arXiv subjects

Nicolaus Heuer

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolaus Heuer.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Uniform spectral gap of scl in $2$-orbifolds

We show a uniform spectral gap of stable commutator length for all compact hyperbolic $2$-orbifolds relative to the peripheral subgroups. Except for the case of a sphere with three cone points, we have an explicit uniform gap $1/36$. These estimates are needed in understanding stable commutator length in $3$-manifolds. Our methods use explicit quasimorphisms for the generic case, and use hyperbolic geometry (pleated surfaces) for the exceptional case of a sphere with three cone points.

math.GT↗

arXiv2026

Voter Model Meets Rumour Spreading: an FPRAS for Consensus Probabilities on Voter Models with Agnostic Nodes

Problems of consensus in multi-agent systems are often viewed as a series of independent, simultaneous local decisions made between a limited set of options, all aimed at reaching a global agreement. Key challenges in these protocols include estimating the likelihood of various outcomes and finding bounds for how long it may take to achieve consensus, if it occurs at all. To date, little attention has been given to the case where some agents have no initial opinion. In this paper, we introduce a variant of the consensus problem which includes what we call `agnostic' nodes and frame it as a combination of two known and well-studied processes: voter model and rumour spreading. We show (1) a martingale that describes the probability of consensus for a given colour, (2) bounds on the number of steps for the process to end using results from rumour spreading and voter models, (3) closed formulas for the probability of consensus in a few special cases, along with a polynomial-time algorithm for the case where the number of agnostic vertices is at most logarithmic and (4) that the computational complexity of estimating the probability with a Markov chain Monte Carlo process is $O(n^2 \log n)$ for general graphs and $O(n\log n)$ for Erdős-Rényi graphs, resulting in a fully polynomial-time randomized approximation scheme (FPRAS) for estimating the probabilities of consensus. Furthermore, we present experimental results suggesting that the number of runs needed for a given standard error decreases when the number of nodes increases.

cs.MA↗

arXiv2024

Spectral gap of scl in graphs of groups and $3$-manifolds

Stable commutator length scl_G(g) of an element g in a group G is an invariant for group elements sensitive to the geometry and dynamics of G. For any group G acting on a tree, we prove a sharp bound scl_G(g)>=1/2 for any g acting without fixed points, provided that the stabilizer of each edge is relatively torsion-free in its vertex stabilizers. The sharp gap becomes 1/2-1/n if the edge stabilizers are n-relatively torsion-free in vertex stabilizers. We also compute scl_G for elements acting with a fixed point. This implies many such groups have a spectral gap, that is, there is a constant C>0 such that either scl_G(g)>=C or scl_G(g)=0. New examples include the fundamental group of any 3-manifold using the JSJ decomposition, though the gap must depend on the manifold. We also obtain the optimal spectral gap of graph products of group without 2-torsion. We prove these statements by characterizing maps of surfaces to a suitable K(G,1). For groups acting on trees, we also construct explicit quasimorphisms and apply Bavard's duality to give a different proof of our spectral gap theorem under stronger assumptions.

math.GT↗

arXiv2022

Quasi-BNS invariants

We introduce the notion of quasi-BNS invariants, where we replace homomorphism to $\mathbb R$ by homogenous quasimorphisms to $\mathbb R$ in the theory of Bieri-Neumann-Strebel invariants. We prove that the quasi-BNS invariant $QΣ(G)$ of a finitely generated group $G$ is open; we connect it to approximate finite generation of almost kernels of homogenous quasimorphisms; finally we prove a Sikorav-style theorem connecting $QΣ(G)$ to the vanishing of the suitably defined Novikov homology.

math.GR↗

arXiv2022

Stable commutator length in right-angled Artin and Coxeter groups

We establish a spectral gap for stable commutator length (scl) of integral chains in right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs). We show that this gap is not uniform, i.e. there are RAAGs and integral chains with scl arbitrarily close to zero. We determine the size of this gap up to a multiplicative constant in terms of the opposite path length of the defining graph. This result is in stark contrast with the known uniform gap 1/2 for elements in RAAGs. We prove an analogous result for right-angled Coxeter groups. In a second part of this paper we relate certain integral chains in RAAGs to the fractional stability number of graphs. This has several consequences: Firstly, we show that every rational number q>=1 arises as the stable commutator length of an integral chain in some RAAG. Secondly, we show that computing scl of elements and chains in RAAGs is NP hard. Finally, we heuristically relate the distribution of scl for random elements in the free group to the distribution of fractional stability number in random graphs. We prove all of our results in the general setting of graph products. In particular all above results hold verbatim for right-angled Coxeter groups.

math.GR↗

arXiv2021

Simplicial volume of one-relator groups and stable commutator length

A one-relator group is a group $G_r$ that admits a presentation $\langle S \mid r \rangle$ with a single relation $r$. One-relator groups form a rich classically studied class of groups in Geometric Group Theory. If $r \in F(S)'$, the commutator subgroup of $F(S)$, we introduce the simplicial volume of $\| G_r \|$. We relate this invariant to the stable commutator length $\textrm{scl}_S(r)$ of the element $r \in F(S)$. We show that often (though not always) the linear relationship $\| G_r \| = 4 \cdot \textrm{scl}_S(r) - 2$ holds and that every rational number modulo $1$ is the simplicial volume of a one-relator group. Moreover, we show that this relationship holds approximately for proper powers and for elements satisfying the small cancellation condition $C'(1/N)$, with a multiplicative error of $O(1/N)$. This allows us to prove for random elements of $F(S)'$ of length $n$ that $\| G_r \|$ is $2 \log(2 |S| - 1)/3 \cdot n / \log(n) + o(n/\log(n))$ with high probability, using an analogous result of Calegari-Walker for stable commutator length.

