Free products with amalgamation and HNN-extensions are two main constructions of combinatorial group theory. I shall discuss these two constructions in the category of pro-p groups, presenting results on splittings of pro-p groups as an amalgamated free pro-p product or a pro-p HNN-extension and relating them with pro-p version of Bass-Serre's theory of groups acting on trees. I shall also compare the pro-p results with similar results for abstract groups.
Discrete 2-generator subgroups of PSL2(ℝ) have been extensively studied by investigating their action by Möbius transformations on the hyperbolic plane. Due to work of Gilman, Rosenberger, Purzitsky and many others, there is a complete classification of such groups by isomorphism type, and an algorithm to decide whether or not a 2-generator subgroup of PSL2(ℝ) is discrete.
Here we completely classify discrete 2-generator subgroups of PSL2(ℚp) over the p-adic numbers ℚp by studying their action by isometries on the corresponding Bruhat-Tits tree. We give an algorithm to decide whether or not a 2-generator subgroup of PSL2(ℚp) is discrete, and discuss how this can be used to decide whether or not a 2-generator subgroup of SL2(ℚp) is dense.
Let C be a smooth, projective, and geometrically connected curve defined over a finite field F. For each closed point P∞ of C, let R be the ring of functions that are regular outside P∞, and let K be the completion path P∞ of the function field of C. In order to study groups of the form GL2(R), Serre describes the quotient graph GL2(R)∖T, where T is the Bruhat-Tits tree defined from SL2(K). In particular, Serre shows that GL2(R)∖T is the union of a finite graph and a finite number of ray shaped subgraphs, which are called cusps. It is not hard to see that finite index subgroups inherit this property. In this exposition we describe the quotient graph H∖T defined from the action on T of the group H consisting of matrices that are upper triangular modulo I, where I is an ideal of R. More specifically, we give an explicit formula for the cusp number H∖T. Then By, using Bass-Serre theory, we describe the combinatorial structure of H. These groups play, in the function field context, the same role as the Hecke Congruence subgroups of SL2(ℤ). Moreover, not that the groups studied by Serre correspond to the case where the ideal I coincides with the ring R.
Unitary representations are a classical and useful tool for studying locally compact groups: motivated in part by quantum mechanics, they have been studied in detail since the early-mid 1900s with much success, and they enable group theorists to employ functional analytic techniques in the study of locally compact groups. The algebras that unitary representations generate play an important role in not only understanding the representation theory of a locally compact group, but also in understanding properties pertaining to the group itself. This talk will give a brief introduction to some of the basics of the unitary representation theory of locally compact groups, with focus placed on the associated operator algebraic structures/properties. In particular, 'type I groups' and 'CCR groups' will be the main focus. As an application, I will discuss some current research interests in the unitary representation theory of groups acting on trees, including work of myself on the unitary representation theory of 'scale groups'.
Baumslag-Solitar groups BS(p,q) =< a,t | tapt-1 = aq > were first introduced as examples of non-Hopfian groups. They may be described using graphs of cyclic groups. In analogy with the study of Out(Fn) one can study their automorphisms through their action on an "outer space". After introducing generalized Baumslag-Solitar groups and their actions on trees, I will present an analogue of a Whitehead algorithm which takes an element of a free group and decides whether there exists a free factor which contains that element.
Actions on trees are ubiquitous in group theory. The standard approach to describing them is known as Bass–Serre theory, which presents the group acting on the tree as assembled from its vertex and edge stabilizers. However, a different approach emerges if instead of considering vertex and edge stabilizers as a whole, we focus on local actions, that is, the action of a vertex stabilizer only on the immediate neighbours of that vertex. Groups acting on trees defined by their local actions are especially important as a source of examples of simple totally disconnected locally compact groups, with a history going back to a 1970 paper of Tits. I will go through some highlights of this theory and then present some recent joint work with Simon Smith: we develop a counterpart to Bass–Serre theory for local actions, which describes all possible local action structures of group actions on trees.
In the 90s, Nebbia conjectured that a group of tree automorphisms acting transitively on the tree's boundary must be of type I, that is, its unitary representations can in principal be classified. For key examples, such as Burger-Mozes groups, this conjecture is verified. Aiming for a better understanding of Nebbia's conjecture and a better understanding of representation theory of groups acting on trees, it is natural to ask whether there is a characterization of type I groups acting on trees. In 2016, we introduced in collaboration with Cyril Houdayer a refinement of Nebbia's conjecture to a trichotomy, opposing type I groups with groups whose von Neumann algebra is non-amenable. For large classes of groups, including Burger-Mozes groups, we could verify this trichotomy.
In this talk, I will motivate and introduce the conjecture trichotomy for groups acting on tress and explain how von Neumann algebraic techniques enter the picture.
Let G be a group acting on a regular tree. The 'local' actions that vertex stabilisers in G induce on balls around the fixed vertex are innately connected to the 'global' structure of G. I demonstrate this relationship and define a particularly accessible class of groups acting on (locally finite) regular trees by 'prescribing' said local actions, following Burger-Mozes. Being defined solely in terms of finite permutation groups, these groups allow us to introduce computational methods to the world of locally compact groups: I will outline the capabilities of a recently developed GAP package that provides methods to create, analyse and find suitable local actions.
An LMS online lecture course in free groups and graph theory.
Free groups may be viewed as the fundamental groups of graphs. This observation allows for a very intuitive view of free groups and their subgroups. These lectures combine topological ideas, due to Stallings in the 1980s, with more combinatorial and computational ones to prove many of the fundamental results in free groups. These results include the Nielsen-Schreier Theorem (subgroups of free groups are free), Howson's Theorem (finitely generated subgroups have finitely generated intersection), and the decidability of the subgroup membership problem.
An LMS online lecture course in groups acting on trees.
Groups of automorphisms of rooted trees have been studied for years as an important source of groups with interesting properties. For instance, the Grigorchuk group (that is a group acting on the binary tree) is the first example of a finitely generated group with intermediate growth (this answered an open question posed by Milnor) and the first example of an amenable but not elementary amenable group. Furthermore, this group provides a counterexample to the General Burnside Problem.
In these lectures we will first introduce the basic theory of groups of automorphisms of rooted trees and their subgroups. Then we will give examples and main properties of such groups, including the aforementioned Grigorchuk group, and the GGS groups.
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