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Seminar

Two-generator subgroups of free-by-cyclic groups

Speaker
Edgar Bering (San José State University)
Date
Tue, Oct 15 2024, 4:00pm
Location
383N
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Abstract: In general, the classification of finitely generated subgroups of a given group is intractable. Restricting to two-generator subgroups in a geometric setting is an exception. For example, a two-generator subgroup of a right-angled Artin group is either free or free abelian. Jaco and Shalen proved that a two-generator subgroup of the fundamental group of an orientable atoroidal irreducible 3-manifold is either free, free-abelian, or finite-index. In this talk I will present recent work proving a similar classification theorem for two generator mapping-torus groups of free group endomorphisms: every two generator subgroup is either free or conjugate to a sub-mapping-torus group. As an application we obtain an analog of the Jaco-Shalen result for free-by-cyclic groups with fully irreducible atoroidal monodromy. While the statement is algebraic, the proof technique uses the topology of finite graphs, a la Stallings. This is joint work with Naomi Andrew, Ilya Kapovich, and Stefano Vidussi.