arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Stefan Witzel.
We construct the first example of a lattice on an irreducible Euclidean building that is not residually finite. Conjecturally, the normal subgroup theorem extends to this lattice making it virtually simple.
We provide the first known examples of non-residually finite lattices on irreducible buildings. They contain the first known simple CAT(0)-groups with property (T), and the first known CAT(0)-groups that are not quasi-isometric to a direct product. We also classify type-preserving vertex-regular lattices on buildings of type $\tilde{A}_2$ and thickness three, and discover an arithmetic example that is not commensurable to previously studied lattices.
We prove the normal subgroup property for every group that acts properly and cocompactly on a two-dimensional Euclidean building: every normal subgroup has finite index or is contained in the finite kernel of the action. As a consequence, the non-residually finite lattices constructed by Titz Mite and the second author are virtually simple. They are the first known simple lattices on irreducible Euclidean buildings.
We extend results for the K-theory of Hecke algebras of reductive $p$-adic groups to completed Kac-Moody groups.
We compare finiteness properties of locally compact groups that generalize the properties of being compactly generated and of being compactly presented. Three such families of properties have been proposed: Abels--Tiemeyer's type $C_n$, coarse $(n-1)$-connectedness, and Castellano--Corob-Cook's type $F_n$. The first was defined for locally compact groups, the second can be defined for general topological groups, while the third was defined only for tdlc groups. We prove that all three families lead to the same notion for locally compact groups. This justifies working with these properties despite the fact that it is still unclear in which sense they describe finiteness properties of free classifying spaces for locally compact groups. Various parts of the arguments are well-known to various experts. By putting them together we hope to clarify the literature.
We prove that cocompact (and more generally: undistorted) lattices on $\tilde{A}_2$-buildings satisfy Lafforgue's strong property (T), thus exhibiting the first examples that are not related to algebraic groups over local fields. Our methods also give two further results. First, we show that the first $\ell^p$-cohomology of an $\tilde{A}_2$-building vanishes for any finite $p$. Second, we show that the non-commutative $L^p$-space for $p$ not in $[\frac 4 3,4]$ and the reduced $C^*$-algebra associated to an $\tilde{A}_2$-lattice do not have the operator space approximation property and, consequently, that the lattice is not weakly amenable.
We determine the homotopy type of the Vietoris-Rips complexes of the (vertex sets of the) platonic solids. The most interesting case is that the Vietoris-Rips complex of the dodecahedron is a wedge of nine 3-spheres when the parameter is between combinatorial distance 3 and 4.
We introduce geometric and homological finiteness properties for countable approximate groups via coarse geometry and then study these finiteness properties for S-arithmetic reductive approximate groups. For S-arithmetic approximate groups without infinite places we show that the finiteness length is finite and compute this finiteness length explicitly. In the simple case it is one less than the sum of the local ranks. This extends the Rank Theorem of Bux, Köhl and the second author from positive characteristic to characteristic zero. Our proof is based on a geometric version of their proof, but except for some input from reduction theory it is characteristic free. This indicates that the apparent differences between arithmetic groups in characteristic zero and positive characteristic concerning finiteness properties are entirely due to the presence of infinite places.
We prove that the braided Thompson's groups $V_{\rm br}$ and $F_{\rm br}$ are of type $F_\infty$, confirming a conjecture by John Meier. The proof involves showing that matching complexes of arcs on surfaces are highly connected. In an appendix, Zaremsky uses these connectivity results to exhibit families of subgroups of the pure braid group that are highly generating, in the sense of Abels and Holz.
We use basic tools of descriptive set theory to prove that a closed set $\mathcal S$ of marked groups has $2^{\aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes provided every non-empty open subset of $\mathcal S$ contains at least two non-quasi-isometric groups. It follows that every perfect set of marked groups having a dense subset of finitely presented groups contains $2^{\aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes. These results account for most known constructions of continuous families of non-quasi-isometric finitely generated groups. They can also be used to prove the existence of $2^{\aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes of finitely generated groups having interesting algebraic, geometric, or model-theoretic properties.
