On closed subgroups of the R. Thompson group $F$

We prove that Thompsons group $F$ has a subgroup $H$ such that the conjugacy problem in $H$ is undecidable and the membership problem in $H$ is easily decidable. The subgroup $H$ of $F$ is a closed subgroup of $F$. That is, every function in $F$ which is a piecewise-$H$ function belongs to $H$. Other interesting examples of closed subgroups of $F$ include Jones subgroups $overrightarrow{F}_n$ and Jones $3$-colorable subgroup $mathcal F$. By a recent result of the first author, all maximal subgroups of $F$ of infinite index are closed. In this paper we prove that if $Kleq F$ is finitely generated then the closure of $K$, i.e., the smallest closed subgroup of $F$ which contains $K$, is finitely generated. We also prove that all finitely generated closed subgroups of $F$ are undistorted in $F$. In particular, all finitely generated maximal subgroups of $F$ are undistorted in $F$.

The isoperimetric spectrum of finitely presented groups

The isoperimeric spectrum consists of all real positive numbers $alpha$ such that $O(n^alpha)$ is the Dehn function of a finitely presented group. In this note we show how a recent result of Olshanskii completes the description of the isoperimetric spectrum modulo the celebrated Computer Science conjecture (and one of the seven Millennium Problems) $mathbf{P=NP}$ and even a formally weaker conjecture.

Divergence of Thompson groups

We prove that R. Thompson groups F, T, V have linear divergence functions.

Divergence in lattices in semisimple Lie groups and graphs of groups

Divergence functions of a metric space estimate the length of a path connecting two points $A$, $B$ at distance $le n$ avoiding a large enough ball around a third point $C$. We characterize groups with non-linear divergence functions as groups having cut-points in their asymptotic cones. By Olshanskii-Osin-Sapir, that property is weaker than the property of having Morse (rank 1) quasi-geodesics. Using our characterization of Morse quasi-geodesics, we give a new proof of the theorem of Farb-Kaimanovich-Masur that states that mapping class groups cannot contain copies of irreducible lattices in semi-simple Lie groups of higher ranks. It also gives a generalization of the result of Birman-Lubotzky-McCarthy about solvable subgroups of mapping class groups not covered by the Tits alternative of Ivanov and McCarthy. We show that any group acting acylindrically on a simplicial tree or a locally compact hyperbolic graph always has many periodic Morse quasi-geodesics (i.e. Morse elements), so its divergence functions are never linear. We also show that the same result holds in many cases when the hyperbolic graph satisfies Bowditchs properties that are weaker than local compactness. This gives a new proof of Behrstocks result that every pseudo-Anosov element in a mapping class group is Morse. On the other hand, we conjecture that lattices in semi-simple Lie groups of higher rank always have linear divergence. We prove it in the case when the $mathbb{Q}$-rank is 1 and when the lattice is $SL_n(mathcal{O}_S)$ where $nge 3$, $S$ is a finite set of valuations of a number field $K$ including all infinite valuations, and $mathcal{O}_S$ is the corresponding ring of $S$-integers.

On the stabilizers of finite sets of numbers in the R. Thompson group $F$

We study subgroups $H_U$ of the R. Thompson group $F$ which are stabilizers of finite sets $U$ of numbers in the interval $(0,1)$. We describe the algebraic structure of $H_U$ and prove that the stabilizer $H_U$ is finitely generated if and only if $U$ consists of rational numbers. We also show that such subgroups are isomorphic surprisingly often. In particular, we prove that if finite sets $Usubset [0,1]$ and $Vsubset [0,1]$ consist of rational numbers which are not finite binary fractions, and $|U|=|V|$, then the stabilizers of $U$ and $V$ are isomorphic. In fact these subgroups are conjugate inside a subgroup $bar F<Homeo([0,1])$ which is the completion of $F$ with respect to what we call the Hamming metric on $F$. Moreover the conjugator can be found in a certain subgroup $F < bar F$ which consists of possibly infinite tree-diagrams with finitely many infinite branches. We also show that the group $F$ is non-amenable.

On subgroups of R. Thompsons group $F$

We provide two ways to show that the R. Thompson group $F$ has maximal subgroups of infinite index which do not fix any number in the unit interval under the natural action of $F$ on $(0,1)$, thus solving a problem by D. Savchuk. The first way employs Jones subgroup of the R. Thompson group $F$ and leads to an explicit finitely generated example. The second way employs directed 2-complexes and 2-dimensional analogs of Stallings core graphs, and gives many implicit examples. We also show that $F$ has a decreasing sequence of finitely generated subgroups $F>H_1>H_2>...$ such that $cap H_i={1}$ and for every $i$ there exist only finitely many subgroups of $F$ containing $H_i$.

Minsky machines and algorithmic problems

This is a survey of using Minsky machines to study algorithmic problems in semigroups, groups and other algebraic systems.

On Jones subgroup of R. Thompson group $F$

Recently Vaughan Jones showed that the R. Thompson group $F$ encodes in a natural way all knots, and a certain subgroup $vec F$ of $F$ encodes all oriented knots. We answer several questions of Jones about $vec F$. In particular we prove that the subgroup $vec F$ is generated by $x_0x_1, x_1x_2, x_2x_3$ (where $x_i, i=0,1,2,...$ are the standard generators of $F$) and is isomorphic to $F_3$, the analog of $F$ where all slopes are powers of $3$ and break points are $3$-adic rationals. We also show that $vec F$ coincides with its commensurator. Hence the linearization of the permutational representation of $F$ on $F/vec F$ is irreducible.

The Rapid Decay property and centroids in groups

This is a survey of methods of proving or disproving the Rapid Decay property in groups. We present a centroid property of group actions on metric spaces. That property is a generalized (and corrected) version of the property (**)-relative hyperbolicity from our paper with Cornelia Drutu, math/0405500, and implies the Rapid Decay (RD) property. We show that several properties which are known to imply RD also imply the centroid property. Thus uniform lattices in many semi-simple Lie groups, Artin groups of large type and the mapping class groups have the centroid property. We also present a simple non-amenability-like property that follows from RD, and give an easy example of a group without RD and without any amenable subgroup with superpolynomial growth, some misprints in other sections are corrected.

The Tarski numbers of groups

The Tarski number of a non-amenable group G is the minimal number of pieces in a paradoxical decomposition of G. In this paper we investigate how Tarski numbers may change under various group-theoretic operations. Using these estimates and known properties of Golod-Shafarevich groups, we show that the Tarski numbers of 2-generated non-amenable groups can be arbitrarily large. We also use the cost of group actions to show that there exist groups with Tarski numbers 5 and 6. These provide the first examples of non-amenable groups without free subgroups whose Tarski number has been computed precisely.