Forthcoming events in this series
This talk will introduce the notion of quasi-convex subgroups. As an application, we will prove that the intersection of two finitely generated subgroups of a free group is again finitely generated.
Stallings' theorem states that a finitely generated group splits over a finite subgroup if and only if it has more than one end. As a consequence of this, group splittings over finite subgroups are invariant under quasi-isometry. I will discuss a generalisation of Stallings' theorem which shows that under suitable hypotheses, group splittings over classes of infinite groups, namely coarse $PD_n$ groups, are also invariant under quasi-isometry.
A Kähler group is a group which can be realised as fundamental group of a compact Kähler manifold. I shall begin by explaining why such groups are not arbitrary and then address Delzant-Gromov's question of which subgroups of direct products of surface groups are Kähler. Work of Bridson, Howie, Miller and Short reduces this to the case of subgroups which are not of type $\mathcal{F}_r$ for some $r$. We will give a new construction producing Kähler groups with exotic finiteness properties by mapping products of closed Riemann surfaces onto an elliptic curve. We will then explain how this construction can be generalised to higher dimensions. This talk is independent of last weeks talk on Kähler groups and all relevant notions will be explained.
A Kähler group is a group which can be realised as the fundamental group of a close Kähler manifold. We will prove that for a Kähler group $G$ we have that $G$ is residually free if and only if $G$ is a full subdirect product of a free abelian group and finitely many closed hyperbolic surface groups. We will then address Delzant-Gromov's question of which subgroups of direct products of surface groups are Kähler: We explain how to construct subgroups of direct products of surface groups which have even first Betti number but are not Kähler. All relevant notions will be explained in the talk.
We will explain a result of Bridson, Howie, Miller and Short on the finiteness properties of subgroups of direct products of surface groups. More precisely, we will show that a subgroup of a direct product of n surface groups is of finiteness type $FP_n$ if and only if there is virtually a direct product of at most n finitely generated surface groups. All relevant notions will be explained in the talk.
I will describe a method to find negatively curved structures on some groups, by manipulating metrics on piecewise hyperbolic complexes. As an example, I will prove that hyperbolic limit groups are CAT(-1).
The simplicial boundary is another way to study the boundary of CAT(0) cube complexes. I will define this boundary introducing the relevant terminology from CAT(0) cube complexes along the way. There will be many examples and many pictures, hopefully to help understanding but also to improve my (not so great) drawing skills.
I will discuss the circumstances in which residual finiteness properties of an amalgamated free product $A\ast_c B$ may be deduced from the properties of $A$ and $B$, with particular regard to the pro-p residual properties.
Quasimorphisms (QM) of groups to the reals are well studied and are linked to stable commutator length (scl) via Bavard Duality- Theorem. The notion of QM can be generalized to yield maps between groups such that each QM from one group pulls back to a QM in the other.
We will give both a short overview of features of scl and investigate these generalized QMs with large scale properties of the commutator group.
In his ICM address in 1983, Gromov proposed a program of classifying finitely generated groups up to quasi-isometry. One way of approaching this is by breaking a group down into simpler parts by means of a JSJ decomposition. I will give a survey of various JSJ theories and related quasi-isometric rigidity results, including recent work by Cashen and Martin.
in this talk I will try to introduce some key ideas and concepts about random walks on discrete spaces, with special interest on random walks on Cayley graphs.
Orientable manifolds can only have an odd Euler characteristic in dimensions divisible by 4. I will prove the analogous result for spin and string manifolds, where the dimension can only be a multiple of 8 and 16 respectively. The talk will require very little background. I'll go over the definition of spin and string structures, discuss cohomology operations and Poincare duality.
I will present a basic overview of finiteness conditions, group cohomology, and related quasi-isometry invariance results. In particular, I will show that if a group satisfies certain finiteness conditions, group cohomology with group ring coefficients encodes some structure of the `homology at infinity' of a group. This is seen for hyperbolic groups in the work of Bestvina-Mess, which relates the group cohomology to the Čech cohomology of the boundary.
I will talk about the boundaries of CAT(0) groups giving definitions, some examples and will state some theorems. I may even prove something if there is time.
I will discuss a couple of techniques often useful to prove quasi-isometric rigidity results for isometry groups. I will then sketch how these were used by B. Kleiner and B. Leeb to obtain quasi-isometric rigidity for the class of fundamental groups of closed locally symmetric spaces of noncompact type.
We will discuss various familiar properties of groups studied in geometric group theory, whether or not they are invariant under quasi-isometry, and why.
One can ask whether the fundamental groups of 3-manifolds are distinguished by their sets of finite quotients. I will discuss the recent solution of this question for Seifert fibre spaces.
I will illustrate how to build families of expanders out of 'very mixing' actions on measure spaces. I will then define the warped cones and show how these metric spaces are strictly related with those expanders.
Quasihomomorphisms (QHMs) are maps $f$ between groups such that the
homomorphic condition is boundedly satisfied. The case of QHMs with
abelian target is well studied and is useful for computing the second
bounded cohomology of groups. The case of target non-abelian has,
however, not been studied a lot.
