It is well known that a finitely generated group ${\rm\Gamma}$ has Kazhdan’s property (T) if and only if the Laplacian element ${\rm\Delta}$ in $\mathbb{R}[{\rm\Gamma}]$ has a spectral gap. In this paper, we prove that this phenomenon is witnessed in $\mathbb{R}[{\rm\Gamma}]$. Namely, ${\rm\Gamma}$ has property (T) if and only if there exist a constant ${\it\kappa}>0$ and a finite sequence ${\it\xi}_{1},\ldots ,{\it\xi}_{n}$ in $\mathbb{R}[{\rm\Gamma}]$ such that ${\rm\Delta}^{2}-{\it\kappa}{\rm\Delta}=\sum _{i}{\it\xi}_{i}^{\ast }{\it\xi}_{i}$. This result suggests the possibility of finding new examples of property (T) groups by solving equations in $\mathbb{R}[{\rm\Gamma}]$, possibly with the assistance of computers.

We define in an axiomatic fashion a Coxeter datum for an arbitrary Coxeter group $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}W$. This Coxeter datum will specify a pair of reflection representations of $W$ in two vector spaces linked only by a bilinear pairing without any integrality or nondegeneracy requirements. These representations are not required to be embeddings of $W$ in the orthogonal group of any vector space, and they give rise to a pair of inter-related root systems generalizing the classical root systems of Coxeter groups. We obtain comparison results between these nonorthogonal root systems and the classical root systems. Further, we study the equivalent of the Tits cone in these nonorthogonal representations.

In 1976, Wiegold asked if every finitely generated perfect group has weight 1. We introduce a new property of groups, finitely annihilated, and show that this might be a possible approach to resolving Wiegold’s problem. For finitely generated groups, we show that in several classes (finite, solvable, free), being finitely annihilated is equivalent to having noncyclic abelianisation. However, we also construct an infinite family of (finitely presented) finitely annihilated groups with cyclic abelianisation. We apply our work to show that the weight of a nonperfect finite group, or a nonperfect finitely generated solvable group, is the same as the weight of its abelianisation. This recovers the known partial results on the Wiegold problem: a finite (or finitely generated solvable) perfect group has weight 1.

Let $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}G$ be a finite group of order $n$, and let $\text {C}_n$ be the cyclic group of order $n$. For $g\in G$, let ${\mathrm{o}}(g)$ denote the order of $g$. Let $\phi $ denote the Euler totient function. We show that $\sum _{g \in \text {C}_n} \phi ({\mathrm{o}}(g))\geq \sum _{g \in G} \phi ({\mathrm{o}}(g))$, with equality if and only if $G$ is isomorphic to $\text {C}_n$. As an application, we show that among all finite groups of a given order, the cyclic group of that order has the maximum number of bidirectional edges in its directed power graph.

The present paper is related to some recent studies in Abdollahi and Russo [‘On a problem of P. Hall for Engel words’, Arch. Math. (Basel) 97 (2011), 407–412] and Fernández-Alcober et al. [‘A note on conciseness of Engel words’, Comm. Algebra 40 (2012), 2570–2576] on the position of the $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}n$-Engel marginal subgroup $E^*_n(G)$ of a group $G$, when $n=3,4$. Describing the size of $E^*_n(G)$ for $n=3,4$, we show some generalisations of classical results on the partial margins of $E^*_3(G)$ and $E^*_4(G)$.

We prove that if $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}S$ is a finite subset of an ordered group that generates a nonabelian ordered group, then $|S^2|\geq 3|S|-2$. This generalizes a classical result from the theory of set addition.

Given a cardinal $\lambda $ with $\lambda =\lambda ^{\aleph _0}$ , we show that there is a field of cardinality $\lambda $ whose automorphism group is a free group of rank $2^\lambda $ . In the proof of this statement, we develop general techniques that enable us to realize certain groups as the automorphism group of structures of a given cardinality. They allow us to show that analogues of this result hold for free objects in various varieties of groups. For example, the free abelian group of rank $2^\lambda $ is the automorphism group of a field of cardinality $\lambda $ whenever $\lambda $ is a cardinal with $\lambda =\lambda ^{\aleph _0}$ . Moreover, we apply these techniques to show that consistently the assumption that $\lambda =\lambda ^{\aleph _0}$ is not necessary for the existence of a field of cardinality $\lambda $ whose automorphism group is a free group of rank $2^\lambda $ . Finally, we use them to prove that the existence of a cardinal $\lambda $ of uncountable cofinality with the property that there is no field of cardinality $\lambda $ whose automorphism group is a free group of rank greater than $\lambda $ implies the existence of large cardinals in certain inner models of set theory.

