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Yash Lodha

Publications and source records attributed to Yash Lodha.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

A note on normal generation and the first $\ell^2$-betti number

In $2011$, Osin and Thom conjectured that the first $\ell^2$-Betti number of a torsion-free discrete group is bounded above by the normal rank of the group minus one. The conjecture has surprising consequences for some fundamental problems in group theory and topology. These include the Wiegold problem on perfect groups, the Levin conjecture, the torsion-free case of the Kervaire conjecture, and an important special case of the Whitehead asphericity conjecture. In this article, we construct for each $n\in \mathbb{N}$ a countable torsion-free group $\Gamma_n$ such that $\beta^{(2)}_1(\Gamma_n)=n$ and so that the normal rank, $n(\Gamma_n)$, equals one. This disproves the conjecture. Our counterexamples are locally free and hence locally indicable. However, they are not finitely generated.

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arXiv2025

The Wiegold problem and free products of left-orderable groups

A group has normal rank (or weight) greater than one if no single element normally generates the group. The Wiegold problem from 1976 asks about the existence of a finitely generated perfect group of normal rank greater than one. We show that any free product of nontrivial left-orderable groups has normal rank greater than one. This solves the Wiegold problem by taking free products of finitely generated perfect left-orderable groups, a plethora of which are known to exist. We obtain our estimate of normal rank by a topological argument, proving a type of spectral gap property for an unsigned version of stable commutator length. A key ingredient in the proof is an intricate new construction of a family of left-orders on free products of two left-orderable groups.

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arXiv2025

Embeddings into highly transitive and mixed identity free groups

Given a countable group $G$, we develop a method to construct an overgroup $H$ that is finitely generated, highly transitive and mixed identity free. Our construction can be controlled to ensure that some fundamental group theoretic properties of $G$ are inherited by $H$, such as amenability or the property of not containing a nonabelian free group. The former provides a strong solution to a question of Hull and Osin, and the latter provides the first examples of nonamenable groups without free subgroups that are highly transitive and mixed identity free. Our examples also have a nontrivial amenable radical, answering a question of Arzhantseva.

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arXiv2025

On some algebraic and analytic properties of the finitely generated simple left orderable groups $G_{\rho}$

In $2019$ Hyde and the second author constructed the first family of finitely generated, simple, left orderable groups. We prove that these groups are not finitely presentable, non-inner amenable, don't have Kazhdan's property $(T)$ (yet have property FA), and that their first $l^2$-Betti number vanishes. We also show that these groups are uniformly simple, providing examples of uniformly simple finitely generated left orderable groups. Finally, we also describe the structure of the groups $G_{\rho}$ where $\rho$ is a periodic labeling.

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arXiv2025

Generic torsion-free groups and Rubin actions

We use model theoretic forcing to prove that a generic countable torsion-free group does not admit any nontrivial locally moving action on a Hausdorff topological space, and yet admits a rich Rubin poset.

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arXiv2025

Just infinite quotients of finitely generated subgroups of $PL^+[0,1]$

We show that just infinite quotients of finitely generated subgroups of Richard Thompson's group F are virtually abelian, answering a question of Grigorchuk. We show the same holds for the group of piecewise linear orientation preserving homeomorphisms of the interval, and the group of piecewise projective homeomorphisms of the real line. The latter provides a plethora of examples of nonamenable groups with this property.