We will see a technique for classifying QHMs $f: G \rightarrow H$ by Fujiwara and
Kapovich. We will give examples (sometimes with proofs!) for QHM in
various cases such as
Furthermore, we point out a relation between QHM and extensions by short
exact sequences.
A family of expanders is a sequence of finite graphs which are both sparse and highly connected. Firstly defined in the 80s, they had huge applications in applied maths and computer science. Moreover, it soon turned out that they also had deep implications in pure maths. In this talk I will introduce the expander graphs and I will illustrate a way to construct them by approximating actions of groups on probability spaces.
In 1964 Golod and Shafarevich discovered a powerful tool that gives a criteria for when a certain presentation defines an infinite dimensional algebra. In my talk I will assume the main machinery of the Golod-Shafarevich inequality for graded algebras and use it to provide counter examples to certain analogues of the Burnside problem in infinite dimensional algebras and infinite groups. Then, time dependent, I will define the Tarski number for groups relating to the Banach-Tarski paradox and show that we can using the G-S inequality show that the set of Tarski numbers is unbounded. Despite the fact we can only find groups of Tarski number 4, 5 and 6.
I will discuss a notoriously hard problem in group theory known as the flat closing conjecture. This states that a group with a finite classifying space is either hyperbolic or contains a Baumslag-Solitar Subgroup. I will give some strategies to try and create a counterexample to this conjecture.
This talk will be an easy introduction to some CAT(0) geometry. Among other things, we'll see why centralizers in groups acting geometrically on CAT(0) spaces split (at least virtually). Time permitting, we'll see why having a geometric action on a CAT(0) space is not a quasi-isometry invariant.
For a finitely generated group $G$ with subgroup $H$ we define $e(G,H)$, the relative ends of the pair $(G,H)$, to be the number of ends of the Cayley graph of G quotiented out by the left action of H. We will examine some basic properties of relative ends and will outline the theorem of Sageev showing that $e(G,H)>1$ if and only if $G$ acts essentially on a simply connected CAT(0) cube complex. If time permits, we will outline Niblo's proof of Stallings' theorem using Sageev's construction.
In this talk, we will introduce the notions of systolic and residual girth growth for finitely generated groups. We will explore the relationship between these types of growth and the usual word growth for finitely generated groups.
Associahedra are polytopes introduced by Stasheff to encode topological semigroups in which associativity holds up to coherent homotopy. These polytopes naturally form a topological operad that gives a resolution of the associative operad. Muro and Tonks recently introduced an operad which encodes $A_\infty$ algebras with homotopy coherent unit.
The material in this talk will be fairly basic. I will cover operads and their algebras, give the construction of the $A_\infty$ operad using the Boardman-Vogt resolution, and of the unital associahedra introduced by Muro and Tonks.
Depending on time and interest of the audience I will define unital $A_\infty$ differential graded algebras and explain how they are precisely the algebras over the cellular chains of the operad constructed by Muro and Tonks.
I will discuss various types of filling functions on topological spaces, stating some results in the area. I will then go onto prove that a finitely presented subgroup of a hyperbolic group of cohomological dimension 2 is hyperbolic. On the way I will prove a stronger result about filling functions of subgroups of hyperbolic groups of cohomological dimension $n$.
In this talk I will try to show how certain asymptotic properties of a random walk on a graph are related to geometric properties of the graph itself. A special focus will be put on spectral properties and isoperimetric inequalities, proving Kesten's criterion for amenability.
We say a group is accessible if the process of iteratively decomposing G as an amalgamated free product or HNN extension over a finite group terminates in a finite number of steps. We will see Dunwoody's proof that FP2 groups are accessible, but that finitely generated groups need not be. If time permits, we will examine generalizations by Bestvina-Feighn, Sela and Louder.
This talk will be an introduction to the weird and wonderful world of Thompson's groups $F$, $T$ and $V$. For example, the group $T$ was the first known finitely presented infinite simple group, $V$ has a finitely presented subgroup with co-NP-complete word problem, and whether or not $F$ is amenable is an infamous open problem.
Localization and completion of spaces are fundamental tools in homotopy theory. "Zabrodsky mixing" uses localization to "mix homotopy types". It was used to provide a counterexample to the conjecture that any finite H-space which is $A_3$ is also $A_\infty$. The material in this talk will be very classical (and rather basic). I will describe Sullivan's localization functor and demonstrate Zabrodsky's mixing by constructing a non-classical H-space.