math.GT↗

arXiv2020

Transcendental simplicial volumes

We show that there exist closed manifolds with arbitrarily small transcendental simplicial volumes. Moreover, we exhibit an explicit uncountable family of (transcendental) real numbers that are not realised as the simplicial volume of a closed manifold.

math.GT↗

arXiv2020

The spectrum of simplicial volume of non-compact manifolds

We show that, in dimension at least $4$, the set of locally finite simplicial volumes of oriented connected open manifolds is $[0, \infty]$. Moreover, we consider the case of tame open manifolds and some low-dimensional examples.

math.GT↗

arXiv2020

The spectrum of simplicial volume

New constructions in group homology allow us to manufacture high-dimensional manifolds with controlled simplicial volume. We prove that for every dimension bigger than 3 the set of simplicial volumes of orientable closed connected manifolds is dense in $\mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}$. In dimension 4 we prove that every non-negative rational number is the simplicial volume of some orientable closed connected 4-manifold. Our group theoretic results relate stable commutator length to the $l^1$-semi-norm of certain singular homology classes in degree 2. The output of these results is translated into manifold constructions using cross-products and Thom realisation.

math.GT↗

arXiv2020

Computing commutator length is hard

The commutator length $cl_G(g)$ of an element $g \in [G,G]$ in the commutator subgroup of a group $G$ is the least number of commutators needed to express $g$ as their product. If $G$ is a non-abelian free groups, then given an integer $n \in \mathbb{N}$ and an element $g \in [G,G]$ the decision problem which determines if $cl_G(g) \leq n$ is NP-complete. Thus, unless P=NP, there is no algorithm that computes $cl_G(g)$ in polynomial time in terms of $|g|$, the wordlength of $g$. This statement remains true for groups which have a retract to a non-abelian free group, such as non-abelian right-angled Artin groups. We will show these statements by relating commutator length to the \emph{cyclic block interchange distance} of words, which we also show to be NP-complete.

math.GR↗

arXiv2019

The full spectrum of scl on recursively presented groups

We show that the set $SCL^{rp}$ of stable commutator lengths on recursively presented groups equals the set of non-negative right-computable numbers. Hence all non-negative algebraic or computable numbers are in $SCL^{rp}$ and $SCL^{rp}$ is not closed under subtraction. We also show that every non-negative real number is the stable commutator length of an element in some infinitely presented small cancellation group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2018

Cup Product in Bounded Cohomology of the Free Group

The theory of bounded cohomology of groups has many applications. A key open problem is to compute the full bounded cohomology $H_b^n(F, R)$ of a non-abelian free group $F$ with trivial real coefficients. It is known that $H_b^n(F,R)$ is trivial for $n=1$ and uncountable dimensional for $n=2,3$, but remains unknown for any $n \geq 4$. For $n=4$, one may construct classes by taking the cup product $α\cup β\in H_b^4(F, R)$ between two $2$-classes $α, β\in H^2_b(F, R)$. However, we show that all such cup products are trivial if $α$ and $β$ are classes induced by the quasimorphisms defined by Brooks or Rolli.

math.GR↗

arXiv2018

Low-dimensional bounded cohomology and extensions of groups

Bounded cohomology of groups was first studied by Gromov in 1982. Since then it has sparked much research in Geometric Group Theory. However, it is notoriously hard to explicitly compute bounded cohomology, even for most basic `non-positively curved' groups. On the other hand, there is a well-known interpretation of ordinary group cohomology in dimension 2 and 3 in terms of group extensions. The aim of this paper is to make this interpretation available for bounded group cohomology. This will involve quasihomomorphisms as defined and studied by Fujiwara and Kapovich.

math.GR↗

arXiv2018

Gaps in scl for Amalgamated Free Products and RAAGs

We develop a new criterion to tell if a group $G$ has the maximal gap of $1/2$ in stable commutator length (scl). For amalgamated free products $G = A \star_C B$ we show that every element $g$ in the commutator subgroup of $G$ which does not conjugate into $A$ or $B$ satisfies $scl(g) \geq 1/2$, provided that $C$ embeds as a left relatively convex subgroup in both $A$ and $B$. We deduce from this that every non-trivial element $g$ in the commutator subgroup of a right-angled Artin group $G$ satisfies $scl(g) \geq 1/2$. This bound is sharp and is inherited by all fundamental groups of special cube complexes. We prove these statements by constructing explicit extremal homogeneous quasimorphisms $\bar{ ϕ} : G \to \mathbb{R}$ satisfying $\bar{ ϕ}(g) \geq 1$ and $D(\barϕ)\leq 1$. Such maps were previously unknown, even for non-abelian free groups. For these quasimorphisms $\barϕ$ there is an action $ρ: G \to Homeo^+(S^1)$ on the circle such that $[δ^1 \bar{ ϕ}]=ρ^*eu^{\mathbb{R}}_b \in H^2_b(G,\mathbb{R})$, for $eu^\mathbb{R}_b$ the real bounded Euler class.

math.GT↗