arXiv subjects

John Crisp

Publications and source records attributed to John Crisp.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2008

The conjugacy problem in right-angled Artin groups and their subgroups

We prove that the conjugacy problem in right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs), as well as in a large and natural class of subgroups of RAAGs, can be solved in linear-time. This class of subgroups contains, for instance, all graph braid groups (i.e. fundamental groups of configuration spaces of points in graphs), many hyperbolic groups, and it coincides with the class of fundamental groups of ``special cube complexes'' studied independently by Haglund and Wise.

math.GR↗

arXiv2007

Surface subgroups of right-angled Artin groups

We consider the question of which right-angled Artin groups contain closed hyperbolic surface subgroups. It is known that a right-angled Artin group $A(K)$ has such a subgroup if its defining graph $K$ contains an $n$-hole (i.e. an induced cycle of length $n$) with $n\geq 5$. We construct another eight "forbidden" graphs and show that every graph $K$ on $\le 8$ vertices either contains one of our examples, or contains a hole of length $\ge 5$, or has the property that $A(K)$ does not contain hyperbolic closed surface subgroups. We also provide several sufficient conditions for a \RAAG to contain no hyperbolic surface subgroups. We prove that for one of these "forbidden" subgraphs $P_2(6)$, the right angled Artin group $A(P_2(6))$ is a subgroup of a (right angled Artin) diagram group. Thus we show that a diagram group can contain a non-free hyperbolic subgroup answering a question of Guba and Sapir. We also show that fundamental groups of non-orientable surfaces can be subgroups of diagram groups. Thus the first integral homology of a subgroup of a diagram group can have torsion (all homology groups of all diagram groups are free Abelian by a result of Guba and Sapir).

math.GR↗

arXiv2007

Automorphisms of two-dimensional right-angled Artin groups

We study the outer automorphism group of a right-angled Artin group A_G in the case where the defining graph G is connected and triangle-free. We give an algebraic description of Out(A_G) in terms of maximal join subgraphs in G and prove that the Tits' alternative holds for Out(A_G). We construct an analogue of outer space for Out(A_G) and prove that it is finite dimensional, contractible, and has a proper action of Out(A_G). We show that Out(A_G) has finite virtual cohomological dimension, give upper and lower bounds on this dimension and construct a spine for outer space realizing the most general upper bound.

math.GR↗

arXiv2006

Relative hyperbolicity and Artin groups

This paper considers the question of relative hyperbolicity of an Artin group with regard to the geometry of its associated Deligne complex. We prove that an Artin group is weakly hyperbolic relative to its finite (or spherical) type parabolic subgroups if and only if its Deligne complex is a Gromov hyperbolic space. For a 2-dimensional Artin group the Deligne complex is Gromov hyperbolic precisely when the corresponding Davis complex is Gromov hyperbolic, that is, precisely when the underlying Coxeter group is a hyperbolic group. For Artin groups of FC type we give a sufficient condition for hyperbolicity of the Deligne complex which applies to a large class of these groups for which the underlying Coxeter group is hyperbolic.

math.GR↗

arXiv2006

Boundary quotients and ideals of Toeplitz C*-algebras of Artin groups

We study the quotients of the Toeplitz C*-algebra of a quasi-lattice ordered group (G,P), which we view as crossed products by a partial actions of G on closed invariant subsets of a totally disconnected compact Hausdorff space, the Nica spectrum of (G,P). Our original motivation and our main examples are drawn from right-angled Artin groups, but many of our results are valid for more general quasi-lattice ordered groups. We show that the Nica spectrum has a unique minimal closed invariant subset, which we call the boundary spectrum, and we define the boundary quotient to be the crossed product of the corresponding restricted partial action. The main technical tools used are the results of Exel, Laca, and Quigg on simplicity and ideal structure of partial crossed products, which depend on amenability and topological freeness of the partial action and its restriction to closed invariant subsets. When there exists a generalised length function, or controlled map, defined on G and taking values in an amenable group, we prove that the partial action is amenable on arbitrary closed invariant subsets. Our main results are obtained for right-angled Artin groups with trivial centre, that is, those with no cyclic direct factor; they include a presentation of the boundary quotient in terms of generators and relations that generalises Cuntz's presentation of O_n, a proof that the boundary quotient is purely infinite and simple, and a parametrisation of the ideals of the Toeplitz C*-algebra in terms of subsets of the standard generators of the Artin group.

math.OA↗

arXiv2005

Automorphisms and abstract commensurators of 2-dimensional Artin groups

In this paper we consider the class of 2-dimensional Artin groups with connected, large type, triangle-free defining graphs (type CLTTF). We classify these groups up to isomorphism, and describe a generating set for the automorphism group of each such Artin group. In the case where the defining graph has no separating edge or vertex we show that the Artin group is not abstractly commensurable to any other CLTTF Artin group. If, moreover, the defining graph satisfies a further `vertex rigidity' condition, then the abstract commensurator group of the Artin group is isomorphic to its automorphism group and generated by inner automorphisms, graph automorphisms (induced from automorphisms of the defining graph), and the involution which maps each standard generator to its inverse. We observe that the techniques used here to study automorphisms carry over easily to the Coxeter group situation. We thus obtain a classification of the CLTTF type Coxeter groups up to isomorphism and a description of their automorphism groups analogous to that given for the Artin groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2005

