We prove that finitely generated virtually free groups are stable in permutations. As an application, we show that almost-periodic almost-automorphisms of labelled graphs are close to periodic automorphisms.
The article deals with profinite groups in which centralizers are virtually procyclic. Suppose that G is a profinite group such that the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually torsion-free while the centralizer of every element of infinite order is virtually procyclic. We show that G is either virtually pro-p for some prime p or virtually torsion-free procyclic. The same conclusion holds for profinite groups in which the centralizer of every nontrivial element is virtually procyclic; moreover, if G is not pro-p, then G has finite rank.
We prove that any word hyperbolic group which is virtually compact special (in the sense of Haglund and Wise) is conjugacy separable. As a consequence we deduce that all word hyperbolic Coxeter groups and many classical small cancellation groups are conjugacy separable. To get the main result we establish a new criterion for showing that elements of prime order are conjugacy distinguished. This criterion is of independent interest; its proof is based on a combination of discrete and profinite (co)homology theories.
We show that surface groups are flexibly stable in permutations. Our method is purely geometric and relies on an analysis of branched covers of hyperbolic surfaces. Along the way we establish a quantitative variant of the LERF property for surface groups which may be of independent interest.
It is well known that the problem solving equations in virtually free groups can be reduced to the problem of solving twisted word equations with regular constraints over free monoids with involution. In this paper we prove that the set of all solutions of a twisted word equation is an EDT0L language whose specification can be computed in $mathsf{PSPACE}$. Within the same complexity bound we can decide whether the solution set is empty, finite, or infinite. In the second part of the paper we apply the results for twisted equations to obtain in $mathsf{PSPACE}$ an EDT0L description of the solution set of equations with rational constraints for finitely generated virtually free groups in standard normal forms with respect to a natural set of generators. If the rational constraints are given by a homomorphism into a fixed (or small enough) finite monoid, then our algorithms can be implemented in $mathsf{NSPACE}(n^2log n)$, that is, in quasi-quadratic nondeterministic space. Our results generalize the work by Lohrey and Senizergues (ICALP 2006) and Dahmani and Guirardel (J. of Topology 2010) with respect to both complexity and expressive power. Neither paper gave any concrete complexity bound and the results in these papers are stated for subsets of solutions only, whereas our results concern all solutions.
We prove the pro-$p$ version of the Karras, Pietrowski, Solitar, Cohen and Scott result stating that a virtually free group acts on a tree with finite vertex stabilizers. If a virtually free pro-$p$ group $G$ has finite centralizes of all non-trivial torsion elements more stronger statement is proved: $G$ embeds into a free pro-$p$ product of a free pro-$p$ group and finite $p$-group. The integral $p$-adic representation theory is used in the proof; it replaces the Stallings theory of ends in the pro-$p$ case.