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arXiv2024

On Ulam widths of finitely presented infinite simple groups

A fundamental notion in group theory, which originates in an article of Ulam and von Neumann from $1947$ is uniform simplicity. A group $G$ is said to be $n$-uniformly simple for $n \in \mathbf{N}$ if for every $f,g\in G\setminus \{id\}$, there is a product of no more than $n$ conjugates of $g$ and $g^{-1}$ that equals $f$. Then $G$ is uniformly simple if it is $n$-uniformly simple for some $n \in \mathbf{N}$, and we refer to the smallest such $n$ as the Ulam width, denoted as $\mathcal{R}(G)$. If $G$ is simple but not uniformly simple, one declares $\mathcal{R}(G)=\infty$. In this article, we construct for each $n\in \mathbf{N}$, a finitely presented infinite simple group $G$ such that $n<\mathcal{R}(G)<\infty$. These are the first such examples among the class of finitely presented infinite simple groups. For the class of finitely generated (but not finitely presentable) infinite simple groups, the existence of such examples was settled in the work of Muranov. However, this had remained open for the class of finitely presented infinite simple groups. Our examples are also of type $F_{\infty}$, which means that they are fundamental groups of aspherical CW complexes with finitely many cells in each dimension. Uniformly simple groups are in particular uniformly perfect: there is an $n\in \mathbf{N}$ such that every element of the group can be expressed as a product of at most $n$ commutators of elements in the group. We also show that the analogous notion of width for uniform perfection is unbounded for our family of finitely presented infinite simple groups. To our knowledge, this is also the first such family.

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arXiv2024

Displacement techniques in bounded cohomology

Several algebraic criteria, reflecting displacement properties of transformation groups, have been used in the past years to prove vanishing of bounded cohomology and stable commutator length. Recently, the authors introduced the property of commuting cyclic conjugates, a new displacement technique that is widely applicable and provides vanishing of the bounded cohomology in all positive degrees and all dual separable coefficients. In this note we consider the most recent along with the by now classical displacement techniques and we study implications among them as well as counterexamples.

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arXiv2023

An algebraic criterion for the vanishing of bounded cohomology

We prove the vanishing of bounded cohomology with separable dual coefficients for many groups of interest in geometry, dynamics, and algebra. These include compactly supported structure-preserving diffeomorphism groups of certain manifolds; the group of interval exchange transformations of the half line; piecewise linear and piecewise projective groups of the line, giving strong answers to questions of Calegari and Navas; direct limit linear groups of relevance in algebraic $K$-theory, thereby answering a question by Kastenholz and Sroka and a question of two of the authors and L{\"o}h; and certain subgroups of big mapping class groups, such as the stable braid group and the stable mapping class group, proving a conjecture of Bowden. Moreover, we prove that in the recently introduced framework of enumerated groups, the generic group has vanishing bounded cohomology with separable dual coefficients. At the heart of our approach is an elementary algebraic criterion called the commuting cyclic conjugates condition that is readily verifiable for the aforementioned large classes of groups.

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arXiv2023

Finitely presented left orderable monsters

A left orderable monster is a finitely generated left orderable group all of whose fixpoint-free actions on the line are proximal: the action is semiconjugate to a minimal action so that for every bounded interval $I$ and open interval $J$, there is a group element that sends $I$ into $J$. In his 2018 ICM address, Navas asked about the existence of left orderable monsters. By now there are several examples, all of which are finitely generated but not finitely presentable. We provide the first examples of left orderable monsters that are finitely presentable, and even of type $F_\infty$. The construction itself is elementary, and these groups satisfy several additional properties separating them from the previous examples: they are not simple, they act minimally on the circle, and they have an infinite-dimensional space of homogeneous quasimorphisms. Our construction is flexible enough that it produces infinitely many isomorphism classes of finitely presented (and type $F_{\infty}$) left orderable monsters.

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arXiv2023

Second bounded cohomology of groups acting on $1$-manifolds and applications to spectrum problems

We prove a general criterion for the vanishing of second bounded cohomology (with trivial real coefficients) for groups that admit an action satisfying certain mild hypotheses. This leads to new computations of the second bounded cohomology for a large class of groups of homeomorphisms of $1$-manifolds, and a plethora of applications. First, we demonstrate that the finitely presented and nonamenable group $G_0$ constructed by the second author with Justin Moore satisfies that every subgroup has vanishing second bounded cohomology. This provides the first solution to a homological version of the von Neumann--Day Problem, posed by Calegari. Next, we develop a technical refinement of our criterion to demonstrate the existence of finitely generated non-indicable (even simple) left orderable groups with vanishing second bounded cohomology. This answers Question 8 from the 2018 ICM proceedings article of Navas. Then we provide the first examples of finitely presented groups whose spectrum of stable commutator length contains algebraic irrationals, answering a question of Calegari. Finally, we provide the first examples of manifolds whose simplicial volumes are algebraic and irrational, as further evidence towards a conjecture of Heuer and Löh.