We construct several series of explicit presentations of infinite hyperbolic groups enjoying Kazhdan's property (T). Some of them are significantly shorter than the previously known shortest examples. Moreover, we show that some of those hyperbolic Kazhdan groups possess finite simple quotient groups of arbitrarily large rank; they constitute the first known specimens combining those properties. All the hyperbolic groups we consider are non-positively curved k-fold generalized triangle groups, i.e. groups that possess a simplicial action on a CAT(0) triangle complex, which is sharply transitive on the set of triangles, and such that edge-stabilizers are cyclic of order k.
The n-strand braid group can be defined as the fundamental group of the configuration space of n unlabeled points in a closed disk based at a configuration where all n points lie in the boundary of the disk. Using this definition, the subset of braids that have a representative where a specified subset of these points remain pointwise fixed forms a subgroup isomorphic to a braid group with fewer strands. In this article, we generalize this phenomenon by introducing the notion of boundary braids. A boundary braid is a braid that has a representative where some specified subset of the points remains in the boundary cycle of the disk. Although boundary braids merely form a subgroupoid rather than a subgroup, they play an interesting geometric role in the piecewise Euclidean dual braid complex defined by Tom Brady and the second author. We prove several theorems in this setting, including the fact that the subcomplex of the dual braid complex determined by a specified set of boundary braids metrically splits as the direct metric product of a Euclidean polyhedron and a dual braid complex of smaller rank.
We describe a procedure for constructing a generalized Thompson group out of a family of groups that is equipped with what we call a cloning system. The previously known Thompson groups F, V, Vbr and Fbr arise from this procedure using, respectively, the systems of trivial groups, symmetric groups, braid groups and pure braid groups. We give new examples of families of groups that admit a cloning system and study how the finiteness properties of the resulting generalized Thompson group depend on those of the original groups. The main new examples here include upper triangular matrix groups, mock reflection groups, and loop braid groups. For generalized Thompson groups of upper triangular matrix groups over rings of S-integers of global function fields, we develop new methods for (dis-)proving finiteness properties, and show that the finiteness length of the generalized Thompson group is exactly the limit inferior of the finiteness lengths of the groups in the family.
We show that for every positive integer $n$ there exists a simple group that is of type $\mathrm{F}_{n-1}$ but not of type $\mathrm{F}_n$. For $n\ge 3$ these groups are the first known examples of this kind. They also provide infinitely many quasi-isometry classes of finitely presented simple groups. The only previously known infinite family of such classes, due to Caprace--Rémy, consists of non-affine Kac--Moody groups over finite fields. Our examples arise from Röver--Nekrashevych groups, and contain free abelian groups of infinite rank.
We describe how an Ore category with a Garside family can be used to construct a classifying space for its fundamental group(s). The construction simultaneously generalizes Brady's classifying space for braid groups and the Stein--Farley complexes used for various relatives of Thompson's groups. It recovers the fact that Garside groups have finite classifying spaces. We describe the categories and Garside structures underlying certain Thompson groups. The Zappa--Szép product of categories is introduced and used to construct new categories and groups from known ones. As an illustration of our methods we introduce the group Braided T and show that it is of type $F_\infty$.
We study lattices on ~A_2 buildings that preserve types, act regularly on each type of edge, and whose vertex stabilizers are cyclic. We show that several of their properties, such as their automorphism group and isomorphism class, can be determined from purely combinatorial data. As a consequence we can show that the number of such lattices (up to isomorphism) grows super-exponentially with the thickness parameter q. We look in more detail at the 3295 lattices with q in {2,3,4,5}. We show that with one exception for each q these are all exotic. For the exotic examples we prove that the automorphism group of the lattice and of the building coincide, and that two lattices are quasi-isometric only if they are isomorphic.
We show that the Basilica Thompson group introduced by Belk and Forrest is not finitely presented, and in fact is not of type FP_2. The proof involves developing techniques for proving non-simple connectedness of certain subcomplexes of CAT(0) cube complexes.
Bieri, Geoghegan and Kochloukova computed the BNSR-invariants $Σ^m(F)$ of Thompson's group $F$ for all $m$. We recompute these using entirely geometric techniques, making use of the Stein--Farley CAT(0) cube complex on which $F$ acts.