arXiv subjects

Yair Glasner

Publications and source records attributed to Yair Glasner.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Sharply 2-transitive linear groups

A group G is sharply 2-transitive if it admits a faithful permutation representation that is transitive and free on pairs of distinct points. Conjecturally, for all such groups there exists a near-field N (i.e. a skew field that is distributive only from the left) such that G is isomorphic to the semidirect product of the multiplicative and additive groups of N. This is well known in the finite case. We prove this conjecture when G < GL(n,F) is a linear group. Here we have to assume that both the characteristic of the field F and the permutational characteristic of the group G (see Definition 2.1) are not equal to 2.

math.GR↗

arXiv2012

Kesten's theorem for Invariant Random Subgroups

An invariant random subgroup of the countable group Γ is a random subgroup of Γ whose distribution is invariant under conjugation by all elements of Γ. We prove that for a nonamenable invariant random subgroup H, the spectral radius of every finitely supported random walk on Γ is strictly less than the spectral radius of the corresponding random walk on Γ/H. This generalizes a result of Kesten who proved this for normal subgroups. As a byproduct, we show that for a Cayley graph G of a linear group with no amenable normal subgroups, any sequence of finite quotients of G that spectrally approximates G converges to G in Benjamini-Schramm convergence. In particular, this implies that infinite sequences of finite d-regular Ramanujan Schreier graphs have essentially large girth.

math.GR↗

arXiv2011

Highly Transitive Actions of Out(Fn)

An action of a group on a set is called k-transitive if it is transitive on ordered k-tuples and highly transitive if it is k-transitive for every k. We show that for n>3 the group Out(Fn) = Aut(Fn)/Inn(Fn) admits a faithful highly transitive action on a countable set.

math.GR↗

arXiv2009

Strong approximation in random towers of graphs

The term "strong approximation" is used to describe phenomena where an arithmetic group as well as all of its Zariski dense subgroups have a large image in the congruence quotients. We exhibit analogues of such phenomena in a probabilistic, rather than arithmetic, setting. Let T be the binary rooted tree, Aut(T) its automorphism group. To a given m-tuple a = {a_1,a_2,...,a_m} in Aut(T), we associate a tower of 2m-regular Schreier graphs ...X_n-->X_{n-1}-->...-->X_0. The vertices of X_n are the n^{th} level of the tree and two such are connected by an edge if a generator takes one to the other. When {a_i} are independent Haar-random elements of Aut(T) we retrieve the standard model for iterated random 2-lifts studied, for example by Bilu-Linial. If w={w_1,w_2,...,w_l} are words in the free group F_m, the random substitutions w(a) := {w_1(a),...,w_l(a)} give rise to new models for random towers of 2l-regular graphs: ...Y_n-->Y_{n-1}-->...-->Y_0. With the above notation, the following hold almost surely, for every non cyclic subgroup D in F_m: (i) the graphs $Y_n$ have a bounded number of connected components, (ii) these connected components form a family of expander graphs, (iii) the closure of D has positive Hausdorff dimension as a subgroup of the (metric) group Aut(T).

math.CO↗

arXiv2009

A Zero-One Law for Random Subgroups of some Totally Disconnected Groups

Let A be a locally compact group topologically generated by d elements and let k>d. Consider the action, by pre-composition, of Aut(F_k) on the set of marked, k-generated, dense subgroups D_{k,A} := {h:F_k --> A | h(F_k) is dense in A}. We prove the ergodicity of this action for two families of simple, totally disconnected locally compact groups. (i) A = PSL(2,K) where K is a non-Archimedean local field (of characteristic not equal to 2), (ii) A = Aut^{0}(T) - the group of orientation preserving automorphisms of a (q+1)-regular tree, for q > 1. In contrast, a recent result of Minsky's shows that the same action is not ergodic when A = PSL(2,R) or A = PSL(2,C). Therefore if K is a local field (with characteristic different than 2) the action of Aut(F_k) on D_{k,PSL(2,K)} is ergodic, for every k>2, if and only if K is non-Archimedean. Ergodicity implies that every "measurable property" either holds or fails to hold for almost every k-generated dense subgroup of A.

math.GR↗

arXiv2008

Most actions on regular trees are almost free

Let T be a d-regular tree (d > 2) and A=Aut(T), its automorphism group. Let G be a group generated by n independent Haar-random elements of A. We show that almost surely, every nontrivial element of G has finitely many fixed points on T.

math.GR↗

arXiv2007

Generic groups acting on regular trees

Let T be a k-regular tree (k>2) and A its automorphism group. We analyze a generic finitely generated subgroup Gamma of A. We show that Gamma is free and establish a trichotomy on the closure of Gamma: it is either discrete, compact or has index at most 2 in A.

math.GR↗

arXiv2006

Countable Primitive Groups

We give a complete characterization of countable primitive groups in several settings including linear groups, subgroups of mapping class groups, groups acting minimally on trees and convergence groups. The latter category includes as a special case Kleinian groups as well as subgroups of word hyperbolic groups. As an application we calculate the Frattini subgroup in many of these settings, often generalizing results that were only known for finitely generated groups. In particular, we answer a question of G. Higman and B.H. Neumann on the Frattini group of an amalgamated product.

math.GR↗

arXiv2005

Amenable actions, free products and a fixed point property

We investigate the class of groups admitting an action on a set with an invariant mean. It turns out that many free products admit such an action. We give a complete characterisation of such free products in terms of a strong fixed point property.

math.GR↗

arXiv2005

Finitely generated subgroups of lattices in PSL(2,C)

Let G be a lattice in PSL(2,C). The pro-normal topology on G is defined by taking all cosets of non-trivial normal subgroups as a basis. This topology is finer than the pro-finite topology, but it is not discrete. We prove that every finitely generated subgroup H<G is closed in the pro-normal topology. As a corollary we deduce that if M is a maximal subgroup of a lattice in PSL(2,C) then either M is finite index or M is not finitely generated.

math.GT↗

arXiv2003

Automata and Square Complexes

We introduce a new geometric tool for analyzing groups of finite automata. To each finite automaton we associate a square complex. The square complex is covered by a product of two trees iff the automaton is bi-reversible. Using this method we give examples of free groups and of Kazhdan groups which are generated by the different states of one finite (bi-reversible) automaton. We also reproduce the theorem of Macedonska, Nekrashevych, Sushchansky, on the connection between bi-reversible automata and the commensurator of a regular tree.

math.GR↗

arXiv2003

Ramanujan Graphs with Small Girth

We construct an infinite family of (q+1)-regular Ramanujan graphs X_n of girth 1. We also give covering maps X_{n+1} --> X_n such that the minimal common covering of all the graphs is the universal covering tree.

math.CO↗

arXiv1998

A note on doubles of groups

Recently, Rips produced an example of a double of two free groups which has unsolvable generalized word problem. In this paper, we show that Rips's example fits into a large class of doubles of groups, each member of which contains F_2 x F_2 and therefore has unsolvable generalized word problem and is incoherent.

math.GR↗