Let M be a pinched negatively curved Riemannian orbifold, whose fundamental group has torsion of order $2$. Generalising results of Sarnak and Erlandsson-Souto for constant curvature oriented surfaces, and with very different techniques, we give an asymptotic counting result on the number of strongly reversible periodic orbits of the geodesic flow in $T^1M$, and prove their equidistribution towards the Bowen-Margulis measure. The result holds in the more general setting with weights coming from thermodynamic formalism, and also in the analogous setting of graphs of groups with $2$-torsion. We give new examples in real hyperbolic Coxeter groups, complex hyperbolic orbifolds and graphs of groups.

We provide a direct connection between the $\mathcal{Z}_{\max}$ (or essential) JSJ decomposition and the Friedl–Tillmann polytope of a hyperbolic two-generator one-relator group with abelianisation of rank 2.

We deduce various structural and algorithmic properties, like the existence of a quadratic-time algorithm computing the $\mathcal{Z}_{\max}$-JSJ decomposition of such groups.

We describe standard forms for elements of the higher-dimensional Thompson groups nV arising from gridding subdivision processes. These processes lead to standard normal form descriptions for elements in these groups, and sizes of these standard forms estimate the word length with respect to finite generating sets. These gridded forms lead to standard algebraic descriptions as well, with respect to the both infinite and finite generating sets for these groups.

The depth of a subgroup H of a finite group G is a positive integer defined with respect to the inclusion of the corresponding complex group algebras $\mathbb {C}H \subseteq \mathbb {C}G$. This notion was originally introduced by Boltje, Danz and Külshammer in 2011, and it has been the subject of numerous papers in recent years. In this paper, we study the depth of core-free subgroups, which allows us to apply powerful computational and probabilistic techniques that were originally designed for studying bases for permutation groups. We use these methods to prove a wide range of new results on the depth of subgroups of almost simple groups, significantly extending the scope of earlier work in this direction. For example, we establish best possible bounds on the depth of irreducible subgroups of classical groups and primitive subgroups of symmetric groups. And with the exception of a handful of open cases involving the Baby Monster, we calculate the exact depth of every subgroup of every almost simple sporadic group. We also present a number of open problems and conjectures.

In a previous paper, we stated and motivated counting conjectures for fusion systems that are purely local analogues of several local-to-global conjectures in the modular representation theory of finite groups. Here, we verify some of these conjectures for fusion systems on an extraspecial group of order $p^3$, which contain among them the Ruiz–Viruel exotic fusion systems at the prime $7$. As a byproduct, we verify Robinson’s ordinary weight conjecture for principal p-blocks of almost simple groups G realizing such (nonconstrained) fusion systems.

Several authors have investigated the structure of groups in which each subgroup satisfies a property $\mathcal {X}$ or a property which is antagonistic to $\mathcal {X}$. This point of view will be adopted here, considering groups in which each subgroup is either nearly normal or contranormal.

Let K be a genus one two-bridge knot. Let p be a prime number and let ${\mathbb {Z}}_{p}$ denote the ring of p-adic integers. In the spirit of arithmetic topology, we observe that if $p\neq 2$ and p divides (or $p=2$ and $2^3$ divides) the size of the 1st homology group of some odd-th cyclic branched cover of the knot K, then its group $\pi _1(S^3-K)$ admits a liminal $\mathrm { SL}_2{\mathbb {Z}}_p$-character. In addition, we discuss the existence of liminal $\mathrm {SL}_2{\mathbb {Z}}_{p}$-representations and give a remark on a general two-bridge knot. In the course of the argument, we also point out a constraint for prime numbers dividing certain Lucas-type sequences by using the Legendre symbols.

Given a group G and an automorphism $\varphi $ of G, two elements $x,y\in G$ are said to be $\varphi $-conjugate if $x=gy\varphi (g)^{-1}$ for some $g\in G$. The number $R(\varphi )$ of equivalence classes with respect to this relation is called the Reidemeister number of $\varphi $ and the set $\{R(\varphi ) \mid \varphi \in \text {Aut}(G)\}$ is called the Reidemeister spectrum of G. We determine the Reidemeister spectrum of ZM-groups, extending some results of Senden [‘The Reidemeister spectrum of split metacyclic groups’, Preprint, 2022, arXiv:2109.12892].

Let $G = X \wr H$ be the wreath product of a nontrivial finite group X with k conjugacy classes and a transitive permutation group H of degree n acting on the set of n direct factors of Xn. If H is semiprimitive, then $k(G) \leq k^n$ for every sufficiently large n or k. This result solves a case of the non-coprime k(GV) problem and provides an affirmative answer to a question of Garzoni and Gill for semiprimitive permutation groups. The proof does not require the classification of finite simple groups.