A group is called residually finite if every non-trivial element can be homomorphically mapped to a finite group such that the image is again non-trivial. Residually finite groups are interesting because quite a lot of information about them can be reconstructed from their finite quotients. Baumslag showed that if G is a finitely generated residually finite group then Aut(G) is also residually finite. Using a similar method Grossman showed that if G is a finitely generated conjugacy separable group with "nice" automorphisms then Out(G) is residually finite. The graph product is a group theoretic construction naturally generalising free and direct products in the category of groups. We show that if G is a finite graph product of finitely generated residually finite groups then Out(G) is residually finite (modulo some technical conditions)
A Kähler group is a group which is isomorphic to the fundamental group of a compact Kähler manifold. In 2008 Dimca and Suciu proved that the groups which are both Kähler and isomorphic to the fundamental group of a closed 3-manifold are precisely the finite subgroups of $O(4)$ which act freely on $S^3$. In this talk we will explain Kotschick's proof of this result. On the 3-manifold side the main tools that will be used are the first Betti number and Poincare Duality and on the Kähler group side we will make use of the Albanese map and some basic results about Kähler groups. All relevant notions will be explained in the talk.
In Bass-Serre theory, one derives structural properties of groups from their actions on simplicial trees. In this talk, we introduce the theory of groups acting on $\mathbb{R}$-trees. In particular, we explain how the Rips machine is used to classify finitely generated groups which act freely on $\mathbb{R}$-trees.
I will look at some decidability questions for subgroups of Aut($F_n$) for general $n$. I will then discuss semisimple actions of Aut($F_n$) on complete CAT(0) spaces proving that the Nielsen moves will act elliptically. I will also look at proving Aut($F_3$) is large and if time permits discuss the fact that Aut($F_n$) is not Kähler
This talk will give an almost complete proof of the h-cobordism theorem, paying special attention to the sources of the dimensional restrictions in the theorem. If time allows, the alterations needed to prove its cousin, the s-cobordism theorem, will also be sketched.
The Nottingham Group of a finite field is an object of great interest in profinite group theory, owing to its extreme structural properties and the relative ease with which explicit computations can be made within it. In this talk I shall explore both of these themes, before describing some new work on efficient short-word approximation in the Nottingham Group, based on the profinite Solovay-Kitaev procedure. Time permitting, I shall give an application to the dynamics of compositions of random power series.
Deciding whether or not two elements of a group are conjugate might seem like a trivial problem. However, there exist finitely presented groups where this problem is undecidable: there is no algorithm to output yes or no for any two elements chosen. In this talk Houghton groups (a family of groups all having solvable conjugacy problem) will be introduced as will the idea of twisted conjugacy: a generalisation of the conjugacy problem where an automorphism is also given. This will be our main tool in answering whether finite extensions and finite index subgroups of any Houghton group have solvable conjugacy problem.
We saw earlier that a subquadratic isoperimetric inequality implies a linear one. I will give examples of groups, due to Brady and Bridson, which prove that this is the only gap in the isoperimetric spectrum.
In 1983 Kerckhoff settled a long standing conjecture by Nielsen proving that every finite subgroup of the mapping class group of a compact surface can be realized as a group of diffeomorphisms. An important consequence of this theorem is that one can now try to study subgroups of the mapping class group taking the quotient of the surface by these groups of diffeomorphisms. In this talk we will study quotients of surfaces under the action of a finite group to find bounds on the cardinality of such a group.
The Dehn function of a group measures the complexity of the group's word problem, being the upper bound on the number of relations from a group presentation required to prove that a word in the generators represents the identity element. The Filling Theorem which was first stated by Gromov connects this to the isoperimetric functions of Riemannian manifolds. In this talk, we will see the classification of hyperbolic groups as those with a linear Dehn function, and give Bowditch's proof that a subquadratic isoperimetric inequality implies a linear one (which gives the only gap in the "isoperimetric spectrum" of exponents of polynomial Dehn functions).
We will give an outline of the proof by Kahn and Markovic who showed that a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold $\textbf{M}$ contains a closed $\pi_1$-injective surface. This is done using exponential mixing to find many pairs of pants in $\textbf{M}$, which can then be glued together to form a suitable surface. This answers a long standing conjecture of Waldhausen and is a key ingredient in the proof of the Virtual Haken Theorem.
Dinits, Karzanov and Lomonosov showed that the minimal edge cuts of a finite graph have the structure of a cactus, a tree-like graph constructed from cycles. Evangelidou and Papasoglu extended this to minimal cuts separating the ends of an infinite graph. In this talk we will discuss a similar structure theorem for minimal vertex cuts separating the ends of a graph; these can be encoded by a succulent, a mild generalization of a cactus that is still tree-like.
After motivating why we would like to find examples of simple totally disconnected locally compact groups, I will describe a construction due to Banks, Elder and Willis which yields infinitely many such examples when given certain groups acting on a tree.
I shall outline a general method for finding upper bounds on the
diameters of finite groups, based on the Solovay-Kitaev procedure from
quantum computation. This method may be fruitfully applied to groups
arising as quotients of many familiar pro-p groups. Time permitting, I
will indicate a connection with weak spectral gap, and give some
applications.
Waldhausen defined higher K-groups for categories with certain extra structure. In this talk I will define categories with cofibrations and weak equivalences, outline Waldhausen's construction of the associated K-Theory space, mention a few important theorems and give some examples. If time permits I will discuss the infinite loop space structure on the K-Theory space.