We give a generalized and self-contained account of Haglund–Paulin’s wallspaces and Sageev’s construction of the CAT(0) cube complex dual to a wallspace. We examine criteria on a wallspace leading to finiteness properties of its dual cube complex. Our discussion is aimed at readers wishing to apply these methods to produce actions of groups on cube complexes and understand their nature. We develop the wallspace ideas in a level of generality that facilitates their application. Our main result describes the structure of dual cube complexes arising from relatively hyperbolic groups. Let $H_1,\ldots, H_s$ be relatively quasiconvex codimension-1 subgroups of a group $G$ that is hyperbolic relative to $P_1, \ldots, P_r$. We prove that $G$ acts relatively cocompactly on the associated dual CAT(0) cube complex $C$. This generalizes Sageev’s result that $C$ is cocompact when $G$ is hyperbolic. When $P_1,\ldots, P_r$ are abelian, we show that the dual CAT(0) cube complex $C$ has a $G$-cocompact CAT(0) truncation.

We describe various classes of infinitely presented groups that are condensation points in the space of marked groups. A well-known class of such groups consists of finitely generated groups admitting an infinite minimal presentation. We introduce here a larger class of condensation groups, called infinitely independently presentable groups, and establish criteria which allow one to infer that a group is infinitely independently presentable. In addition, we construct examples of finitely generated groups with no minimal presentation, among them infinitely presented groups with Cantor–Bendixson rank 1, and we prove that every infinitely presented metabelian group is a condensation group.

If $X$ is a subgroup of a group $G$, the cardinal number $\min \{ \vert X: X_{G}\vert , \vert {X}^{G} : X\vert \} $ is called the normal oscillation of $X$ in $G$. It is proved that if all subgroups of a locally finite group $G$ have finite normal oscillation, then $G$ contains a nilpotent subgroup of finite index.

We construct categorical braid group actions from 2-representations of a Heisenberg algebra. These actions are induced by certain complexes which generalize spherical (Seidel–Thomas) twists and are reminiscent of the Rickard complexes defined by Chuang–Rouquier. Conjecturally, one can relate our complexes to Rickard complexes using categorical vertex operators.

We construct a hyperbolic group with a hyperbolic subgroup for which inclusion does not induce a continuous map of the boundaries.

Let $G$ be a finite group. We show that the order of the subgroup generated by coprime ${\gamma }_{k} $-commutators (respectively, ${\delta }_{k} $-commutators) is bounded in terms of the size of the set of coprime ${\gamma }_{k} $-commutators (respectively, ${\delta }_{k} $-commutators). This is in parallel with the classical theorem due to Turner-Smith that the words ${\gamma }_{k} $ and ${\delta }_{k} $ are concise.

We show that complete uniform visibility manifolds of finite volume with sectional curvature $- 1\leq K\leq 0$ have positive simplicial volume. This implies that their minimal volume is nonzero.

We show that every non-elementary hyperbolic group $\G $ admits a proper affine isometric action on $L^p(\bd \G \times \bd \G )$, where $\bd \G $ denotes the boundary of $\G $ and $p$ is large enough. Our construction involves a $\G $-invariant measure on $\bd \G \times \bd \G $ analogous to the Bowen–Margulis measure from the ${\rm CAT}(-1)$ setting, as well as a geometric, Busemann-type cocycle. We also deduce that $\G $ admits a proper affine isometric action on the first $\ell ^p$-cohomology group $H^1_{(p)}(\G )$ for large enough $p$.

After summarizing from previous papers the definitions of the concepts associated with nets, i.e. triples of 6-transpositions in the Monster up to braiding, we give some results.

We introduce the computer algebra package PyCox, written entirely in the Python language. It implements a set of algorithms, in a spirit similar to the older CHEVIE system, for working with Coxeter groups and Hecke algebras. This includes a new variation of the traditional algorithm for computing Kazhdan–Lusztig cells and W-graphs, which works efficiently for all finite groups of rank ≤8 (except E8). We also discuss the computation of Lusztig’s leading coefficients of character values and distinguished involutions (which works for E8 as well). Our experiments suggest a re-definition of Lusztig’s ‘special’ representations which, conjecturally, should also apply to the unequal parameter case. Supplementary materials are available with this article.

Let G be a group. We say that G∈𝒯(∞) provided that every infinite set of elements of G contains three distinct elements x,y,z such that x≠y,[x,y,z]=1=[y,z,x]=[z,x,y]. We use this to show that for a finitely generated soluble group G, G/Z2(G) is finite if and only if G∈𝒯(∞).

We construct and classify all groups given by triangular presentations associated to the smallest thick generalized quadrangle that act simply transitively on the vertices of hyperbolic triangular buildings of the smallest non-trivial thickness. Our classification yields 23 non-isomorphic torsion-free groups (which were obtained in an earlier work) and 168 non-isomorphic torsion groups acting on one of two possible buildings with the smallest thick generalized quadrangle as the link of each vertex. In analogy with the case, we find both torsion and torsion-free groups acting on the same building.

Let G be a group generated by k elements, G=〈g1,…,gk〉, with group operations (multiplication, inversion and comparison with identity) performed by a black box. We prove that one can test whether the group G is abelian at a cost of O(k) group operations. On the other hand, we show that a deterministic approach requires Ω(k2) group operations.