Quasi-isometrically embedded subgroups of braid and diffeomorphism groups

We show that a large class of right-angled Artin groups (in particular, those with planar complementary defining graph) can be embedded quasi-isometrically in pure braid groups and in the group of area preserving diffeomorphisms of the disk fixing the boundary (with respect to the $L^2$-norm metric); this extends results of Benaim and Gambaudo who gave quasi-isometric embeddings of $F\_n$ and $\Z^n$ for all $n>0$. As a consequence we are also able to embed a variety of Gromov hyperbolic groups quasi-isometrically in pure braid groups and in the diffeomorphism group of the disk. Examples include hyperbolic surface groups, some HNN-extensions of these along cyclic subgroups and the fundamental group of a certain closed hyperbolic 3-manifold.

math.GT↗

arXiv2004

Automorphism groups of some affine and finite type Artin groups

We observe that, for each positive integer n > 2, each of the Artin groups of finite type A_n, B_n=C_n, and affine type \tilde A_{n-1} and \tilde C_{n-1} is a central extension of a finite index subgroup of the mapping class group of the (n+2)-punctured sphere. (The centre is trivial in the affine case and infinite cyclic in the finite type cases). Using results of Ivanov and Korkmaz on abstract commensurators of surface mapping class groups we are able to determine the automorphism groups of each member of these four infinite families of Artin groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2004

Embeddings of graph braid and surface groups in right-angled Artin groups and braid groups

We prove by explicit construction that graph braid groups and most surface groups can be embedded in a natural way in right-angled Artin groups, and we point out some consequences of these embedding results. We also show that every right-angled Artin group can be embedded in a pure surface braid group. On the other hand, by generalising to right-angled Artin groups a result of Lyndon for free groups, we show that the Euler characteristic -1 surface group (given by the relation x^2y^2=z^2) never embeds in a right-angled Artin group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2002

Representations of the braid group by automorphisms of groups, invariants of links, and Garside groups

From a group $H$ and a non-trivial element $h$ of $H$, we define a representation $ρ: B_n \to \Aut(G)$, where $B_n$ denotes the braid group on $n$ strands, and $G$ denotes the free product of $n$ copies of $H$. Such a representation shall be called the Artin type representation associated to the pair $(H,h)$. The goal of the present paper is to study different aspects of these representations. Firstly, we associate to each braid $β$ a group $Γ_{(H,h)} (β)$ and prove that the operator $Γ_{(H,h)}$ determines a group invariant of oriented links. We then give a topological construction of the Artin type representations and of the link invariant $Γ_{(H,h)}$, and we prove that the Artin type representations are faithful. The last part of the paper is dedicated to the study of some semidirect products $G \rtimes_ρB_n$, where $ρ: B_n \to \Aut(G)$ is an Artin type representation. In particular, we show that $G \rtimes_ρB_n$ is a Garside group if $H$ is a Garside group and $h$ is a Garside element of $H$.

math.GR↗

arXiv2002

On the CAT(0) dimension of 2-dimensional Bestvina-Brady groups

Let K be a 2-dimensional finite flag complex. We study the CAT(0) dimension of the `Bestvina-Brady group', or `Artin kernel', Gamma_K. We show that Gamma_K has CAT(0) dimension 3 unless K admits a piecewise Euclidean metric of non-positive curvature. We give an example to show that this implication cannot be reversed. Different choices of K lead to examples where the CAT(0) dimension is 3, and either (i) the geometric dimension is 2, or (ii) the cohomological dimension is 2 and the geometric dimension is not known.

math.GR↗

arXiv2002

Two-dimensional Artin groups with CAT(0) dimension three

We exhibit 3-generator Artin groups which have finite 2-dimensional Eilenberg-Mac Lane spaces, but which do not act properly discontinuously by semi-simple isometries on a 2-dimensional CAT(0) complex. We prove that infinitely many of these groups are the fundamental groups of compact, non-positively curved 3-complexes. These examples show that the geometric dimension of a CAT(0) group may be strictly less than its CAT(0) dimension.

math.GR↗

arXiv2001

The solution to a conjecture of Tits on the subgroup generated by the squares of the generators of an Artin group

It was conjectured by Tits that the only relations amongst the squares of the standard generators of an Artin group are the obvious ones, namely that a^2 and b^2 commute if ab=ba appears as one of the Artin relations. In this paper we prove Tits' conjecture for all Artin groups. More generally, we show that, given a number m(s)>1 for each Artin generator s, the only relations amongst the powers s^m(s) of the generators are that a^m(a) and b^m(b) commute if ab=ba appears amongst the Artin relations.

math.GR↗

arXiv2000

On the Toeplitz algebras of right-angled and finite-type Artin groups

The graph product of a family of groups lies somewhere between their direct and free products, with the graph determining which pairs of groups commute and which do not. We show that the graph product of quasi-lattice ordered groups is quasi-lattice ordered, and, when the underlying groups are amenable, that it satisfies Nica's amenability condition for quasi-lattice orders. As a consequence the Toeplitz algebras of these groups are universal for covariant isometric representations on Hilbert space, and their representations are faithful if the isometries satisfy a properness condition given by Laca and Raeburn. An application of this to right-angled Artin groups gives a uniqueness theorem for the C^*-algebra generated by a collection of isometries such that any two of them either *-commute or else have orthogonal ranges. In contrast, the nonabelian Artin groups of finite type considered by Brieskorn and Saito and Deligne have canonical quasi-lattice orders that are not amenable in the sense of Nica, so their Toeplitz algebras are not universal and the C^*-algebra generated by a collection of isometries satisfying the Artin relations fails to be unique.

math.OA↗