Quasi-isometric diversity of marked groups

We use basic tools of descriptive set theory to prove that a closed set $mathcal S$ of marked groups has $2^{aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes provided every non-empty open subset of $mathcal S$ contains at least two non-quasi-isometric groups. It follows that every perfect set of marked groups having a dense subset of finitely presented groups contains $2^{aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes. These results account for most known constructions of continuous families of non-quasi-isometric finitely generated groups. They can also be used to prove the existence of $2^{aleph_0}$ quasi-isometry classes of finitely generated groups having interesting algebraic, geometric, or model-theoretic properties.

Rips construction and Kazhdan property (T)

We show that for any non--elementary hyperbolic group $H$ and any finitely presented group $Q$, there exists a short exact sequence $1to Nto Gto Qto 1$, where $G$ is a hyperbolic group and $N$ is a quotient group of $H$. As an application we construct a hyperbolic group that has the same $n$--dimensional complex representations as a given finitely generated group, show that adding relations of the form $x^n=1$ to a presentation of a hyperbolic group may drastically change the group even in case $n>> 1$, and prove that some properties (e.g. properties (T) and FA) are not recursively recognizable in the class of hyperbolic groups. A relatively hyperbolic version of this theorem is also used to generalize results of Ollivier--Wise on outer automorphism groups of Kazhdan groups.