class overlaps and extends a class of groups $F^{a,b,c}$ with trivalent Cayley graphs that was introduced by C.M.Campbell, H.S.M.Coxeter, and E.F.Robertson. The theory of cyclically presented groups informs our methods and we extend part of this theory (namely, on connections with polynomial resultants) to "bicyclically presented groups" that arise naturally in our analysis. As a corollary to our main results we obtain new infinite families of finite metacyclic generalized Fibonacci groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2016

Coherence, subgroup separability, and metacyclic structures for a class of cyclically presented groups

We study a class $\mathfrak{M}$ of cyclically presented groups that includes both finite and infinite groups and is defined by a certain combinatorial condition on the defining relations. This class includes many finite metacyclic generalized Fibonacci groups that have been previously identified in the literature. By analysing their shift extensions we show that the groups in the class $\mathfrak{M}$ are are coherent, subgroup separable, satisfy the Tits alternative, possess finite index subgroups of geometric dimension at most two, and that their finite subgroups are all metacyclic. Many of the groups in $\mathfrak{M}$ are virtually free, some are free products of metacyclic groups and free groups, and some have geometric dimension two. We classify the finite groups that occur in $\mathfrak{M}$, giving extensive details about the metacyclic structures that occur, and we use this to prove an earlier conjecture concerning cyclically presented groups in which the relators are positive words of length three. We show that any finite group in the class $\mathfrak{M}$ that has fixed point free shift automorphism must be cyclic.

math.GR↗

arXiv2016

Fibonacci type presentations and 3-manifolds

We study the cyclic presentations with relators of the form $x_ix_{i+m}x_{i+k}^{-1}$ and the groups they define. These "groups of Fibonacci type" were introduced by Johnson and Mawdesley and they generalize the Fibonacci groups $F(2,n)$ and the Sieradski groups $S(2,n)$. With the exception of two groups, we classify when these groups are fundamental groups of 3-manifolds, and it turns out that only Fibonacci, Sieradski, and cyclic groups arise. Using this classification, we completely classify the presentations that are spines of 3-manifolds, answering a question of Cavicchioli, Hegenbarth, and Repov\v{s}. When $n$ is even the groups $F(2,n),S(2,n)$ admit alternative cyclic presentations on $n/2$ generators. We show that these alternative presentations also arise as spines of 3-manifolds.

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