Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 1002.1096

Volume distortion in groups

Hanna Bennett
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Given a space $Y$ in $X$, a cycle in $Y$ may be filled with a chain in two ways: either by restricting the chain to $Y$ or by allowing it to be anywhere in $X$. When the pair $(G,H)$ acts on $(X, Y)$, we define the $k$-volume distortion function of $H$ in $G$ to measure the large-scale difference between the volumes of such fillings. We show that these functions are quasi-isometry invariants, and thus independent of the choice of spaces, and provide several bounds in terms of other group properties, such as Dehn functions. We also compute the volume distortion in a number of examples, including characterizing the $k$-volume distortion of $\Z^k$ in $\Z^k \rtimes_M \Z$, where $M$ is a diagonalizable matrix. We use this to prove a conjecture of Gersten.

Explore related subjects

math.GRmath.GT

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Hanna Bennett. 2010-02-04. Volume distortion in groups. https://doi.org/10.2140/agt.2011.11.655

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

On commensurators of free groups and free pro-p groups

We study the commensurators of free groups and free pro-$p$ groups, as well as certain subgroups of these. We prove that the commensurator $Comm(F)$ of a non-abelian free group of finite rank $F$ is not virtually simple, answering a question of Lubotzky. On the other hand, we exhibit a family of easy-to-define finitely generated subgroups of $Comm(F)$ and show that some groups in this family are simple. For a prime $p$, we also consider the p-commensurator $Comm_p(F)$, which is the commensurator of $F$ viewed as a group with pro-$p$ topology. By contrast with $Comm(F)$, we prove that $Comm_p(F)$ has a simple subgroup of index at most 2. Further, while the isomorphism class of $Comm(F)$ does not depend on the rank of $F$, we prove that the isomorphism class of $Comm_p(F)$ depends on the rank of $F$ and determine the exact dependency. If $\mathbf F$ is the pro-$p$ completion of $F$ (which is a free pro-$p$ group), $Comm(\mathbf F)$ is a totally disconnected locally compact (tdlc) group containing $\mathbf F$ as an open subgroup. We use $Comm_p(F)$ to construct an abstractly simple subgroup of $Comm(\mathbf F)$ containing $\mathbf F$ as well as a family of non-discrete tdlc groups which are compactly generated and simple.

math.GR↗
arXiv2026

Asymmetry of $\ell^{2}$-cohomology via skewed Følner geometry

We study the two $\ell^{2}$-Dirichlet structures on a countable group $G$ arising from the left and right regular actions on $\mathbb{R}^{G}$. Although the two regular representations are unitarily equivalent, their $\ell^{2}$-Dirichlet subspaces of $\mathbb{R}^{G}$ need not coincide. Our main result gives a complete classification of this asymmetry for countable amenable groups: $$\mathcal{D}_{2}\left(G,λ\right)=\mathcal{D}_{2}\left(G,ρ\right)\quad\Longleftrightarrow\quad G \text{ is an FC-group}.$$ The proof is based on a skewed Følner-geometric mechanism, called a left scheme, combining summability of left boundaries with displacement under a right translation. We develop this mechanism generally, and demonstrate it concretely in the Heisenberg group and amenable wreath products over $\mathbb{Z}$. We also show that this mechanism has a dynamical counterpart in the theory of nonsingular Bernoulli shifts: every countable amenable group that is not an FC-group admits Bernoulli schemes whose left shift is nonsingular, conservative and weakly mixing, whereas the right shift by some element is singular.

math.GR↗
arXiv2026

Quandles from group actions and a Cayley-type embedding theorem

A quandle is an algebraic system that can be regarded as a generalization of the conjugation operation in groups. We study a quandle construction associated with group actions and determine its structural properties, including its inner automorphism group, connected components, and subquandles. As a principal application, we establish a Cayley-type embedding theorem for finite quandles. Applying the construction to the natural action of the symmetric group, we obtain, for each $n$, a single quandle into which every quandle of cardinality $n$ embeds.

math.GR↗