Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:24:11.330Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

All automorphisms of free groups with maximal rank fixed subgroups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

D. J. Collins
Affiliation:
School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
E. C. Turner
Affiliation:
Department of Mathematics, University at Albany, Albany, NY 12222

Extract

The Scott Conjecture, proven by Bestvina and Handel [2] says that an automorphism of a free group of rank n has fixed subgroup of rank at most n. We characterise in Theorem A below those automorphisms that realise this maximum. It follows from this characterisation, for example, that any such automorphism has linear growth. In our paper [3], we generalised the Scott Conjecture to arbitrary free products, using Kuros rank (see Section 2 below) in place of free rank; in Theorem B, we characterise those automorphisms of a free product realising the maximum. We show that in this case the growth rate is also linear. These results extend those of [4].

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1]Bestvina, M. and Feign, M.. Outer limits (preprint).Google Scholar
[2]Bestvina, M. and Handel, M.. Train tracks and automorphisms of free groups. Annals of Math. (2) 135 (1992), 153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3]Collins, D. J. and Turner, E. C.. Efficient representatives for automorphisms of free products. Mich. Math. J. (1994) (to appear).Google Scholar
[4]Collins, D. J. and Turner, E. C.. An automorphism of a free group of finite rank with maximal rank fixed point subgroup fixes a primitive element. J. Pure and Applied Algebra 88 (1993), 4349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5]Dyer, J. L. and Scott, G. P.. Periodic automorphisms of free groups. Comm. Alg. 3 (1975), 195201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6]Goldstein, R. Z. and Turner, E. C.. Fixed subgroups of homomorphisms of free groups. Bull. London Math. Soc. 18 (1986), 468470.Google Scholar
[7]Paulin, F.. Sur les automorphismes extérieurs des groupes hyperboliques (preprint).Google Scholar
[8]Zela, Z.. The Nielsen–Thurston classification and automorphisms of the free group I (preprint).Google Scholar
[9]Swarup, G. A.. Decompositions of free groups. J. of Pure and Applied Alg. 40 (1986), 99102.Google Scholar