Commutator blueprints can be seen as blueprints for constructing RGD systems over $\mathbb {F}_2$ with prescribed commutation relations. In this paper, we construct several families of Weyl-invariant commutator blueprints, mostly of universal type. Also applying another result of the author, we obtain new examples of exotic RGD systems of universal type over $\mathbb {F}_2$. In particular, we generalize Tits’ construction of uncountably many trivalent Moufang twin trees to higher rank, we obtain an example of an RGD system of rank $3$ such that the nilpotency degree of the groups $U_w$ is unbounded, and we construct a commutator blueprint of type $(4, 4, 4)$ that is used to answer a question of Tits from the late $1980$s about twin buildings.

We prove that Brinkmann’s problems are decidable for endomorphisms of $F_n\times F_m$: given $(x,y),(z,w)\in F_n\times F_m$ and $\Phi \in \mathrm {End}(F_n\times F_m)$, it is decidable whether there is some $k\in \mathbb {N}$ such that $(x,y)\Phi ^k=(z,w)$ (or $(x,y)\Phi ^k\sim (z,w)$). We also prove decidability of a two-sided version of Brinkmann’s conjugacy problem for injective endomorphisms which, from the work of Logan, yields a solution to the conjugacy problem in ascending HNN-extensions of $F_n\times F_m$. Finally, we study the dynamics of automorphisms of $F_n\times F_m$ at the infinity, proving that that their dynamics at the infinity is asymptotically periodic, as occurs in the free and free-abelian times free cases.

Given a morphism $\varphi \;:\; G \to A \wr B$ from a finitely presented group G to a wreath product $A \wr B$, we show that, if the image of $\varphi$ is a sufficiently large subgroup, then $\mathrm{ker}(\varphi)$ contains a non-abelian free subgroup and $\varphi$ factors through an acylindrically hyperbolic quotient of G. As direct applications, we classify the finitely presented subgroups in $A \wr B$ up to isomorphism and we deduce that a finitely presented group having a wreath product $(\text{non-trivial}) \wr (\text{infinite})$ as a quotient must be SQ-universal (extending theorems of Baumslag and Cornulier–Kar). Finally, we exploit our theorem in order to describe the structure of the automorphism groups of several families of wreath products, highlighting an interesting connection with the Kaplansky conjecture on units in group rings.

Let $G = K \rtimes \langle t \rangle $ be a finitely generated group where K is abelian and $\langle t\rangle$ is the infinite cyclic group. Let R be a finite symmetric subset of K such that $S = \{ (r,1),(0,t^{\pm 1}) \mid r \in R \}$ is a generating set of G. We prove that the spherical conjugacy ratio, and hence the conjugacy ratio, of G with respect to S is 0 unless G is virtually abelian, confirming a conjecture of Ciobanu, Cox and Martino in this case. We also show that the Baumslag–Solitar group $\mathrm{BS}(1,k)$, $k\geq 2$, has a one-sided Følner sequence F such that the conjugacy ratio with respect to F is non-zero, even though $\mathrm{BS}(1,k)$ is not virtually abelian. This is in contrast to two-sided Følner sequences, where Tointon showed that the conjugacy ratio with respect to a two-sided Følner sequence is positive if and only if the group is virtually abelian.

Jespers and Sun conjectured in [27] that if a finite group G has the property ND, i.e. for every nilpotent element n in the integral group ring $\mathbb{Z}G$ and every primitive central idempotent $e \in \mathbb{Q}G$ one still has $ne \in \mathbb{Z}G$, then at most one of the simple components of the group algebra $\mathbb{Q} G$ has reduced degree bigger than 1. With the exception of one very special series of groups we are able to answer their conjecture, showing that it is true—up to exactly one exception. To do so, we first classify groups with the so-called SN property which was introduced by Liu and Passman in their investigation of the Multiplicative Jordan Decomposition for integral group rings.

The conjecture of Jespers and Sun can also be formulated in terms of a group q(G) made from the group generated by the unipotent units, which is trivial if and only if the ND property holds for the group ring. We answer two more open questions about q(G) and notice that this notion allows to interpret the studied properties in the general context of linear semisimple algebraic groups. Here we show that q(G) is finite for lattices of big rank but can contain elements of infinite order in small rank cases.