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arXiv2023

Finitely generated simple left orderable groups with vanishing second bounded cohomology

We prove that the finitely generated simple left orderable groups constructed by the second author with Hyde have vanishing second bounded cohomology, both with trivial real and trivial integral coefficients. As a consequence, these are the first examples of finitely generated non-indicable left orderable groups with vanishing second bounded cohomology. This answers Question 8 from the 2018 ICM proceedings article of Andrés Navas.

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arXiv2022

Braided Thompson groups with and without quasimorphisms

We study quasimorphisms and bounded cohomology of a variety of braided versions of Thompson groups. Our first main result is that the Brin--Dehornoy braided Thompson group $bV$ has an infinite-dimensional space of quasimorphisms and thus infinite-dimensional second bounded cohomology. This implies that despite being perfect, $bV$ is not uniformly perfect, in contrast to Thompson's group $V$. We also prove that relatives of $bV$ like the ribbon braided Thompson group $rV$ and the pure braided Thompson group $bF$ similarly have an infinite-dimensional space of quasimorphisms. Our second main result is that, in stark contrast, the close relative of $bV$ denoted $\hat{bV}$, which was introduced concurrently by Brin, has trivial second bounded cohomology. This makes $\hat{bV}$ the first example of a left-orderable group of type $\operatorname{F}_\infty$ that is not locally indicable and has trivial second bounded cohomology. This also makes $\hat{bV}$ an interesting example of a subgroup of the mapping class group of the plane minus a Cantor set that is non-amenable but has trivial second bounded cohomology, behaviour that cannot happen for finite-type mapping class groups.

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arXiv2021

Generic algebraic properties in spaces of enumerated groups

We introduce and study Polish topologies on various spaces of countable enumerated groups, where an enumerated group is simply a group whose underlying set is the set of natural numbers. Using elementary tools and well known examples from combinatorial group theory, combined with the Baire category theorem, we obtain a plethora of results demonstrating that several phenomena in group theory are generic. In effect, we provide a new topological framework for the analysis of various well known problems in group theory. We also provide a connection between genericity in these spaces, the word problem for finitely generated groups and model-theoretic forcing. Using these connections, we investigate the natural question: when does a certain space of enumerated groups contain a comeager isomorphism class? We obtain a sufficient condition that allows us to answer the question in the negative for the space of all enumerated groups and the space of left orderable enumerated groups. We document several open questions in connection with these considerations.

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arXiv2021

Algebraic irrational stable commutator length in finitely presented groups

We provide the first example of a finitely presented (in fact, type $F_\infty$) group with elements whose stable commutator length is algebraic and irrational, answering a question of Calegari. Our example is the lift to the real line of the \emph{golden ratio Thompson group} $T_τ$: the circle analogue of the Cleary's golden ratio Thompson group $F_τ$ which acts on the interval.

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arXiv2021

Two new families of finitely generated simple groups of homeomorphisms of the real line

The goal of this article is to exhibit two new families of finitely generated simple groups of homeomorphisms of $\mathbf{R}$. These families are strikingly different from existing families owing to the nature of their actions on $\mathbf{R}$, and exhibit surprising algebraic and dynamical features. In particular, one construction provides the first examples of finitely generated simple groups of homeomorphisms of the real line which also admit a minimal action by homeomorphisms on the circle. This provides new examples of finitely generated simple groups with infinite commutator width, and the first such left orderable examples. Another construction provides the first examples of finitely generated simple left orderable groups that admit minimal actions by homeomorphisms on the torus.

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arXiv2020

A nonamenable type $F_{\infty}$ group of piecewise projective homeomorphisms

We prove that the group of homeomorphisms of the circle introduced by the author with Justin Moore (Groups, Geometry and Dynamics 2015) is of type $F_{\infty}$. This makes the group the first example of a type $F_{\infty}$ group which is nonamenable and does not contain nonabelian free subgroups. To prove our result we provide a certain generalisation of cube complexes, which we refer to as cluster complexes. We also obtain a computable normal form, or a canonical unique choice of a word for each element of the group.

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