We then study further two properties which appeared naturally in these investigations. A first which shows that property ND has a representation theoretical interpretation, while the other can be regarded as indicating that it might be hard to decide ND. Among others we show these two notions are equivalent for groups with SN.

Given an automorphism ϕ of a group G, the map $(g,h) \mapsto gh\phi(g)^{-1}$, defines a left action of G on itself, whose orbits are called the ϕ-twisted conjugacy classes. In this paper, we consider two interesting aspects of this action for mapping class groups, namely, the existence of a dense orbit and the count of orbits. Generalising the idea of the Rokhlin property, a topological group is said to exhibit the twisted Rokhlin property if, for each automorphism ϕ of the group, there exists a ϕ-twisted conjugacy class that is dense in the group. We provide a complete classification of connected orientable infinite-type surfaces without boundaries whose mapping class groups possess the twisted Rokhlin property. Additionally, we prove that the mapping class groups of the remaining surfaces do not admit any dense ϕ-twisted conjugacy class for any automorphism ϕ. This supplements the recent work of Lanier and Vlamis on the Rokhlin property of big mapping class groups. Regarding the count of twisted conjugacy classes, we prove that the number of ϕ-twisted conjugacy classes is infinite for each automorphism ϕ of the mapping class group of a connected orientable infinite-type surface without boundary.

In this work, we introduce the type and typeset invariants for equicontinuous group actions on Cantor sets; that is, for generalized odometers. These invariants are collections of equivalence classes of asymptotic Steinitz numbers associated to the action. We show the type is an invariant of the return equivalence class of the action. We introduce the notion of commensurable typesets and show that two actions which are return equivalent have commensurable typesets. Examples are given to illustrate the properties of the type and typeset invariants. The type and typeset invariants are used to define homeomorphism invariants for solenoidal manifolds.

In 1954, B. H. Neumann discovered that if $G$ is a group in which all conjugacy classes have finite cardinality at most $m$, then the derived group $G'$ is finite of $m$-bounded order. In 2018, G. Dierings and P. Shumyatsky showed that if $|x^G| \le m$ for any commutator $x\in G$, then the second derived group $G''$ is finite and has $m$-bounded order. This paper deals with finite groups in which $|x^G|\le m$ whenever $x\in G$ is a commutator of prime power order. The main result is that $G''$ has $m$-bounded order.

We study the freeness problem for multiplicative subgroups of $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{Q})$. For $q = r/p$ in $\mathbb{Q} \cap (0,4)$, where p is prime and $\gcd(r,p)=1$, we initiate the study of the algebraic structure of the group $\Delta_q$ generated by

\[A = \begin{pmatrix}1 & 0 \\ 1 & 1\end{pmatrix} \text{ and } Q_q = \begin{pmatrix}1 & q \\ 0 & 1\end{pmatrix}.\]

$\Delta_{r/p} = \overline{\Gamma}_1^{(p)}(r)$

$\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z}[{1}/{p}])$

$r \leq 4$

$r = 5$

$r \in \{ p-1, p+1, (p+1)/2 \}$

$\Delta_{r/p}$

$J_2(r)$

$\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{Z}[{1}/{p}])$

$J_2(r)$

We establish some interactions between uniformly recurrent subgroups (URSs) of a group G and cosets topologies $\tau _{\mathcal {N}}$ on G associated to a family $\mathcal {N}$ of normal subgroups of G. We show that when $\mathcal {N}$ consists of finite index subgroups of G, there is a natural closure operation $\mathcal {H} \mapsto \mathrm {cl}_{\mathcal {N}}(\mathcal {H})$ that associates to a URS $\mathcal {H}$ another URS $\mathrm {cl}_{\mathcal {N}}(\mathcal {H})$, called the $\tau _{\mathcal {N}}$-closure of $\mathcal {H}$. We give a characterization of the URSs $\mathcal {H}$ that are $\tau _{\mathcal {N}}$-closed in terms of stabilizer URSs. This has consequences on arbitrary URSs when G belongs to the class of groups for which every faithful minimal profinite action is topologically free. We also consider the largest amenable URS $\mathcal {A}_G$ and prove that for certain coset topologies on G, almost all subgroups $H \in \mathcal {A}_G$ have the same closure. For groups in which amenability is detected by a set of laws (a property that is variant of the Tits alternative), we deduce a criterion for $\mathcal {A}_G$ to be a singleton based on residual properties of G.

An action of a group G on a set X is said to be quasi-n-transitive if the diagonal action of G on $X^n$ has only finitely many orbits. We show that branch groups, a special class of groups of automorphisms of rooted trees, cannot act quasi-2-transitively on infinite sets.